Windows 7 AMD launches a dual-GPU, 350W monster card

[reghakr]

AMD has taken the wraps off its newest high-end graphics solution, the AMD HD 6990. The new 6990 is a monster of a card—it's basically a small system all in itself, which you can cram inside your PC if you've got the room for it.

The reason behind the size—it takes up two slots and is almost a foot long—is that it has two high-end, AMD 6970 GPUs sandwiched onto a single card. The card also hosts 4GB of GDDR5 (2GB per GPU), and you'll need a power supply that can support a whopping 375 watts of power draw from the card. AMD has also included a switch that essentially overlocks the card, in which case it needs 450W. At this point, we're getting into home appliance territory.

If you're just dying to draw even more power, the HD 6990 can drive up to five monitors simultaneously, so you can go the Eyefinity route with just a single card.
Tech Report has a thorough review of the new card, and it's now comfortably at the top of the single-card performance heap. It's beaten only by NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 580 SLI solution (which was used in this stunning real-time 3D demo at last week's GDC).

At $699.99, this card costs more than many people's PCs. But if you've got the cash for it, it's now the best way to blow seven bills on a graphics card.

Source: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/03/amd-launches-a-dual-gpu-350w-monster-card.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss

 

[Digerati]

At $699.99... ...it's now the best way to blow seven bills on a graphics card.

Plus more for the new PSU needed to support it! I might suggest an extra case fan to draw more air into the case too. I suspect that squirrel cage fan pushes out some serious air.

While the cooling solution did provide outstanding cooling, I note,

The 6990 is the loudest solution we tested, both at idle and, more dramatically, when running a game.
...it's quite audible.

I prefer cases sit discreetly and quietly off to the side and not draw attention themselves so not sure I could put up with this card - but then I'm not a gamer either. Support for 5 monitors is nice though.