AMD Radeon HD 6990 Pictured Up Close

RavenXXX2 · 26 Jan 2011 at 16:29

Here's the Radeon HD 6990 up close. The HD 6990 is AMD's new dual-GPU graphics card that extends the performance leadership held by Radeon HD 5970. The pictures put rest to some speculation surrounding the cooler design. It now appears that the cooler design is similar to that of the GeForce GTX 295 single-PCB, as far as air-flow is concerned. A single long PCB holds two GPU systems on either sides, a centrally-located blower pushes air on either sides. The exhaust from one GPU is sent out of the case, while that from the other is pushed out of the card from its rear portion.

The Radeon HD 6990 uses two 40 nm Cayman GPUs, it packs a total of 3072 stream processors, and 4096 MB of memory between the two GPU systems. It also features a new kind of display output that consists of one dual-link DVI and four mini-DP 1.2. Power is drawn in from one 6-pin and an 8-pin PCIe connector. The card can pair with another of its kind for 4-GPU CrossFireX. It is expected to be released a little later in this quarter.

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=139221

Gerard · 26 Jan 2011 at 16:32

Not sure they they moved the fan to the middle of the card. You'd think that a fan at either end would be more efficient in exhausting the heat outside of the case instead of some of it being dumped back into the case.

LiamJ · 26 Jan 2011 at 16:41

Hopefully someone like MSI will come along and do a version with a decent non-reference cooler design.

MichaelM · 26 Jan 2011 at 16:52

Looks like a very rough prototype, I assume the real one will look cleaner and have the dual bios switch.

Mr Paul · 26 Jan 2011 at 16:53

At least there are no wood screws

Meaker · 26 Jan 2011 at 16:56

Gerard said:
Not sure they they moved the fan to the middle of the card. You'd think that a fan at either end would be more efficient in exhausting the heat outside of the case instead of some of it being dumped back into the case.

Even cooling, the air would be perhaps too hot by the time it got to the second core's heatsink.

VARDY · 26 Jan 2011 at 17:07

looking like a very long card. large even in comparison to existing dual GPUs?

Gerard · 26 Jan 2011 at 17:09

Meaker said:
Even cooling, the air would be perhaps too hot by the time it got to the second core's heatsink.

Same thing though with the other x2 cards, the 3870x2 had an aluminium heatsink and a copper heatsink, the copper one was on the second core as it was further from the fan. 4870x2 just went dual copper heatsinks. Given the length of the cards id say an additional fan would assist in geting more of the hot air out.

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 26 Jan 2011 at 17:09

AFAIK,Nvidia is also working on a dual GPU card too. Perhaps it will be based on a pair of GF114 GPUs.

Phoenixdancer · 26 Jan 2011 at 17:19

CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
AFAIK,Nvidia is also working on a dual GPU card too. Perhaps it will be based on a pair of GF114 GPUs.

Ahahahahah, lol... agahahah

Back on topic... I can't wait!!!

Skellig · 26 Jan 2011 at 17:25

Erm, can't wait to see the temp benchmarks. This card is going to be hot!

Ryan-3 · 26 Jan 2011 at 17:38

MichaelM said:
Looks like a very rough prototype, I assume the real one will look cleaner and have the dual bios switch.

And the 6pin won't be in a gap too big, or on a slight angle too

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 26 Jan 2011 at 17:39

Phoenixdancer said:
Ahahahahah, lol... agahahah

Back on topic... I can't wait!!!

buchtis · 26 Jan 2011 at 17:42

Size and price please. Thinking about upgrading to this from my 5970.

spleenharvester · 26 Jan 2011 at 17:44

Hooray for needless overkill :confused:

TheRealDeal · 26 Jan 2011 at 17:49

From what i have read today in similar articles the card is slightly smaller than a 5970. They also mention that the card in the pictures is an early prototype and that the release cards will most likely come with 2x 8 pin power connectors.

Meaker · 26 Jan 2011 at 18:10

Gerard said:
Same thing though with the other x2 cards, the 3870x2 had an aluminium heatsink and a copper heatsink, the copper one was on the second core as it was further from the fan. 4870x2 just went dual copper heatsinks. Given the length of the cards id say an additional fan would assist in geting more of the hot air out.

Two fans would just fight each other

The cooling on each core goes beyond the 3870x2 through to 5870X2 and therefore the difference between the two cores became too significant, or maybe it saves money over, over designing the cooling for the second core.

Exsurgo · 26 Jan 2011 at 19:38

That early sample would have horrible cooling, unless it has some enormous 7 heatpipe cooler. I really really do not understand why manufacturers don't add larger 92mm fans and let them bulge out of the side slightly, like the 8800 Ultra did. Almost all cases have a few cm of horizontal room to accomodate the changes.

jigger · 26 Jan 2011 at 22:44

Exsurgo said:
That early sample would have horrible cooling, unless it has some enormous 7 heatpipe cooler. I really really do not understand why manufacturers don't add larger 92mm fans and let them bulge out of the side slightly, like the 8800 Ultra did. Almost all cases have a few cm of horizontal room to accomodate the changes.

Its to keep within the agreed spec, but seeing that the PCIE power plugs are side on ATI should have room to fit a bigger fan.

I don't like the look of the design.

pingu666 · 27 Jan 2011 at 01:31

might be quite a clever use of a single fan, of that type