ASUS HD6990 4GB Graphics Card Review

👤by Richard Weatherstone Comments 📅15-06-11
Closer Look pt.2


The I/O Backplate


As the ASUS HD6990 is a reference design, it matches the AMD specification for display outputs. From left to right there are four mini-DisplayPort connectors and a single DL-DVI port supporting up to 2560x1600 single resolutions. The five connections allow five screens to be supported. Should you have a Multi-Stream Transport hub (MST), a sixth screen can be added to complete that Eyefinity setup you have dreamed of.


The internal vent


Because of the central fan design it would be unwise to have any components near the end of the card such as a hard drive as the card will vent hot exhaust air directly at it. Also please ensure your case cooling is up to scratch as this card kicks out a serious amount of heat, both from the I/O shield, the cards backplate and the internal vent at the end of the card.


The PCIe power sockets


Consuming 375W in stock form is going to need a very good power supply (700W minimum as recommended by ASUS) with 42.5A on the 12V rail. As you can see, the PCIe slot will need to be supplemented by a further two 8pin PCIe power cables. While the card accessories afford a dual 6pin to single 8pin connector you will still require the 2x 6pin PCIe cables and another free 8pin PCIe cable of your own to allow the card to run.

I find it impressive that while the HD6990 uses two 8pin Power power ports, a single HD6970 uses an 8 and a 6pin configuration so to power the card with just 2 additional pins is certainly a feat despite AMD breaking the PCI-SIG guidelines.


The Crossfire connector


Unfortunately, the HD6990 can only be twinned with another single card from the same family, be it a HD6990, HD6970 or HD6950 due to the single Crossfire header. That said it is extremely unlikely that you would have a power plant big enough to power more than that or indeed require more GPU processing power than a potentially 4 core setup can provide.


The 'AUSUM' switch


Previous incarnations of a physical, switchable BIOS switch were seen when the 6900 series first appeared on the scene. These BIOS switches enabled the end user to have a 'stock' BIOS and a further BIOS which could be edited by the user to setup the card how they wished. This time however, AMD have seen fit to pre-overclock a second BIOS on your behalf allowing you to run the card in either stock or overclocked formats. The stock speed of 830/5000 is attained in position 1 with a voltage set to 1.12v, while position 2 increases this voltage to 1.175v allowing the clockspeed to be raised to 880/5500.

The cautionary sticker protecting the switch is certainly needed as neither BIOS is write protected and both BIOS' can be increased further to consume a potential 540w using the PowerTune limit via the Catalyst software. This will draw much more than the recommended 150w per PCIe cable from the PSU. Just be careful that you have adequate power supply and sufficient cooling otherwise I fear your expensive card and perhaps your PSU will go up in a puff of smoke should you alter the installed stock and pre-overclock settings. I will re-iterate that a good power supply is highly recommended when running this GPU.



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