AMD announce 6990, GPU Kingpin of 2011

AMD 6990

We’ve been expecting it for quite some time now but AMD’s 6990 a.k.a. ‘Antilles’ is finally here. In a press release AMD announced the immediate availability of their new dual-GPU graphics card.

The successor to the still relevant and very powerful 5970 is based on the same 40nm process. The 6990 comes with a whopping 4GB of ultra-fast GDDR5 memory, and two 6900 series GPUs powering the card. Just like the 5970 one of the GPUs will be slightly underclocked but at least in the case of XFX customers are being offered a dual-bios if they wish to try their hands at overclocking the card to full dual-6970 speeds.

What about performance? AMD are claiming a 3DMark 11 ‘performance’ score of P11865. You can find the card’s full specifications over on AMD’s product page.

What do you need to power such a behemoth? Well you’ll want at least a 750W power supply (or greater) with two 150W 8-pin PCI Express power connectors. AMD recommends choosing a ‘Certified’ PSU from their list to ensure enough power is available for long-term stability.

Full system requirements:

750W Watt or greater power supply with two 150W 8-pin PCI Express® power connectors recommended (1000W and four 8-pin connectors recommended for AMD CrossFireX™ technology in dual mode. 1200W recommended for optimal performance).
Certified power supplies are recommended. Refer to http://ati.amd.com/certifiedPSU for a list of Certified products
Minimum 1GB of system memory
Installation software requires CD-ROM drive, a keyboard, a mouse, and a display
DVD playback requires DVD drive and a DVD
Blu-ray™ playback requires Blu-ray drive and a Blu-ray disc
For an AMD CrossFireX™ system, a second AMD Radeon™ HD 6990 Graphics card, an AMD CrossFireX™ Ready motherboard and one AMD CrossFireX™ Bridge Interconnect cable is required
Use of 3 or more displays with AMD Eyefinity technology requires a DisplayPort-capable panel or an AMD Eyefinity validated dongle. See http://www.amd.com/EyefinityDongles for a list of validated DisplayPort dongles.

Although AMD say the cards are immediately available from retailers worldwide, neither Amazon nor Newegg have them listed as of yet. AMD’s new flagship dual-GPU monster will set you back a minimum of $699, on selected models.