HIS ATI Radeon HD 6990 Review. The Benchmarks.
Test 2 – 3DMark 11.
Single vs. Single
The basic version of 3DMark 11 only allows for the “performance” profile to be used, this runs at a resolution of 1280×720 – lower than the equivelent profile in 3DMark Vantage – and claims to apply 1xmsaa (multi-sample anti aliasing) and 2x anisotropic filtering by default. However, since it is a much more graphically intensive series of tests, the scores show a difference more in line with those observed for “extreme” test in Vantage, with the 6990 again achieving a relative increase of over 50%.
Crossfire vs. SLI
And the tables are turned, well, a little! Three 580s achieve a performance increase of almost 150% relative to a single card and scale with an efficiency of 82% per card whilst adding another 6990 gives us a bonus of 42% in raw performance and a scaling efficiency of 71% per card.
3DMark 11 - Dual HD 6990 vs. Triple GTX 580
Get the Flash Player to see this player.Performance Analysis.
The 6990 again exceeds its 25% price justification target and commands an advantage of 51% in the single card battle and thus, representing 26% better value for money. In the multi-card face off, Nvidia wins on the scaling and performance fronts, though both results are impressive. However its advantage over the 6990s is only 16%, putting it 4% short of its 20% target and thereby handing the value award to ATI.
Test 3 – 3dMark Vantage.
Single vs. Single.
In the performance test, there is very little to choose between the cards, though once we move into extreme territory, the 6990 provides an increase of almost 50% relative to the 580’s score, an impressive result.
Crossfire vs. SLI
As expected, throwing two extra 580s into the equation results in a colossal improvement, enough to catch and overtake two 6990s in crossfire. This is a very impressive display of scaling efficiency from Nvidia but remember, these are only the raw figures and we’ve yet to see if they convert to a better solution for the price.
Performance Analysis.
Well, technically its one a piece here. In the single card battle in Vantage’s “performance profile” – which automatically sets the resolution to 1280×1024 – the 6990 fails to reach its 25% target by some margin while on the multi-card front in the same test, the 580s exceed their 20% advantage. Therefor, the 580 represents better value in both single and multi-card (3x SLI) configurations in this particular test. It should be sressed however, that this test is all but redundant since there are very few who would choose to game at such a low resolution. Furthermore, looking at the comparatively inefficient scaling for both cards, it is likely that performance is once more being governed down by the CPU.
At the bussiness end in the “extreme profile” test, things look healthier for both setups. One on one, the 6990 surges ahead, while the 580s scale better and offer superior raw performance in 3x SLI than the 6990s do in Crossfire. But again, its the 6990 which siezes the “bang for buck” crown in each case.