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Multi-Monitor: GeForce GTX 590 Vs. Radeon HD 6990 At 5760x1080

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Another set of requests from the Radeon HD 6990 review asked us to set aside the single-display configurations for a moment and spend some time testing multi-monitor setups. That might actually become something we do regularly, given the high price of 30” displays compared to smaller 1920x1080 screens. So long as the contenders are all triple-screen-capable, of course…

Without anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering applied, the GeForce GTX 590 scores a narrow victory in Metro 2033 at 5760x1080. However, my postulations about available graphics memory seem to be coming true here. Even more so than at 2560x1600, 1.5 GB per card is just not enough to facilitate this resolution at aggressive settings, resulting in a veritable slide show from Nvidia’s newest card. And it’s not that the 6990 is playable. But its 2 GB per GPU is able to cope much better.

Nvidia’s card takes the lead without AA turned on in Lost Planet 2. Enabling it, though, exacts a performance penalty that gives AMD’s Radeon HD 6990 a victory.

The same thing happens in Aliens Vs. Predator. Nvidia finishes on top in the easier workload, but gives up ground under the stress of anti-aliasing.

Bad Company 2 throws us for a loop, seemingly reversing the trend observed in the three preceding charts. Here, it looks like AMD is on top without AA, and then the GTX 590 kicks into gear with 8xAA/16xAF enabled.

This is what BF: BC 2 should look like

This is how the game looks on the GTX 590 with AA/AF enabled at 5760x1080

The scores are attributable to a bug in Nvidia’s driver, though. Without AA/AF, the 590 renders the scene correctly. With the eye candy turned on…well, see for yourself.

Nvidia takes first place in Just Cause 2 with and without AA/AF enabled.

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nforce4max 03/24/2011 12:18 PM
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-11+

Nvidia like ATI should have gone full copper for their coolers instead of using aluminum for the fins. :/

The_King 03/24/2011 12:20 PM
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-6+

The clock speeds are a bit of a disappointment as well the high power draw and the performance is not that better than a 6990. Bleh !

stryk55 03/24/2011 12:21 PM
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-4+

Very comprehensive article! Nice job!

LegendaryFrog 03/24/2011 12:23 PM
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-5+

I'm impressed, good to see Nvida has started to care about the "livable experience" of their high end products.

plznote 03/24/2011 12:24 PM
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-2+

Great card. But low clocks.
GREAT for overclocking!

darkchazz 03/24/2011 12:27 PM
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-0+

Wow @ low noise

rolli59 03/24/2011 12:27 PM
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-8+

Draw! Win some loose some. What is the fastest card? Some will say GTX590 others HD6990 and they are both right.

Scoregie 03/24/2011 12:40 PM
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-14+

MMMM... HD 6990.... OR GTX 590... HMMM I'll go with a HD 5770 CF setup because im cheap.

Sabiancym 03/24/2011 12:42 PM
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-4+

You can't say Nvidia wins based on the sound level of the cards. That's just flat out favoritism.

I'll be buying a 6990 and water cooling it. Nothing will beat it.

Darkerson 03/24/2011 12:44 PM
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-6+

rolli59 :
Draw! Win some loose some. What is the fastest card? Some will say GTX590 others HD6990 and they are both right.


Thats more or less how I feel. They both trade blows depending on the game.

shark195 03/24/2011 12:47 PM
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-6+

I think both cards are faster in their own niches, for example in acoustics 590 wins, but in power which is the main issue to tackle as days go by, your bill will certainly go high, but you don't pay anything for the noise, so in that case AMD STILL has the fastest single graphic card on the planet.
AMD is still the winner, whichever you look at it though

trandoanhung1991 03/24/2011 12:53 PM
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--1+

Sabiancym :
You can't say Nvidia wins based on the sound level of the cards. That's just flat out favoritism. I'll be buying a 6990 and water cooling it. Nothing will beat it.


I think 2 GTX 580 will beat it. And costs about the same too, if you look hard enough.

shark195 :
I think both cards are faster in their own niches, for example in acoustics 590 wins, but in power which is the main issue to tackle as days go by, your bill will certainly go high, but you don't pay anything for the noise, so in that case AMD STILL has the fastest single graphic card on the planet. AMD is still the winner, whichever you look at it though



The 590 uses less than 10W more compared to 6990 in AUSUM. Compare that to 430W, and it's small change, really.

ledpellet 03/24/2011 12:56 PM
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-1+

Well, at the moment 590s are not available to buy, so it does not exist beyond benchmarks and reviews...It is not a competition till we see real world pricing. Let the battle begin! btw 5870 price is hard to beat right now.

vaughn2k 03/24/2011 12:57 PM
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-0+

"Nevertheless, in a comparison between GeForce GTX 590 versus Radeon HD 6990, Nvidia wins."
"Not hearing it is a requisite"

Done a survey? How many says it's a requisite?

Also at performance preset, the GTX590 leads, wondering why there's no benchmark for extreme preset?

Yuka 03/24/2011 12:57 PM
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-4+

This is no nVidia victory, I'm sure of it, but it's such a small margin it sucks. That 1.5GB per GPU hurts the card where you'll be using it most: high res. It's like a tech KO by AMD, not a flat out punch-KO though.

Cheers!

hardcore_gamer 03/24/2011 12:58 PM
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-4+

The card blew up during testing at tech power up.Power limiting system does not work reliably :o :pfff:

nukemaster 03/24/2011 12:58 PM
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--1+

i wonder how long until AMD board partners use a fan instead of blower(blowers win on air flow, but they can be louder), i have seen several such coolers on other amd and nvidia cards.

Either way, the lower noise is impressive.

pelov 03/24/2011 1:00 PM
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-3+

Does anyone else think that the 1680 benchmarks shouldn't be used in cards like this?

Paying >$600 for a GPU almost certainly means you have multiple monitor setups and/or high res monitor(s). Otherwise why not buy a better monitor and a lower costing card to use its full potential?

Rosanjin 03/24/2011 1:05 PM
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-5+

Thank you for posting the audio samples of both dual GPU cards. Getting to hear each one really made the difference telling. I'll be sticking with single gpu card arrangements, thank you very much. ^ ^ b

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