Asus 7990 - £399.99 pre-order. Is this for real??

SS-89 · 26 Oct 2013 at 13:51

Addicted said:
XFX are nasty, their cards use real cheap components, wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. For the sake of waiting 2 weeks, you are brave.

I've heard this is the case but others are saying the 7990 cards are much like the titan and are manufactured by AMD with the board partners just slapping on some stickers. Anyway we shall see, I've had cards from most major brands; Asus, Sapphire, HIS, KFA2, MSI but this will be my first XFX

ALXAndy · 26 Oct 2013 at 14:36

SS-89 said:
I've heard this is the case but others are saying the 7990 cards are much like the titan and are manufactured by AMD with the board partners just slapping on some stickers. Anyway we shall see, I've had cards from most major brands; Asus, Sapphire, HIS, KFA2, MSI but this will be my first XFX

Would be spot on. Here is AMD's top boy holding a 7990.

AMD 7990

Sapphire

Asus

HIS

XFX. Which IMO has the best looking minor branding of the lot.

When AMD launched the 7990, like when Nvidia released Titan, they were so proud of it that they only allowed board partners to put minor branding on and not gaudy full cover stickers. They are all made by AMD, then the sticker brigade get them. It's as simple as that, get the cheapest one you can ETC ETC.

teppic · 26 Oct 2013 at 15:03

All the cards use the same design, so should be using the same chips and memory and so forth. I don't know in this case whether the partners make the boards themselves or if they're supplied via AMD and just rebadged and boxed.

I wouldn't go for XFX because I've read the warranty effectively doesn't exist. Asus apparently isn't very quick, but it does get honoured.

ALXAndy · 26 Oct 2013 at 15:10

The boards are all branded AMD mate. Look near the PCIE edge connector.

XFX *DO NOT* make their own cards. The best they manage is just shoving on their poor DD coolers. That's it, they are literally a company whose only stock are what AMD sends and a pile of stickers.

They've always done it, they're one of the smaller AIB partners. EVGA, Asus, MSI all make cards from nothing (classified, Matrix, Lightning respectively) XFX absolutely 100000% do not.

So if you slate XFX you're just slating AMD.

Now how they behave when a reseller wants replacements etc? not our problem. We deal with who we bought it from, THEY have to deal with XFX. My warranty is with who I bought my card from.

teppic · 26 Oct 2013 at 15:21

I think all AMD reference designs are branded like that, but they can still be manufactured by Asus themselves. e.g. As far as I know, Asus will manufacture the Asus-branded 7990 using the AMD reference design, but I could be wrong.

SS-89 · 26 Oct 2013 at 15:24

ALXAndy said:
The boards are all branded AMD mate. Look near the PCIE edge connector.

XFX *DO NOT* make their own cards. The best they manage is just shoving on their poor DD coolers. That's it, they are literally a company whose only stock are what AMD sends and a pile of stickers.

They've always done it, they're one of the smaller AIB partners. EVGA, Asus, MSI all make cards from nothing (classified, Matrix, Lightning respectively) XFX absolutely 100000% do not.

So if you slate XFX you're just slating AMD.

Now how they behave when a reseller wants replacements etc? not our problem. We deal with who we bought it from, THEY have to deal with XFX. My warranty is with who I bought my card from.

Yh the warranty is with the retailer, if XFX chose not to honour it then that's on the retailers shoulders as they will have to (probably why OCUK dumped them as they were shouldering a lot of the cost as XFX weren't budging). However, one thing I will say is that OCUK are much better to deal with than the other company.

Regardless I'm not fussed I'm only going to be keeping it until 20nm arrives.

ALXAndy · 26 Oct 2013 at 15:29

They're what is referred to as a stock card mate. If the board is branded AMD it was made by AMD.

In the case of say a Lightning? it'll state Lightning in roughly the same place. Then you whip off the cooler and see what MSI have done lol.

Asus usually make their own bios, which is usually superior to the one AMD put on. I'm pretty sure though that all 7990s are exactly the same, and no one was allowed to put on a bios that makes theirs faster. they're all 950mhz or what not with a 1ghz boost.

Gibbo · 26 Oct 2013 at 15:36

Guys

Asus are not happy with the price, on Monday it shall go up, so if you want one get one over the weekend.

Winnter · 26 Oct 2013 at 15:39

will this card last awhile @ 1440p,as i was going to get a 780.but this card is cheaper.

Gerard · 26 Oct 2013 at 15:47

Gibbo said:
Guys

Asus are not happy with the price, on Monday it shall go up, so if you want one get one over the weekend.

How much is it going up by? And if they're not happy with the price how were you able to do it in the first place? :confused:

ALXAndy · 26 Oct 2013 at 15:51

Winnter said:
will this card last awhile @ 1440p,as i was going to get a 780.but this card is cheaper.

1440p the 7990 will win every time. At larger resolutions the memory bandwidth is what will save you.

I have a magazine here with a group test in, and the 7970 Crossfire set up actually bit at the backside of SLI Titans thanks to the memory bandwidth.

There is nothing, at no resolution, that the 7990 will not win in, unless it's not so hot at lower resolutions like 1400x900 and so on. Some games suffer on my 670 SLI set up at lower resolutions.

Hades · 26 Oct 2013 at 15:58

Price going up? Isn't that what we were told a few weeks ago?

Gibbo · 26 Oct 2013 at 16:00

Gerard said:
How much is it going up by? And if they're not happy with the price how were you able to do it in the first place?

£500, my cost is very low, but Asus simply say do not de-value our brand or price below R290X, otherwise no stock.

So buy now or buy the cheap XFX.

Gerard · 26 Oct 2013 at 16:02

Gibbo said:
£500, my cost is very low, but Asus simply say do not de-value our brand or price below R290X, otherwise no stock.

So buy now or buy the cheap XFX.

Bugger

Id buy one now but my bloody credit card is blocked because I made a large payment last month and fast forward 20+ days and whatever archaic system they're using is still processing it. Can't use it till Tuesday.

SS-89 · 26 Oct 2013 at 16:02

Gibbo said:
£500, my cost is very low, but Asus simply say do not de-value our brand or price below R290X, otherwise no stock.

So buy now or buy the cheap XFX.

Why are they allowing you until Monday?

skylineboy · 26 Oct 2013 at 16:03

Oh dear! My finger clicked the buy button!

Any idea how I am going to smuggle this into the house and my rig?

Gibbo · 26 Oct 2013 at 16:04

SS-89 said:
Why are they allowing you until Monday?

I don't work weekends and neither do they. In short they are not, but not much I can do if I can't access my work system.

I could put it up now and give no one a heads up, seems try to give people a warning and get questioned over it, in future I won't bother.

I even said buy the XFX whilst it's cheap, it's a bargain.

ALXAndy · 26 Oct 2013 at 16:04

skylineboy said:
Oh dear! My finger clicked the buy button!

Any idea how I am going to smuggle this into the house and my rig?

say "LOOK UP THERE !" and run as fast as you can

ALXAndy · 26 Oct 2013 at 16:05

Gibbo said:
£500, my cost is very low, but Asus simply say do not de-value our brand or price below R290X, otherwise no stock.

So buy now or buy the cheap XFX.

Makes perfect sense. All the others (MSI Giga etc) are all £500 or over.

Gerard · 26 Oct 2013 at 16:05

Sounds like theyre actually laying a bit of punishment on with not allocating 290x stock if it stays at that price as well. :eek: