AMD Radeon HD 7990 6GB Review

Radeon HD 7990 6GB - Conclusion

Since the arrival of 7970, the release of the AMD 7990 has seemed inevitable: having produced dual-GPU domination with the 5970 and 6990, a 7-series version was always on the road map, despite seeming to have gotten lost en-route. However, the result is, unlike the GTX 690 4GB upon its release last year, not clear cut when it comes to being the Fastest Card In The World™.

The HD 7990 6GB and it's GeForce nemesis duke it out throughout our benchmarks, with the HD 7990 6GB just about scraping victory on the balance of results across all the games and resolutions on test. However, for every decisive win such as in Bioshock Infinite, there are still games such as Skyrim and The Witcher 2 where the GTX 690 4GB is quicker. What's more, the HD 7990 6GB is both larger (305mm to the GTX 690's 279mm) and consumes substantially more power than its competitor. It's still a victory, but it's a contentious win on points rather than being a decisive knockout in the first round.


There's also the continued concern of all multi-GPU cards: the reliance on drivers. Both the GTX 690 4GB and HD 7990 6GB have demonstrated in our battery of main-stream titles driver issues that have resulted in erratic performance. While Nvidia's approach is more regular WHQL updates, AMD prefers to release monthly beta drivers and then release WHQL updates more sporadically, but neither will be perfect for everyone across every game. If you're convinced of going multi-GPU, you'll have to trust in either camp to keep you supplied with regularly optimised drivers, something that often isn't the case once cards are over a couple of years old.

Most importantly though, there's the matter of pricing and value. When Nvidia launched the GTX 690 4GB last year we were shocked at its £850 price tag; a £50 premium over a pair of GTX 680s at the time. Given the fact that a board-partner's HD 7990 6GB was actively available for around £700 last year, we were honestly expecting the official HD 7990 6GB to cost roughly the same. The fact that it instead costs £860, £200 more than a pair of HD 7970 3GB GHz Editions, can only be seen as a disappointment, even with the impressive technical accomplishments involved in squeezing two GPUs onto a single PCB and requiring only a pair of 8-pin power connectors. Looking at our Unigine points/£ graph its right down in Titan territory in terms of poor value, without offering the advantages inherent in a super-powerful single GPU. Meanwhile the GTX 690 4GB has now slipped to under £800.


Of course, comparing a multi-GPU card to a pair of cards in SLI has other concerns to be taken into account (extra PCI-E slots, extra power connectors, higher still power consumption), but the fact that AMD is charging such a premium for performance that could have been had for less cash upon the HD 7970's initial launch 15 months ago leaves a bad taste in the mouth. The Fastest Card In The World? Perhaps. But unless you're limited by space or connector constraints a pair of HD 7970s or the cheaper GTX 690 4GB make more sense if you're going for that Extreme Ultra performance.