SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7990 announced

Nick Mertes 23 Apr, 2013 at 11:48pm ET Article published in Tech

Today SAPPHIRE announced their own GPU based on the Radeon HD 7990. The Radeon HD 7990 straps two Radeon HD 7970 GHz Editions onto a single PCB, providing a two-slot multi-GPU solution for enthusiasts with deep pockets.

As with previous generations’ XX90 cards, the Radeon HD 7990 doubles nearly everything about its component cards:

The default clock is actually 950MHz, but when additional thermal and power room is available the GPU can automatically ramp its clock speeds up to 1GHz. The power limit for the card should be 375 watts—two eight-pin PCIe power connectors each providing up to 150W, while the PCIe 3.0 x16 slot provides an additional 75W. SAPPHIRE recommends a minimum 750W power supply for one card and a 1000W power supply for dual cards.

Oh, and for the enthusiast with especially deep pockets, a single CrossFire connector allows for some really expensive gaming.

Despite the card’s power draw, the SAPPHIRE card should stay nice and quiet during heavy duty gaming thanks to its triple fan system. If it works as well as the company’s other cards with similar heatsink designs, the noise levels will be quite acceptable.

Display outputs consist of a single DVI port and four Mini DisplayPorts. As usual, two non-DisplayPort displays can be used without adapters, but anything else will require an active DisplayPort adapter. SAPPHIRE includes a DVI->VGA adapter, mDP->DP cable, mDP->DVI cable, and a DVI->HDMI cable.

Pricing and actual street dates should be announced soon. Given the pricing of current models, $899-999 seems a reasonable guess.

Comments

24 Apr 2013 ~ 12:18am shwaip What resolution/settings would this be necessary over a 7970 GHz edition (or OC'd 7970)?
24 Apr 2013 ~ 12:19am Cliff_Forster
24 Apr 2013 ~ 12:21am Thrax 2560x1600, or most games released in late 2012/2013 with "ultra" settings if you want 1080p60 consistently. The card is also sufficiently powerful to tackle 4K easily.
24 Apr 2013 ~ 5:03am mertesn It'd probably handle some Eyefinity gaming quite nicely.
24 Apr 2013 ~ 7:54am mertesn Anandtech's review is pretty good. It's not quite as fast as two 7970 GHz Edition cards in CrossFire, but it's still very, very fast.
24 Apr 2013 ~ 8:24am MAGIC $900 :/
24 Apr 2013 ~ 8:33am mertesn
$900 :/
$999
24 Apr 2013 ~ 8:55am MAGIC
$900 :/
$999
O_o
24 Apr 2013 ~ 8:58am mertesn Yep. For that cost (assuming your system can handle the cards), you're better off with a dual 7970 setup.
24 Apr 2013 ~ 4:49pm Winfrey They should call it the 7999 then, to avoid confusion.
24 Apr 2013 ~ 5:48pm BuddyJ My co-worker is planning on buying one for his six monitor setup here.
24 Apr 2013 ~ 7:19pm fatcat although a year late to the game (GTX 690 was released 04/29/2012) this card is quieter (even more so than 7970CF) and includes $400 in free games. now if/when they fix the micro-stuttering....
Frame Latency and micro-stutter
There’s been a lot of discussion lately about ditching frames per second as a standard for how “smooth” a game runs on given hardware, and instead examining frame latency or frame times instead. The reason why is that sometimes frames per second can be misleading, as we all equate anything over 30fps to be “smooth” when in fact a game can be run at even 50fps and still be somewhat choppy if the frames aren’t being delivered on a consistent schedule. For example, if the GPU alternatively sends frames to the system at 20ms and 100ms or higher throughout a test, it’s possible to still have an average framerate above 30fps, but to have it feel like you’re dropping frames. This is not usually something that you notice when running a single GPU, but it’s more prominent in multi-card setups since both cards are sending individual frames to the system, hopefully in concert with one another. This has been a bee in AMD’s bonnet lately, and when we sat down for the briefing on this card in particular AMD mentioned it, and acknowledged it. They called it “micro stutter,” which is fitting, as it’s an almost imperceptible stutter/lag that you can feel but barely see when playing certain games on specific configurations of GPUs and CPUs.

As far as the HD 7990 goes, here is the situation. Yes this card and the latest drivers we used (13.5 beta 2) suffered from micro stutter, but it was imperceptible in most games with one major exception — Far Cry 3. We’re not sure what it is about Far Cry 3, but it runs like crap on this setup at 2560x1600 with 4xAA. We mean it feels like you are running through molasses the whole time, and when examining the frame time output from FRAPS it is easy to see why, as the latency between frames fluctutates wildly. When examining the frame time charts from other games the delivery times look pretty consistent, with only Crysis 3 showing some anomalies. AMD has told us it is working on a fix for this situation, but the remedy will most likely be a software implementation rather than a hardware fix. We have yet to receive and test a final software fix for this issue, and will sure to update you when we have tested it.
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/videocards/amd_radeon_hd_7990_first_look
24 Apr 2013 ~ 8:41pm Tim I'm still running my old 4870. Almost as good, and a whole lot cheaper!
24 Apr 2013 ~ 8:50pm Tushon Still hoping for an ignore feature.
25 Apr 2013 ~ 1:26am shwaip
although a year late to the game (GTX 690 was released 04/29/2012) this card is quieter (even more so than 7970CF) and includes $400 in free games. now if/when they fix the micro-stuttering....
Frame Latency and micro-stutter
There’s been a lot of discussion lately about ditching frames per second as a standard for how “smooth” a game runs on given hardware, and instead examining frame latency or frame times instead. The reason why is that sometimes frames per second can be misleading, as we all equate anything over 30fps to be “smooth” when in fact a game can be run at even 50fps and still be somewhat choppy if the frames aren’t being delivered on a consistent schedule. For example, if the GPU alternatively sends frames to the system at 20ms and 100ms or higher throughout a test, it’s possible to still have an average framerate above 30fps, but to have it feel like you’re dropping frames. This is not usually something that you notice when running a single GPU, but it’s more prominent in multi-card setups since both cards are sending individual frames to the system, hopefully in concert with one another. This has been a bee in AMD’s bonnet lately, and when we sat down for the briefing on this card in particular AMD mentioned it, and acknowledged it. They called it “micro stutter,” which is fitting, as it’s an almost imperceptible stutter/lag that you can feel but barely see when playing certain games on specific configurations of GPUs and CPUs.

As far as the HD 7990 goes, here is the situation. Yes this card and the latest drivers we used (13.5 beta 2) suffered from micro stutter, but it was imperceptible in most games with one major exception — Far Cry 3. We’re not sure what it is about Far Cry 3, but it runs like crap on this setup at 2560x1600 with 4xAA. We mean it feels like you are running through molasses the whole time, and when examining the frame time output from FRAPS it is easy to see why, as the latency between frames fluctutates wildly. When examining the frame time charts from other games the delivery times look pretty consistent, with only Crysis 3 showing some anomalies. AMD has told us it is working on a fix for this situation, but the remedy will most likely be a software implementation rather than a hardware fix. We have yet to receive and test a final software fix for this issue, and will sure to update you when we have tested it.
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/videocards/amd_radeon_hd_7990_first_look
I think you bolded the wrong part: but it was imperceptible in most games with one major exception
25 Apr 2013 ~ 1:41am fatcat fixed. i ended the bold too soon
25 Apr 2013 ~ 1:46am shwaip
fixed. i ended the bold too soon
don't worry, i'm sure it's been a while since you bolded something. i mean it happens to everyone. not a big deal.
25 Apr 2013 ~ 1:53am fatcat yea didn't bold used to be [b][/b] ?
25 Apr 2013 ~ 2:34am Chooch *looks at my wallet* *wallet starts to cry*
25 Apr 2013 ~ 10:13am Cliff_Forster The eight game bundle justifies the added cost over 7970's in crossfire. Single card = better airflow, lower power draw, and a cleaner looking build. If I were building a power gaming PC fresh, this is exactly what I would consider. Heck, all this power on a single card, in the right case with removable lower bays, you could build the most bitchin lan box / micro ATX build EVER! Do want!
25 Apr 2013 ~ 10:21am mertesn Out of curiosity, Cliff, what case would you select for that build? I have a Thermaltake Armor A30 that would work well with the CF 7970s, but I'm not sure it'd hold a 7990...just depends on the card's length.
25 Apr 2013 ~ 10:35am Thrax Dual GPU products, without exception, have been slightly slower and more expensive than two graphics cards. It's the price of flexibility that such a design provides: QuadFire in almost any decently-sized case, CrossFire in damn near anything, including several mATX chassis. Also, it's is the first time there's ever been a game bundle. And it's worth $335, with every major game in the last 6 months, basically. It's also the fastest thing out there for 2560x1600 gaming, and there's a certain audience of gamers that will fall all over themselves to get it.
25 Apr 2013 ~ 10:37am mertesn
Dual GPU products, without exception, have been slightly slower and more expensive than two graphics cards. It's the price of flexibility that such a design provides. Also, it's is the first time there's ever been a game bundle. And it's worth $335, with every major game in the last 6 months, basically.
In every review I've seen on the 7990, nobody has stated any overclocking results. Can you provide any insight on how well it'll overclock and just how far it can be pushed?
25 Apr 2013 ~ 11:22am mertesn So it looks like a few people have tried overclocking, and they've all topped out around 1100/1575 core/RAM without much of an improvement.
25 Apr 2013 ~ 11:28am Thrax All the European reviewers attempted, and frequently got into the 1100MHz range. 10% OC is pretty good for a product like this.
25 Apr 2013 ~ 11:40am Cliff_Forster That's a good question @mertesn - I need to do a little math on the length and find something ideal. I'd love to pack this into something semi portable.
25 Apr 2013 ~ 12:44pm shwaip I wish crossfire worked in windowed/fullscreen windowed mode :/. I like being able to alt tab out of games without killing them (depending on the games) and also being able to click in a second monitor.
25 Apr 2013 ~ 2:07pm fatcat
Out of curiosity, Cliff, what case would you select for that build? I have a Thermaltake Armor A30 that would work well with the CF 7970s, but I'm not sure it'd hold a 7990...just depends on the card's length.
I'm not Cliff, but this is the case I would use.

http://silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=303&area=en
25 Apr 2013 ~ 2:31pm mertesn I'd like to build something around the BitFenix Prodigy.
25 Apr 2013 ~ 2:42pm Garg Bah. Something portable ought to be made out of aluminum.
25 Apr 2013 ~ 2:48pm Cliff_Forster How long is the card? I figure it's about 14"?
25 Apr 2013 ~ 3:14pm Thrax Exactly 12".
25 Apr 2013 ~ 4:25pm fatcat
I'd like to build something around the BitFenix Prodigy.
You can't quadfire on m-itx though.
26 Apr 2013 ~ 11:37am Cliff_Forster This is my dream build. Something micro ATX, single bad ass 7990. It's mostly for gaming, so an FX-6300 is probably sufficient and will help to balance the heat load in a smaller enclosure. I'm seriously considering selling off parts and going smaller.
26 Apr 2013 ~ 2:08pm fatcat
This is my dream build. Something micro ATX, single bad ass 7990. It's mostly for gaming, so an FX-6300 is probably sufficient and will help to balance the heat load in a smaller enclosure. I'm seriously considering selling off parts and going smaller.
if only Gigabyte/Asus/etc would make a Micro-ATX/Mini-ITX 990FX motherboard.
26 Apr 2013 ~ 2:16pm Thrax We don't make motherboards.
26 Apr 2013 ~ 2:57pm fatcat
We don't make motherboards.
And I knew that. Fixed my post. Apologies

I've search high and low for a 990FX M-ITX board to put with a FX-8320. Sad Panda
27 Apr 2013 ~ 1:34am Garg Lots of Z77 chipset boards to choose from in M-ITX. I'm guessing Cliff isn't sitting on many socket 1155 chips, though.
29 Apr 2013 ~ 5:47pm Cliff_Forster @FatCat - I'm not sure I'd benefit that greatly from a 990fx chipset, on a single card, cramed into a smaller enclosure, I'm probably not going to overclock, if I do, very modestly without over volting any. A modest AM3+ mobo will likely save me money, as long as it's designed to be stable at stock, I'm sure it will be just fine for what I have in mind.
29 Apr 2013 ~ 5:51pm mertesn Yeah, there's almost zero reason to do 990FX in a mITX form factor. You only get one GPU slot, so there's no benefit.
29 Apr 2013 ~ 7:07pm fatcat @Cliff_Forster @mertesn SATA 6Gb/s? Also you can CF/SLI on a MicroATX

I don't know why you would get a HD7990 and then use old SATA 3Gb/s.

This was the only motherboard on Newegg with SATA 6 Gb/s in MicroATX

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138345&IsVirtualParent=1

meh, BioStar.

But that's just me. If I had money for a $999 video card I would also be running some Vector or Samsung 840's in Raid-0
29 Apr 2013 ~ 7:14pm mertesn @fatcat, SATA 6Gb/s is common to all 900-series chipsets. I'd like to know where all of the 990-series uATX boards disappeared to on Newegg

I misread Cliff's build as mini-ITX.
29 Apr 2013 ~ 7:19pm fatcat
@fatcat, SATA 6Gb/s is common to all 900-series chipsets. I'd like to know where all of the 990-series uATX boards disappeared to on Newegg

I misread Cliff's build as mini-ITX.
Okay. Yea I thought it was odd there were no MATX/MITX AMD 9xx motherboards. I agree you don't need 990FX.

Maybe the lack of onboard GPU? I see numerous FM1/2 motherboards
30 Apr 2013 ~ 1:33pm Cliff_Forster Micro ATX is probably the form factor I'd look at. MITX would be pretty bad ass, I'm just not sure I'd cram that much in it.