AMD Radeon 6990 Review - Aliens vs. Predator

Aliens vs. Predator

Aliens vs. Predator (AvP) is an FPS title from Rebellion Studios. It allows players to take on the role of either an Alien, a Predator or a human space marine. While the title received mixed reviews, it is a DX11 graphics powerhouse that can bring many machines to their knees.

The demo follows a number of Alien creatures, and makes extensive use of shaders and tessellation. Hitting 60fps in Eyefinity is not possible on a stock Core i7-920 (at max quality settings in-game), even with the Radeon HD 6990 or Radeon HD 6970's in CFX. However, dropping to 3x1600x900 produces a noticeable increase in fps.

AvP basically requires 2GB for any Eyefinity setup. There is an odd disconnect with the benchmark tool. Everyone of the 1GB cards would crawl at 1-2 fps when running 5760x1080. However, the benchmark report would show 5-7 fps as the result. At no point did the FRAPS counter on the screen ever go beyond 2fps.

Below is a table that outlines the performance difference between the Radeon HD 6990 and the comparable SKUs. For example, the Radeon HD 6990 provides a 8fps improvement over an Eyefinity6 CFX configuration in 5x1600x900, and that represents a 36% increase over that Eyefinity6 CFX configuration.

AMD Radeon 6990 Review - Battle Forge

Battle Forge

Battle Forge is the free-to-play RTS from Electronic Arts. It offers a steampunk/fantasy RTS experience, where armies are build based on "decks" of cards similar to the Magic: The Gathering card game.

Battle Forge is one of AMD's spotlight (my terminology) games, as it offers both DX11 and proper Eyefinity support. The game offers a number of DX11 features, and a wealth of options for tuning performance. Specifically, Battle Forge uses DX11 and Shader Model 5.0 to compute HighDefinition Ambient Occlusion (HDAO). For our tests we maxed out all of the settings and forced DX11 through the config.xml file.

Very few of the cards in this range are taxed in widescreen. At max settings, all of the cards are breaking past 30fps. And, all of the CFX configurations are blowing past 60fps. Turn down a couple of settings and any current card should be able to hit 60fps.

Eyefinity continues to tax these cards, with only the CFX configurations hitting 30fps, and nothing crossing 60fps.

Below is a table that outlines the performance difference between the Radeon HD 6990 and the comparable SKUs. For example, the Radeon HD 6990 provides a 5fps improvement over an Eyefinity6 CFX configuration in 5x1600x900, and that represents a 15% increase over that Eyefinity6 CFX configuration.

AMD Radeon 6990 Review - DiRT 2

DiRT 2

Dirt 2 is the latest iteration of the Dirt rally racing series from Codemasters. Like Battle Forge, Dirt 2 is a spotlight game for AMD. Like Battle Forge it offers proper Hor+ gameplay in Eyefinity and DX11 support. Unless the user goes into the "hardware_settings_config.xml" file and forces DX9, Dirt 2 runs in DX11 mode. Unfortunately Dirt 2 does not offer a DX10 mode. This is unfortunate, as many games show improved performance when running in DX10 vs. DX9.

The true (noticeable) DX11 features come in to play based on the user settings in the in-game graphics options. Several key features are the "Hardware Tessellated Dynamic Water" (achieved through "Ultra" quality water), "Hardware Tessellated Dynamic Cloth" (achieved through "High" quality cloth), and DX11 Accelerated HDAO (through "High" quality HDAO).

The DX11 water and cloth offer more realistic geometry and movement. The DX11 water produces actual waves in deep puddles (as the player drives through), rather than simple "swirls" in the texture surface. The DX11 cloth offers more realistic ripples and waves in the cloth material over the DX9 version. On the other hand, the DX11 HD Ambient Occlusion (HDAO) offers an accelerated computation path.

DX11 doesn't necessarily provide earth-shaking changes to gameplay. But, it provides more realistic "movement" in the world's objects - cloth, water, grass, etc. While a DX9 or DX10 game is perfectly enjoyable, the DX11 technology offers better immersion by making the "little things" more lifelike. Additionally, it offers better computation paths through increased parallelism (and better computation paths for DX10), much like DX10 offered better performance (over DX9) in games such as Far Cry 2.

At max settings, all of the cards above the 5770 are at 60fps+. And, all of the CFX configurations are hitting a CPU wall at about 100fps. 3x1 Eyefinity is no longer a real challenge for any of the cards either. The Radeon HD 6990 will push past 60fps in 5x1-Portrait with 5x1600x900, at max settings.

Below is a table that outlines the performance difference between the Radeon HD 6990 and the comparable SKUs. For example, the Radeon HD 6990 provides a 12fps improvement over an Eyefinity6 CFX configuration in 5x1600x900, and that represents a 24% increase over that Eyefinity6 CFX configuration.

AMD Radeon 6990 Review - F1 2010

F1 2010

F1 (Formula 1) is a new racing title from Codemasters. Like their previous title (DiRT 2), F1 makes extensive usage of DX11 technology with cloth, fluid dynamics and tessellation. The title is much more strenuous on both single screen and Eyefinity, compared to DiRT 2.

At max settings the title hits a CPU cap (with a stock Core i7-920) of ~70fps on a single widescreen, with any pair of 6800 or 6900 series cards in CFX. Single 6900 series cards max out at just under 70fps.

A 2GB card is required for Eyefinity at 3x1920x1080p. 2GB cards in CFX max out at ~45fps, at both 3x1600x900 and 3x1920x1080. 1GB cards are playable at 3x1600x900, with the 6870 crossing 30fps.

I encountered a driver bug during my 5x1-Portrait testing, when running with MSAA. There was a known bug reported by AMD and fixed during the review period, for 3x1-L Eyefinity. However, with any MSAA in 5x1 Eyefinity, the game stutters between single digit fps and 45-50 fps. This renders the game unplayable, and the issue disappears when you turn off MSAA.

Additionally, the HUD is completely broken in 5x1-Portrait. The game only places the HUD on the primary windows display (display ID #1). This means the entire HUD is squished into one display in portrait mode. And, considering that your primary display is probably on the far left, the HUD is completely out of view. This issue is odd, since the HUD works perfect in 5x1-P for DiRT2 and both games were made by Code Masters.

The game hits CPU walls in both widescreen and Eyefinity, and the 6990 is complete overkill. Until the driver issue and HUD issue are fixed, I will be dropping F1 2010 from future benchmarking.

Below is a table that outlines the performance difference between the Radeon HD 6990 and the comparable SKUs. For example, the Radeon HD 6990 provides a 3fps improvement over an Eyefinity6 CFX configuration in 3x1600x900, and that represents a 7% increase over that Eyefinity6 CFX configuration.

Due to the issues with testing 5x1-Portrait, there is no data for that configuration.

AMD Radeon 6990 Review - Far Cry 2

Far Cry 2

Far Cry 2 (and the whole Cry/Crysis series) has long been considered a system killer. If not a killer, then at least a good strong test. As always, we run our test at max settings with 4xAA. The benchmark tool within Far Cry 2 offers settings for High, Very High and Ultra. We chose Ultra with 4xAA.

While once a true system killer, Far Cry 2 shows that hardware catches up to software. All but the 5770 are hitting 60fps in widescreen (at max settings), and the CFX configurations are doubling that at a 120fps CPU wall.

Eyefinity does show a steady performance climb. The top configurations are hitting 90fps in Eyefinity, with the 6800 and 6900 single card configurations posting very playable numbers.

The Radeon HD 6990 is well past overkill for single widescreen and 3x1-L Eyefinity users. However, it does provide a noticeable improvement for 5x1-P users and pushes past 60 fps.

Below is a table that outlines the performance difference between the Radeon HD 6990 and the comparable SKUs. For example, the Radeon HD 6990 provides a 15fps improvement over an Eyefinity6 CFX configuration in 3x1600x900, and that represents a 23% increase over that Eyefinity6 CFX configuration.

AMD Radeon 6990 Review - H.A.W.X.

H.A.W.X.

H.A.W.X. is one last title that AMD has been showing off since the Radeon 5000 line launched. While the other titles are Hor+ and offer cutting-edge DX11 features, HAWX is quite the opposite. While it is a Hor+ title, it is only a DX10 title and runs quite well on a wide variety of hardware.

The well running and scalable title makes it a natural fit when showcasing both lower-end hardware pushing three panels, and high-end hardware pushing six panels. It also comes as no surprise that the additional VRAM largely goes unused, considering the title runs capably on lower hardware.

One note in the HAWX benchmark. Above 1920x1080 the game simply would not allow 4xAA. While the scores provide that the title could handle it, the option simply is not available. Though it isn't our norm, we chose to accept 2xAA so that we could get consistent readings across the spectrum of hardware.

Again, widescreen proves no challenge to any of these cards. We see a CPU wall for widescreen at about 115fps. Eyefinity does provide a scaled performance experience for both single and multi-GPU configurations. Single cards stay above 30fps, with the higher end cards hitting 60fps (at max settings). The CFX configurations are running between 75fps and 95 fps.

The Radeon HD 6990 is more than enough for HAWX in any configuration, even 5x1-Portrait at max resolution, max quality and 2xAA.

Below is a table that outlines the performance difference between the Radeon HD 6990 and the comparable SKUs. For example, the Radeon HD 6990 provides a 12fps improvement over an Eyefinity6 CFX configuration in 3x1600x900, and that represents a 18% increase over that Eyefinity6 CFX configuration.

AMD Radeon 6990 Review - Heaven v2

The Unigine Heaven Demo is unique in that it is the only demo which allows for the following components in one package.

• Synthetic Demo (i.e., a demo designed to "test" a system)
• Comparable tests of DX9, DX10 and DX11
• Is Hor+ (rather than limited to a few predefined aspect ratios)

The ability to compare DX9, DX10 and DX11 in the same environment allows for the unique ability to see how the different cards perform across these different comparable environments. Tessellation was set at Normal Mode.

The updated 2nd version of the Heaven demo offers more segments and more options. DX9 and DX10 runs are no match for any single 6800 or 6900 series card, with only the single 6800 series falling below 60fps. The DX11 run in more demanding in a single widescreen, requiring a 6900 series in CFX to pass 60fps (and pass it by a good margin). Single 6900 series cards also pass 30fps at either 1600x900 or 1920x1080.

Eyefinity is an obvious strain on any configuration. A 2GB card is required for Eyefinity in DX10 or DX11. No combination of cards will hit 60fps in DX9, though the high end configurations come close.

The Radeon HD 6990 will push a 5x1 setup past 30fps. However, the performance is filled with stuttered performance. While the DX10 performance shows a few fps lower on average, the performance is smooth and consistent. Much like Far Cry 2, the DX10 code path shows its consistency and efficiency.

The Heaven v2 Demo continues to be a powerhouse in bringing graphics cards to their knees. We have tested the Heaven v2 Benchmark in:

• DX9
• DX10
• DX11

AMD Radeon 6990 Review - Heaven DX9

Article Type: 

Review

Teaser Icon: 

None

The Unigine Heaven Demo is unique in that it is the only demo which allows for the following components in one package:

• Synthetic Demo (i.e., a demo designed to "test" a system)
• Comparable tests of DX9, DX10 and DX11
• Is Hor+ (rather than limited to a few predefined aspect ratios)

The ability to compare DX9, DX10 and DX11 in the same environment allows for the unique ability to see how the different cards perform across these different comparable environments. Tessellation was set at Normal Mode.

The updated 2nd version of the Heaven demo offers more segments and more options. DX9 and DX10 runs are no match for any single 6800 or 6900 series card, with only the single 6800 series falling below 60fps. The DX11 run in more demanding in a single widescreen, requiring a 6900 series in CFX to pass 60fps (and pass it by a good margin). Single 6900 series cards also pass 30fps at either 1600x900 or 1920x1080.

Eyefinity is an obvious strain on any configuration. A 2GB card is required for Eyefinity in DX10 or DX11. No combination of cards will hit 60fps in DX9, though the high end configurations come close.

The Radeon HD 6990 will push a 5x1 setup past 30fps. However, the performance is filled with stuttered performance. While the DX10 performance shows a few fps lower on average, the performance is smooth and consistent. Much like Far Cry 2, the DX10 code path shows its consistency and efficiency.

The Heaven v2 Demo continues to be a powerhouse in bringing graphics cards to their knees.

Below is a table that outlines the performance difference between the Radeon HD 6990 and the comparable SKUs. For example, the Radeon HD 6990 provides a 4fps improvement over an Eyefinity6 CFX configuration in 3x1600x900, and that represents a 11% increase over that Eyefinity6 CFX configuration.

		% improvement of an HD 6990 vs...					% improvement of an HD 6990 vs...
		E6 CFX	E6	5970	6970 CFX	6950 CFX	E6 CFX	E6	5970	6970 CFX	6950 CFX
5x1	1920x1080	3	13				12%	87%
	1600x900	4	19				11%	90%
3x1	1920x1080	5	20	14	0	5	13%	87%	33%	0%	9%
	1600x900	5	26	10	2	5	10%	87%	22%	4%	10%
WS	1920x1080	5	51	17	-3	5	5%	86%	18%	-3%	3%
	1600x900	0	46	9	0	0	0%	62%	8%	0%	0%

AMD Radeon 6990 Review - Heaven DX10

Article Type: 

Review

Teaser Icon: 

None

The Unigine Heaven Demo is unique in that it is the only demo which allows for the following components in one package:

• Synthetic Demo (i.e., a demo designed to "test" a system)
• Comparable tests of DX9, DX10 and DX11
• Is Hor+ (rather than limited to a few predefined aspect ratios)

The ability to compare DX9, DX10 and DX11 in the same environment allows for the unique ability to see how the different cards perform across these different comparable environments. Tessellation was set at Normal Mode.

The updated 2nd version of the Heaven demo offers more segments and more options. DX9 and DX10 runs are no match for any single 6800 or 6900 series card, with only the single 6800 series falling below 60fps. The DX11 run in more demanding in a single widescreen, requiring a 6900 series in CFX to pass 60fps (and pass it by a good margin). Single 6900 series cards also pass 30fps at either 1600x900 or 1920x1080.

Eyefinity is an obvious strain on any configuration. A 2GB card is required for Eyefinity in DX10 or DX11. No combination of cards will hit 60fps in DX9, though the high end configurations come close.

The Radeon HD 6990 will push a 5x1 setup past 30fps. However, the performance is filled with stuttered performance. While the DX10 performance shows a few fps lower on average, the performance is smooth and consistent. Much like Far Cry 2, the DX10 code path shows its consistency and efficiency.

The Heaven v2 Demo continues to be a powerhouse in bringing graphics cards to their knees.

Below is a table that outlines the performance difference between the Radeon HD 6990 and the comparable SKUs. For example, the Radeon HD 6990 provides a 4fps improvement over an Eyefinity6 CFX configuration in 3x1600x900, and that represents a 11% increase over that Eyefinity6 CFX configuration.

		% improvement of an HD 6990 vs...					% improvement of an HD 6990 vs...
		E6 CFX	E6	5970	6970 CFX	6950 CFX	E6 CFX	E6	5970	6970 CFX	6950 CFX
5x1	1920x1080	6	16				30%	160%
	1600x900	7	20				23%	118%
3x1	1920x1080	10	20	36	2	6	34%	105%	N/A	5%	12%
	1600x900	13	27	22	2	8	33%	108%	73%	4%	18%
WS	1920x1080	20	60	33	1	7	22%	120%	43%	1%	7%
	1600x900	16	61	28	-2	5	15%	97%	29%	-2%	4%

AMD Radeon 6990 Review - Heaven DX11

Article Type: 

Article

Teaser Icon: 

None

The Unigine Heaven Demo is unique in that it is the only demo which allows for the following components in one package:

• Synthetic Demo (i.e., a demo designed to "test" a system)
• Comparable tests of DX9, DX10 and DX11
• Is Hor+ (rather than limited to a few predefined aspect ratios)

The ability to compare DX9, DX10 and DX11 in the same environment allows for the unique ability to see how the different cards perform across these different comparable environments. Tessellation was set at Normal Mode.

The updated 2nd version of the Heaven demo offers more segments and more options. DX9 and DX10 runs are no match for any single 6800 or 6900 series card, with only the single 6800 series falling below 60fps. The DX11 run in more demanding in a single widescreen, requiring a 6900 series in CFX to pass 60fps (and pass it by a good margin). Single 6900 series cards also pass 30fps at either 1600x900 or 1920x1080.

Eyefinity is an obvious strain on any configuration. A 2GB card is required for Eyefinity in DX10 or DX11. No combination of cards will hit 60fps in DX9, though the high end configurations come close.

The Radeon HD 6990 will push a 5x1 setup past 30fps. However, the performance is filled with stuttered performance. While the DX10 performance shows a few fps lower on average, the performance is smooth and consistent. Much like Far Cry 2, the DX10 code path shows its consistency and efficiency.

The Heaven v2 Demo continues to be a powerhouse in bringing graphics cards to their knees.

Below is a table that outlines the performance difference between the Radeon HD 6990 and the comparable SKUs. For example, the Radeon HD 6990 provides a 4fps improvement over an Eyefinity6 CFX configuration in 3x1600x900, and that represents a 11% increase over that Eyefinity6 CFX configuration.

		% improvement of an HD 6990 vs...					% improvement of an HD 6990 vs...
		E6 CFX	E6	5970	6970 CFX	6950 CFX	E6 CFX	E6	5970	6970 CFX	6950 CFX
5x1	1920x1080	7	12				54%	150%
	1600x900	10	19				50%	150%
3x1	1920x1080	12	20	32	1	4	60%	167%	N/A	3%	10%
	1600x900	15	26	22	1	4	58%	173%	116%	3%	11%
WS	1920x1080	26	49	34	-1	3	52%	181%	81%	-1%	4%
	1600x900	27	54	35	1	4	47%	174%	70%	1%	5%

AMD Radeon 6990 Review - Just Cause 2

Just Cause 2

Just Cause 2 is the wildly popular sequal to the wildly popular Just Cause. You take control of protagonist Rico Rodriquez and rain down over the top destruction across a small desert island. The game is a free roaming title that offers literally limitless options to wreck havoc with your "hook shot" grapling device.

While the benchmark tool in the demo doesn't offer anything in the way of explosions or destruction, it does offer some beautiful scenery that is still quite demanding on multi-monitor environments.

The CFX configurations max out at 120fps for single widescreens, and top out at 60fps for Eyefinity. Single cards easily hit 60fps for widescreen and 30fps for Eyefinity. It's great to see a current, modern, and beautiful game performing this well across the whole range of cards and price points.

As with several other titles, widescreen configurations are no match for any of these cards. Additionally, virtually any card configuration pushes Eyefinity past 30fps. The Radeon HD 6990 pushes at 5x1600x900 right to 60fps.

One interesting thing to note about the Just Cause 2 demo. I first started testing with the demo benchmark. It only recognized 4GB of the RAM in my system. However, the benchmark in the full game recognizes all 12GB. I can't determine if the extra RAM provides any benefits, as the demos are different.

Below is a table that outlines the performance difference between the Radeon HD 6990 and the comparable SKUs. For example, the Radeon HD 6990 provides a 17fps improvement over an Eyefinity6 CFX configuration in 3x1600x900, and that represents a 40% increase over that Eyefinity6 CFX configuration.

AMD Radeon 6990 Review - Mafia II

Mafia II

Mafia II is an open world "crime" title from 2K Games. It is the second game in the Mafia series. The demo comes with a built-in benchmark tool that offers both indoor and outdoor environments, various lighting effects and fire.

A single card won't quite hit 30fps in Eyefinity, but a CFX setup pushes past consistently. We see a CPU limit at about 70fps in widescreen. Mafia II proves to be quite a demanding benchmark for Eyefinity, as only CFX configurations can consistently cross 30fps in Eyefinity. The Radeon HD 6990 hits 30fps in 5x1-P when the resolution is dropped to 4800x900.

Below is a table that outlines the performance difference between the Radeon HD 6990 and the comparable SKUs. For example, the Radeon HD 6990 provides a 1fps improvement over an Eyefinity6 CFX configuration in 3x1600x900, and that represents a 3% increase over that Eyefinity6 CFX configuration.

AMD Radeon 6990 Review - S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

Prior to the game's release, the developer put out a benchmarking tool to test your system configuration. It offers a number of different options for utilizing DX9, 10 or 11 code paths. It also offers options for varying levels of HDAO and Shadow Quality. The demo itself isn't very pretty to look at (lots of dirt and dirt-colors), but it does put a beating on your system.

Like the Heaven demo, the demo basically will not run at 5760x1080 using 4xAA, with only 1GB of VRAM.

The new cards provide a noticeable performance jump over previous generations. Widescreen provides a steady performance curve for the current AMD product line. Mid-range cards can hit 30fps at max settings on a single widescreen, with the 2GB cards and CFX configurations passing 60fps.

Eyefinity provides to be a large challenge for any card. The fact that the 6900 series comes with 2GB of RAM standard opens ups Eyefinity performance - particularly at 5760x1080. High end configurations do cross 30fps, for the first time in our testing.

I ran into an issue with testing the Radeon HD 6990 at 5x1920x1080. The card appears to perform in line with a single GPU card. This doesn't show at 5x1600x900, and we see the expected performance gains. I've discussed this with AMD, and they haven't seen the issue. Until I can get it sorted on my system, I am leaving out the 5x1920x1080 numbers.

This benchmark covers all four parts of the demo:

• Daylight
• Night
• Rain
• Sun Shafts

AMD Radeon 6990 Review - S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (Daylight)

Article Type: 

Review

Teaser Icon: 

None

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (Daylight)

Prior to the game's release, the developer put out a benchmarking tool to test your system configuration. It offers a number of different options for utilizing DX9, 10 or 11 code paths. It also offers options for varying levels of HDAO and Shadow Quality. The demo itself isn't very pretty to look at (lots of dirt and dirt-colors), but it does put a beating on your system.

Like the Heaven demo, the demo basically will not run at 5760x1080 using 4xAA, with only 1GB of VRAM.

The new cards provide a noticeable performance jump over previous generations. Widescreen provides a steady performance curve for the current AMD product line. Mid-range cards can hit 30fps at max settings on a single widescreen, with the 2GB cards and CFX configurations passing 60fps.

Eyefinity provides to be a large challenge for any card. The fact that the 6900 series comes with 2GB of RAM standard opens ups Eyefinity performance - particularly at 5760x1080. High end configurations do cross 30fps, for the first time in our testing.

I ran into an issue with testing the Radeon HD 6990 at 5x1920x1080. The card appears to perform in line with a single GPU card. This doesn't show at 5x1600x900, and we see the expected performance gains. I've discussed this with AMD, and they haven't seen the issue. Until I can get it sorted on my system, I am leaving out the 5x1920x1080 numbers.

Below is a table that outlines the performance difference between the Radeon HD 6990 and the comparable SKUs. For example, the Radeon HD 6990 provides a 6fps improvement over an Eyefinity6 CFX configuration in 3x1600x900, and that represents a 23% increase over that Eyefinity6 CFX configuration.

		% improvement of an HD 6990 vs...					% improvement of an HD 6990 vs...
		E6 CFX	E6	5970	6970 CFX	6950 CFX	E6 CFX	E6	5970	6970 CFX	6950 CFX
5x1	1920x1080
	1600x900	6	16				23%	100%
3x1	1920x1080	9	19	31	0	4	38%	136%	1033%	0%	10%
	1600x900	11	23	19	-1	4	38%	135%	90%	-2%	11%
WS	1920x1080	24	46	17	-11	-3	40%	121%	25%	-12%	-3%
	1600x900	20	52	16	-8	-3	25%	111%	19%	-7%	-3%

AMD Radeon 6990 Review - S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (Night)

Article Type: 

Review

Teaser Icon: 

None

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (Night)

Prior to the game's release, the developer put out a benchmarking tool to test your system configuration. It offers a number of different options for utilizing DX9, 10 or 11 code paths. It also offers options for varying levels of HDAO and Shadow Quality. The demo itself isn't very pretty to look at (lots of dirt and dirt-colors), but it does put a beating on your system.

Like the Heaven demo, the demo basically will not run at 5760x1080 using 4xAA, with only 1GB of VRAM.

The new cards provide a noticeable performance jump over previous generations. Widescreen provides a steady performance curve for the current AMD product line. Mid-range cards can hit 30fps at max settings on a single widescreen, with the 2GB cards and CFX configurations passing 60fps.

Eyefinity provides to be a large challenge for any card. The fact that the 6900 series comes with 2GB of RAM standard opens ups Eyefinity performance - particularly at 5760x1080. High end configurations do cross 30fps, for the first time in our testing.

I ran into an issue with testing the Radeon HD 6990 at 5x1920x1080. The card appears to perform in line with a single GPU card. This doesn't show at 5x1600x900, and we see the expected performance gains. I've discussed this with AMD, and they haven't seen the issue. Until I can get it sorted on my system, I am leaving out the 5x1920x1080 numbers.

Below is a table that outlines the performance difference between the Radeon HD 6990 and the comparable SKUs. For example, the Radeon HD 6990 provides a 6fps improvement over an Eyefinity6 CFX configuration in 3x1600x900, and that represents a 23% increase over that Eyefinity6 CFX configuration.

		% improvement of an HD 6990 vs...					% improvement of an HD 6990 vs...
		E6 CFX	E6	5970	6970 CFX	6950 CFX	E6 CFX	E6	5970	6970 CFX	6950 CFX
5x1	1920x1080
	1600x900	9	18				41%	138%
3x1	1920x1080	11	19	29	0	3	55%	158%	967%	0%	8%
	1600x900	13	24	23	0	4	52%	171%	163%	0%	12%
WS	1920x1080	21	44	19	-11	-4	38%	133%	33%	-13%	-5%
	1600x900	20	49	19	-11	-5	32%	117%	26%	-11%	-5%

AMD Radeon 6990 Review - S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (Rain)

Article Type: 

Review

Teaser Icon: 

None

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (Rain)

Prior to the game's release, the developer put out a benchmarking tool to test your system configuration. It offers a number of different options for utilizing DX9, 10 or 11 code paths. It also offers options for varying levels of HDAO and Shadow Quality. The demo itself isn't very pretty to look at (lots of dirt and dirt-colors), but it does put a beating on your system.

Like the Heaven demo, the demo basically will not run at 5760x1080 using 4xAA, with only 1GB of VRAM.

The new cards provide a noticeable performance jump over previous generations. Widescreen provides a steady performance curve for the current AMD product line. Mid-range cards can hit 30fps at max settings on a single widescreen, with the 2GB cards and CFX configurations passing 60fps.

Eyefinity provides to be a large challenge for any card. The fact that the 6900 series comes with 2GB of RAM standard opens ups Eyefinity performance - particularly at 5760x1080. High end configurations do cross 30fps, for the first time in our testing.

I ran into an issue with testing the Radeon HD 6990 at 5x1920x1080. The card appears to perform in line with a single GPU card. This doesn't show at 5x1600x900, and we see the expected performance gains. I've discussed this with AMD, and they haven't seen the issue. Until I can get it sorted on my system, I am leaving out the 5x1920x1080 numbers.

Below is a table that outlines the performance difference between the Radeon HD 6990 and the comparable SKUs. For example, the Radeon HD 6990 provides a 6fps improvement over an Eyefinity6 CFX configuration in 3x1600x900, and that represents a 23% increase over that Eyefinity6 CFX configuration.

		% improvement of an HD 6990 vs...					% improvement of an HD 6990 vs...
		E6 CFX	E6	5970	6970 CFX	6950 CFX	E6 CFX	E6	5970	6970 CFX	6950 CFX
5x1	1920x1080
	1600x900	9	18				39%	129%
3x1	1920x1080	11	20	30	-1	3	52%	167%	1000%	-3%	8%
	1600x900	14	24	25	-1	3	56%	160%	179%	-3%	8%
WS	1920x1080	27	52	26	-12	-3	45%	149%	43%	-12%	-3%
	1600x900	31	61	27	-11	-4	42%	139%	35%	-9%	-4%

AMD Radeon 6990 Review - S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (Sun Shafts)

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Review

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S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (Sun Shafts)

Prior to the game's release, the developer put out a benchmarking tool to test your system configuration. It offers a number of different options for utilizing DX9, 10 or 11 code paths. It also offers options for varying levels of HDAO and Shadow Quality. The demo itself isn't very pretty to look at (lots of dirt and dirt-colors), but it does put a beating on your system.

Like the Heaven demo, the demo basically will not run at 5760x1080 using 4xAA, with only 1GB of VRAM.

The new cards provide a noticeable performance jump over previous generations. Widescreen provides a steady performance curve for the current AMD product line. Mid-range cards can hit 30fps at max settings on a single widescreen, with the 2GB cards and CFX configurations passing 60fps.

Eyefinity provides to be a large challenge for any card. The fact that the 6900 series comes with 2GB of RAM standard opens ups Eyefinity performance - particularly at 5760x1080. High end configurations do cross 30fps, for the first time in our testing.

I ran into an issue with testing the Radeon HD 6990 at 5x1920x1080. The card appears to perform in line with a single GPU card. This doesn't show at 5x1600x900, and we see the expected performance gains. I've discussed this with AMD, and they haven't seen the issue. Until I can get it sorted on my system, I am leaving out the 5x1920x1080 numbers.

Below is a table that outlines the performance difference between the Radeon HD 6990 and the comparable SKUs. For example, the Radeon HD 6990 provides a 6fps improvement over an Eyefinity6 CFX configuration in 3x1600x900, and that represents a 23% increase over that Eyefinity6 CFX configuration.

		% improvement of an HD 6990 vs...					% improvement of an HD 6990 vs...
		E6 CFX	E6	5970	6970 CFX	6950 CFX	E6 CFX	E6	5970	6970 CFX	6950 CFX
5x1	1920x1080
	1600x900	2	7				15%	8%
3x1	1920x1080	8	14	21	0	3	53%	156%	N/A	0%	10%
	1600x900	9	19	19	0	3	43%	173%	173%	0%	11%
WS	1920x1080	16	37	18	-6	-2	35%	148%	41%	-9%	3%
	1600x900	22	48	20	-6	3	39%	155%	34%	-7%	4%