AMD Radeon HD 7990 Reference Board (APRIL FOOLS)

Nvidia's Kepler based Geforce GTX 680 hit the market late March and as expected, the AMD Radeon HD 7990 is to follow closely behind!

Unfortunately, it looks like we just got hit with this as an April Fool's gag. Good one, TechPowerUp!

In mid-March, we reported that AMD was expected to release its dual-GPU flagship card the Radeon HD 7990 (codenamed "New Zealand") shortly after Nvidia's Kepler release. Today, we are getting our first glimpse of the HD 7990 reference board and more detailed information on the specifications from a GPU-Z screenshot.

Lets start with the reference board...

You see the card is using a single 70 mm fan, instead of the lateral-flow blower seen with the previous generation Radeon HD 6990, which is explained in our original review of the HD 6990. As many users know, the HD 6990 was plagued with complaints for high noise associated with this design. AMD took a page out of Nvidia's book and utilized the ventilation design seen with the Nvidia GeForce GTX 590. This design puts the axial fan in the middle of the two heatsinks.

Now, lets take a look to see what the GPU-Z screenshot tells us about the HD 7990...

The card is using an AMD-rebadged PLX PEX8747 PCI-Express 3.0 48-lane bridge chip, which features "broadcast" features that makes it fit for dual-GPU graphics cards. The HD 7990 features 1 GHz core clock speed, with 1250 MHz memory (5 GHz effective). The card has a total of 6 GB GDDR5 memory (3 GB per GPU), with 384-bit (x2) memory bus. It features completely-unlocked 28 nm "Tahiti XT" GPUs, with 2048 stream processors. It will support DirectX 11.1, OpenGL 4.0 and DirectCompute 5.0. Other items that are known about the HD 7990 is that it draws power from two 8-pin PCIe power connectors. Display outputs include one dual-link DVI and four mini-DisplayPort connectors.

The HD 7990 is slated for a "hard-launch" on April 17, AMD's Radeon HD 7990 6 GB "New Zealand" will target a price-point of US $849.

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classzero , April 4, 2012 2:10 AM

Quote:
The HD 7990 is slated for a "hard-launch" on April 17, AMD's Radeon HD 7990 6 GB "New Zealand" will target a price-point of US $849

This caused soda to shoot out my nose. $849 for a graphics card? Is this an April fools gag delivered late?
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willard , April 4, 2012 2:11 AM

What's with AMD and their pricing? $849 is outrageous.
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obiown77 , April 4, 2012 2:16 AM

I'm selling my 6990! $749 ..... u know know you want it!!!!
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BigMack70 , April 4, 2012 2:17 AM

If those clocks are true, then this card could have performance higher than stock 7970 crossfire while also being $200 cheaper.

Fairly impressive.
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geekapproved , April 4, 2012 2:17 AM

Only $849 ,must be a misprint. The 7970 is $530 and this is 2x7970's right?
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geekapproved , April 4, 2012 2:17 AM

The cores are higher clocked than the 7970? How can that be, usually they dial them down for heat reasons, they seem to have dialed them up.
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goodguy713 , April 4, 2012 2:20 AM

kinda steep .. thats right about what a pair of 7970s will run you.. wonder what the difference will be i guess if it was good on power it would be a better buy.. but i wont hold my breath these high end cards are always power hungry
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Bloob , April 4, 2012 2:20 AM

classzeroThis caused soda to shoot out my nose. $849 for a graphics card? Is this an April fools gag delivered late?

Why not. I'm guessing the people who usually buy these things aren't short on cash.
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BigMack70 , April 4, 2012 2:21 AM

geekapprovedThe cores are higher clocked than the 7970? How can that be, usually they dial them down for heat reasons, they seem to have dialed them up.

I agree with this. The one caveat though is that the 7970 is basically underclocked at stock, considering almost every single card out there will hit 1125/1575 or close to it at stock volts.
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BigMack70 , April 4, 2012 2:22 AM

goodguy713kinda steep .. thats right about what a pair of 7970s will run you.. wonder what the difference will be i guess if it was good on power it would be a better buy.. but i wont hold my breath these high end cards are always power hungry

Please show me where I can buy 2 7970s for $850?
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goodguy713 , April 4, 2012 2:23 AM

i bet these are higher binned gpu parts .. .. wonder how it will compare to gtx 690..
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goodguy713 , April 4, 2012 2:24 AM

bigmack70Please show me where I can buy 2 7970s for $850?

give it a month or two once supplys go back to normal .. im sure you will find it at those prices .. right now they are milking the cow ..
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dragonsqrrl , April 4, 2012 2:24 AM

geekapprovedThe cores are higher clocked than the 7970? How can that be, usually they dial them down for heat reasons, they seem to have dialed them up.

It's called the GTX680, and the impending launch of the GTX690. AMD is shooting to beat Nvidia's dual gk104 card, and I'm guessing a 1GHz stock clock should help a lot. Although I'm curious about heat and power consumption, something the GTX680 already has an advantage in despite the HD7970's lower clocks.
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trumpeter1994 , April 4, 2012 2:27 AM

That card is huge!!! I mean yeah it is a dual gpu card but still, the PCIe finger ends like halfway down the card!!!!!!!!
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memadmax , April 4, 2012 2:27 AM

No holds barred rumble on my wallet....

I'll take 10.
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goodguy713 , April 4, 2012 2:29 AM

425 -450 a card is where i bet they will settle .. considering nividia has yet to release 670 660 and 690.. i cant see these cards staying at 550 the whole time thats just a bit too steep reguardless to big of a difference .. also im sure invidia still has driver updates and things of that nature that will benefit its cards .. it would be nice if amd could follow suite
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supall , April 4, 2012 2:30 AM

Until there is a competitive product for the 7990, don't scoff at the price point. It makes sense from AMD's perspective. If the benchmarks prove its worth, then this card will have no competition until NVidia finally releases their high-end card.
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anonymous@guest , April 4, 2012 2:34 AM

geekapprovedThe cores are higher clocked than the 7970? How can that be, usually they dial them down for heat reasons, they seem to have dialed them up.
How can this be?
Apparently the 7990 IS the Kwisatz Haderach.
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bystander , April 4, 2012 2:36 AM

classzeroThis caused soda to shoot out my nose. $849 for a graphics card? Is this an April fools gag delivered late?

Considering it's 2 GPU's on a single card, and the single GPU versions cost $550+, this is actually a good price.
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buzznut , April 4, 2012 2:36 AM

These things are always terribly impractical, but a great way to show off technology. I like to see these dual GPU cards released, AMD and nVidia trying to outmaneuver each other and claim king of the hill. Of course even if I could afford one its unlikely that I'd buy one, but still the specs are impressive. With the clock boosts it certainly seems they left some in the tank with the 7970.

Its more likely I'd order one GPU then add a second as I could afford.

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