7990 in March could be £800 ! Start Saving

[Alkalinepro5]

haha!

 

[ghutchison14078]

Will sound like a squadron of jets taking off whilst under game loads

 

[Combat Fighter]

These high end cards seem so ridiculously overpriced for what you get.

I'm glad I'm not in the market for a new graphics card at the moment.

 

[TAC4U]

What I don't understand is why dual-GPU graphics cards don't behave more like CPUs (Intel's TurboBoost), in that when operating a single-core they operate at higher speeds while maintaining the same TDP. So a game that supports Crossfire will have both GPUs at a lower speed, while a game that doesn't can simply use a higher clocked single-GPU. The heat-output would be the same, which is the primary issue with single-card designs. Overclocking could be provided in both the traditional way and as an increase in the TDP (i.e. the card would be considerably noisier).

It seems strange that in a game that doesn't support Crossfire a 7990 will perform below that of the 7970, despite costing considerably more. Perhaps, going further, if a game is very memory intensive they could share the memory with a single-GPU, effectively giving you a 6GB card (which may be of benefit when next-gen consoles arrive and memory usage will inevitably balloon).

Currently dual-GPU cards perform behind two single-GPU cards, meaning that the only advantage would be if a dual-GPU card is cheaper or if the system has a restricted number of PCIe slots.

 

[Meaker]

thats what i thought when i saw the 7970 for $550, and then it turned out to be about the same in pounds

$530 = £341

£341 x 1.2 (tax) = 409.2

We saw launch cards at £430 so I have no idea what you are going on about.

 

[kmax86]

Booo everything is so damn expensive

 

[Meaker]

What I don't understand is why dual-GPU graphics cards don't behave more like CPUs (Intel's TurboBoost), in that when operating a single-core they operate at higher speeds while maintaining the same TDP. So a game that supports Crossfire will have both GPUs at a lower speed, while a game that doesn't can simply use a higher clocked single-GPU. The heat-output would be the same, which is the primary issue with single-card designs. Overclocking could be provided in both the traditional way and as an increase in the TDP (i.e. the card would be considerably noisier).

It seems strange that in a game that doesn't support Crossfire a 7990 will perform below that of the 7970, despite costing considerably more. Perhaps, going further, if a game is very memory intensive they could share the memory with a single-GPU, effectively giving you a 6GB card (which may be of benefit when next-gen consoles arrive and memory usage will inevitably balloon).

Currently dual-GPU cards perform behind two single-GPU cards, meaning that the only advantage would be if a dual-GPU card is cheaper or if the system has a restricted number of PCIe slots.

We could well see this with the 7990 since the second core will be able to completely shut down.

However the clock difference is pretty minor and if you shut down the second card and clock only one of them the same effect can be achieved.

The problem with sharing ram is one of latency and bandwidth.

Latency: The time it takes to request data through the second GPU would be much longer.

Bandwidth: The connection between the GPUs does not have the capacity to properly support it.

PCI-E 3.0 16x = 16GB/sec
384bit GDDR5 = 264GB/sec

Instead of wasting lots of traces and expensive PCBs connecting the two cards up, you may as well give each more ram/wider mem buses.

 

[NiteSurfer]

Bargain!

Agreed, As Every single 1366 socket ATX mobo i've looked into, can't physically support Two high end cards, with Reference coolers together. (x16 Slots always too close together)

And as I can't fit an e-atx board into my 600t case. I'm relying on a dual Gpu card instead.

 

[ALXAndy]

849 U.S. dollars * 1.2(VAT) = 655.556271 British pounds

No way would I buy this for £800. At most I'd spend £675 or so. I'm sick of all the UK prices. I'd only buy any card if the US UK price about evens out.

You're forgetting tax, man.

In the USA you do not pay tax on an internet sale if the product ships from a state you don't live in. You're supposed to receive your product and then declare it and pay the tax. Pfft, yeah, right.

Because state taxes differ so wildly they can not charge you it if you don't live in the state the product was sold from. Example, NJ state tax when I left was 9%. Delaware? it has no state tax, so I would just hop in my car and go and buy my smokes from over the river.

The UK? 20% VAT. So you can take the £655 then add 20% and what do you get? £785. That's how it works out, and why you pay what you do for what you buy.

 

[Scooby-DoobyDoo]

No it is $849, a straight conversion+vat gives £655 so at launch expect £699 maximum

thats what i thought when i saw the 7970 for $550, and then it turned out to be about the same in pounds

$530 = £341

£341 x 1.2 (tax) = 409.2

We saw launch cards at £430 so I have no idea what you are going on about.

I can:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-268-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=938

 

[Gregster]

well come the end of feb when I have enough cash for a 7970 (wife wont let me hit the CC) it might just be worth me hanging out a little longer to see prices of 7990? If reasonable might get one but by my reasonable I am talking max of £650

 

[ALXAndy]

You'll be better off with a pair of 7950s that will probably cost that, and then over clock them.

 

[TAC4U]

The UK? 20% VAT. So you can take the £655 then add 20% and what do you get? £785. That's how it works out, and why you pay what you do for what you buy.

If you look at the equation they had already added tax, so they merely added the mark-up value. It's $850, which equals £546 - add 20% and you have £655. If it comes out at more than £700 then it's profiteering.

 

[jonnylaris]

by the time the 7990 is released the 7970 will be forgotten about due to the nvidia releases whiping the floor with them.

one 7990 will prob equal a single 780.

my prediction anyway

 

[dave_beast]

by the time the 7990 is released the 7970 will be forgotten about due to the nvidia releases whiping the floor with them.

Lol

one 7990 will prob equal a single 780.

Lolol

my prediction anyway

What you drinking, i'll have some

Why you think NV are late to the 28nm party? Yep, that's right, cause Kepler is a non-runner against Tahiti. Don't expect high end Kepler (aka 7970 rival gpu) before Q3 due to this.

 

[Gregster]

You'll be better off with a pair of 7950s that will probably cost that, and then over clock them.

I hear ya and a good shout tbf....ile keep watching for release prices and performance.

 

[straxusii]

You're forgetting tax, man.

Snip

The UK? 20% VAT. So you can take the £655 then add 20% and what do you get? £785. That's how it works out, and why you pay what you do for what you buy.

No I was including the tax, $849 = £546, then add 20% tax

 

[ALXAndy]

I'm not sure about businesses but I know there are no import duties on computer parts.

There is, of course, the obligatory 20% VAT when it comes into the country, but I only know that on a personal level. When I got one of my co ops I had to pay VAT on it.

I'm not sure what applies to businesses like, say, MSI bringing in 1000 video cards.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Given how few games push my 6990, and that even fewer are even close to anything that used to resemble "good", don't think I will bother upgrading for a while.

 

[jonnylaris]

Lol



Lolol



What you drinking, i'll have some

Why you think NV are late to the 28nm party? Yep, that's right, cause Kepler is a non-runner against Tahiti. Don't expect high end Kepler (aka 7970 rival gpu) before Q3 due to this.

Will bookmark this page so that I can go back to it when kepler is released and we will see whos right