Today, more rumors emerged on the ever elusive dual-GPU AMD graphics card. Reportedly, graphics card vendor PowerColor will be one of the Add In Board (AIB) partners producing the Radeon HD 7990. Previous rumors suggested that the HD 7990 would be comprised of two Radeon HD 7970 GPUs and it would be available in late August 2012. While there is no confirmation on the release date, the PowerColor 7990 "Devil 13" graphics card is using two 7970 GPUs in CrossFire on a single PCB.
Back in July, some details emerged on the 7990 that the PowerColor card rumors do not seem to disprove. Some highlights from the rumor mill so far include:
- The 7990 will use two 7970 Tahiti XT GPUs connected by a PLX chip.
- 6GB of GDDR5 memory (3GB per GPU)
- 4,096 stream processors, 64 ROP units
- (at least) a dual slot design with three fan cooler
- Four mini DisplayPorts and two Dual Link DVI video outputs
- Four 6-pin PCI-E power connectors
The earlier post did also mention that the default clock speed would be 850 MHz, but that does not seem to be the case with the PowerColor model. There may still be Radeon HD 7990 cards that come clocked at that speed, however.
As for the PowerColor model specifically, the new rumors suggest that it will be part of a limited run with a total of 500 cards. Coming in a red and black design, the three slot graphics card will use two 7970 GPUs clocked at 925 MHz in CrossFire. While there is no shot of the other side of the board to see how many PCI-E connectors it has, it will reportedly draw as much as 400 Watts. Using a BIOS switch, you will be able to choose between default and factory overclocked clockspeeds for both the GPU and GDDR5 memory.
Videocardz managed to unearth a photo of the elusive dual GPU AMD card.
When in its default mode, the card will run the GPU at 925 MHz and the memory at 5500 MHz (effective), which is the same as the Radeon HD 7970 single GPU graphics card. After flipping the BIOS switch, the card will use overclocked speeds of 1000 MHz for the GPU and 5500 MHz for the memory (so the GPU is the only part getting overclocked, according to the rumors).
According to Videocardz, the PowerColor 7990 has been refined somewhat compared to a showing at Computex earlier this year. From the photos comparison, it looks as though the company has changed out the red PCI back plate for a standard silver color rather than the custom red version. Also, the three fans are slightly different models. It appears as though the card will provide two DVI outputs as well as a full-size HDMI and two mini DisplayPort outputs. The site claims that AMD will not be releasing any reference version and has given its partners free reign to engineer and design custom versions (perhaps we’ll see a massive 12GB version heh).
While there is no word on when this card will be released, according to sources speaking with Hardware Canucks, the Powercolor 7990 “Devil 13” will cost between $899 and $999 in the US. While not the card that many were likely hoping for (because of the price), it may well be the best that users hoping for a dual Graphics Core Next card will be able to get–assuming you can get your hands on one of 500 available cards. NVIDIA has had its own dual GPU GTX 690 on the market for some time now, and it is looking more and more likely that AMD is not going to have an answer any time soon in any big way (outside of limited edition runs from partners that design their own custom versions), and that’s unfortunate.
I speculated that users would be better off with two single Radeon 7970s in CrossFire, and I still believe that is likely the best option right now. Especially if you opt for the 7950 with PowerTune boost (which we recently reviewed) or 7970 GHz Edition cards with boost as it is looking like the 7990 will not have that functionality.
What do you think though, are you still holding out for the ever-elusive 7990?
You can find more coverage of the AMD Radeon HD 7990 by following the 7990 tag!
I find it impressive, that
I find it impressive, that you can fit that much power in one single card. Would i ever spend 1K on a graphics card? no never. But its still impressive non the less.
Wow.
Wow.
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…except that two 7970s in
…except that two 7970s in CrossFire are going to take at least four slots, while this thing will fit in at most three, possibly two if you replace that cooler with something more compact. For some people an additional free PCIe slot is a big deal.
Not to mention maniacs for whom the choice is between four 7970s and two “7990”s :D. Eight slots for graphics cards alone? If you want to put in any other card besides those, dual-GPU cards have no alternative.
Yeah, I made that concession
Yeah, I made that concession on my earlier post, that dual 7970 single cards isn't ideal for smaller cases. Still, I'm thinking two 7970 GHz Edition cards would be faster than one 7990. On the other hand.. if one of the AIBs debuts a card that combines two 7970 GHz Edition GPUs on a single PCB that can use the PowerTune boost and reap the higher power efficiency (thanks to better binning) benefits then that card will be smoking fast!! 😀
This card is actually called
This card is actually called the PowerColor 7970 X2 — NOT the 7990 — and was made as a POC for Computex back in early June. Further, this card was actually announced back in May on PowerColor’s website (http://powercolor.com/us/News.asp?id=1159). Re-announcing it in late August doesn’t really make any sense, especially since it doesn’t look like PowerColor actually has any plans to mass produce this card.
I dunno for sure but the
I dunno for sure but the rumors say that its being launched as a 500 unit limited run under the 7990 branding and no longer called the 7970 x2. I guess ill just have to wait until it is finally available to know for sure. Thanks for the bit of backstory on the card 🙂
YAY for competition!
That
YAY for competition!
That card looks badass. A 12GB version would be cool, just for fun.
How long has it been since I
How long has it been since I had my dual 6990? Finally time to upgrade my rig! 😀
If you have a dual 6990, you
If you have a dual 6990, you don’t need to upgrade your system. Heck, if you have one 6990, you don’t need to upgrade.
If you have 1k to spend on a
If you have 1k to spend on a videocard you should just buy one without a fancy heatsink, and then spend the rest of that on a block and loop to water cool it.