Radeon HD 6990 vs GeForce GTX 590 – PC performance graphics benchmarks of Graphics Cards

 

It’s been a while since the release of the Radeon HD 6990 versus the GeForce GTX 590, but it was only recently that we were able to obtain the card data for our testing. In order to compensate for this long time period, we conducted the most extensive comparative test, including not only single video cards, but also their Cross Fire and SLI tandems.

We won’t go too deep and will give only a brief description of the video cards.

Radeon HD 6950

 

The Radeon HD 6950, which you see in the screenshot above, is manufactured by XFX and in design and frequencies (800 MHz for the core and 5000 for memory) completely corresponds to the AMD reference model, with the exception of only a distinctive sticker on the case, revealing its affiliation with this company. On the rear panel, the video card has 5 monitor outputs, is content with two 6-pin power connectors and has a dual BIOS on board. The pair in Cross Fire was a sample Radeon HD 6950 video card provided by AMD.

Radeon HD 6970

Like its younger brother, the Radeon HD 6970 produced by XFX is a completely reference solution, without any frills or modifications. The video card frequencies are 880 MHz for the core and 5500 MHz for the memory. Like the younger solution, the Radeon HD 6970 has 5 monitor pins on the rear panel, is content with one 8-pin and one 6-pin power connector, and has a dual BIOS on board. The pair in Cross Fire was a sample Radeon HD 6970 video card provided by AMD.

GeForce GTX 570

The GeForce GTX 570 solution, presented by Leadtek, is also a completely reference solution and repeats the design and frequency characteristics recommended by NVIDIA. The frequency characteristics of video cards are 732 MHz for the core and 380 MHz for the memory. On the rear panel there are three outputs for monitors, and the video card itself is content with two 6-pin power connectors. The pair in SLI was an identical GeForce GTX 570 manufactured by Leadtek.

GeForce GTX 580 

GeForce GTX 580 AMP!, provided by Zotac, completely replicates the design of the original boards, but has slightly higher frequencies, which are equal to 810 MHz for the core and 4100 MHz for the memory. On the rear panel there are three pins for connecting monitors, and power is supplied via one 8-pin and one 6-pin power connector. During tests, all video card frequencies were reset to the reference level. The pair in SLI was a GeForce GTX 580 sample video card provided by NVIDIA.

GeForce GTX 590

The GeForce GTX 590 that took part in testing is a sample product provided by NVIDIA. Video card frequencies are 607 MHz for the core and 3400 MHz for memory. The video card has 4 pins for connecting a monitor, and its additional power is provided through two 8-pin power connectors. The video card is based on two full-fledged GF 110 chips.

Radeon HD 6990 

 

The Radeon HD 6990 is also a sample solution provided to us by AMD. On the rear panel, the Radeon HD 6990 has 5 monitor pins, is content with two 8-pin power connectors and has a dual BIOS on board. By default, the BIOS has frequencies equal to 830 MHz for the core and 5000 MHz for the memory, but with a slight switch of the toggle switch, the frequencies for the core increase to 880 MHz. The tests were carried out in nominal mode, since all video cards in today’s test were tested at nominal frequencies.

Cross Fire Configuration

To enable Cross Fire mode, you will need an appropriate motherboard that supports this technology. In this regard, AMD has a slight advantage, since boards with Cross Fire support are more common than those with SLI expansion. Don’t forget about a high-quality power supply that can easily power two power-hungry video cards. Cross Fire technology involves connecting up to 4 graphics chips simultaneously. We went for a more accessible solution for the consumer and tested pairs of Radeon HD 6950 and Radeon HD 6970 video cards, paralleled with a special Cross Fire bridge.

Cross Fire technology can be set up without any problems and turns on automatically when video cards are connected correctly. Settings for this mode can be changed via Catalyst Control Center in the “Games” tab. The dual-chip Radeon HD 6990 is defined as one video card, although it is recognized as two in the device manager, and, unfortunately, it is not possible to flexibly manage its graphics chips at the moment.

SLI Configuration

 

To enable SLI mode, you will need an appropriate motherboard, so if you are preparing in advance to assemble a graphics subsystem from two GeForce video cards, we advise you to carefully select a motherboard. SLI technology involves connecting up to 4 graphics chips simultaneously in 4-Way SLI mode. Our tests involved pairs of GeForce GTX 570 and GeForce GTX 580, paralleled with a special SLI bridge.

SLI technology, as well as Cross Fire mode, has no installation problems. Settings for this mode can be found in the “3D Settings” tab in the NVIDIA control panel. The GeForce GTX 590 is detected exactly like any graphics card running in SLI mode, so we can turn one GPU on or off, or even reassign physics acceleration to any of them

Methodology and general testing

All video cards were tested at maximum graphics quality using MSI Afterburner. The purpose of the test is to determine how video cards from different manufacturers behave under the same conditions. The minimum and average frame size is taken as the performance indicator.

Our video cards were tested at a resolution of 1920×1080 at the highest possible quality settings in normal mode and NVIDIA 3D Vision (if the game supports this technology), as well as at a resolution of 5760×1080 for AMD Eyefinity technology. All tests were carried out on the X58 test platform with a Core i 7 930 processor overclocked to 4.2 GHz.

Aliens vs. Predator 2011

 

Aliens vs Predator was released more than a year ago and was one of the first projects that actively used the capabilities of DirectX 11. The benchmark released by Rebellion after its release had to be abandoned, since it lacks flexibility in graphics settings.

You can read a detailed review of the game in the following article.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080

 

Unlike the benchmark, in the game itself, NVIDIA cards demonstrate much greater agility. All single-chip and multi-chip video cards showed sufficient performance for gaming.

Testing at maximum quality settings 5760×1080 in AMD Eyefinity mode

 In AMD Eyefinity all mode, tested participants also showed decent performance, showing a minimum FPS of at least 25 frames.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

 

Another important project in the PC industry is Battlefield: Bad Company 2, which also uses some of the capabilities of DirectX 11. This game is equally good for both NVIDIA 3D Vision and AMD Eyefinity, fully realizing all the delights of these technologies. 3D is rated Excellent.

 You can read a detailed review of the game in the following article.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080

 

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is also loyal to all graphics solutions and allows you to enjoy a completely playable picture even with maximum graphics quality settings.

Testing at maximum quality settings 5760×1080 in AMD Eyefinity mode

 

In test mode, the AMD Eyefinity Radeon HD 6950 and Radeon HD 6970 technologies were unable to provide a playable minimum FPS. For this mode we recommend multi-chip configurations.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 in NVIDIA 3D Vision mode

 

In the test of 3D Vision technology in Battlefield: Bad Company 2, all video cards were able to provide a comfortable FPS.

Metro 2033

 

The game Metro 2033, developed by Ukrainians, is one of the striking examples of the height of thought of our compatriots. Immediately after its release, it became one of the most resource-intensive games, many times surpassing the well-known Crysis in system requirements. The game is certified 3D Vision Ready.

You can read a detailed review of the game in the following article.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080

 

Finally, it happened and Metro 2033 was conquered… And although the game is optimized for NVIDIA video cards of the Fermi generation, the Cross Fire Radeon HD 6950 also managed to cross the barrier of 25 FPS, which is comfortable for the game.

Testing at maximum quality settings 5760×1080 AA in AMD Eyefinity mode

 

AMD video cards did not even have enough impressive capacity, such as 2 gigabytes of video memory, to pass the Eyefinity test with MSSA 4X enabled, so the tests were carried out in AA mode. Unfortunately, none of the tested solutions turned out to be able to show acceptable performance at a resolution of 5760×1080.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 AAA in NVIDIA 3D Vision mode

 

Since AMD video cards did not have enough video memory to pass the Eyefinity test with MSSA 4X enabled, 3 tests were carried out for 2033D Vision in Metro 2 with and without MSSA 4X enabled. In AA mode, more or less acceptable performance will be shown by a SLI combination of two GeForce GTX 570 and faster solutions.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 MSSA 4X in NVIDIA 3D Vision mode

 

 With MSSA 4X enabled, the only thing you can play passably on is the SLI of two GeForce GTX 580s.

Just Cause 2

 

 Just Cause 2 is currently one of the most beautiful games. But at the moment, for playing in standard mode, powerful single-chip solutions are quite enough, and for complete bells and whistles, so to speak, you need NVIDIA video cards, so it makes no sense to compare video cards in the same modes. This time the test was carried out only in NVIDIA 3D Vision and AMD Eyefinity modes. The game is certified 3D Vision Ready.

 You can read a detailed review of the game in the following article. 

Testing at maximum quality settings 5760×1080 in AMD Eyefinity mode

 

Cross Fire gives almost 90%, allowing you to play at an almost comfortable level, using dual-chip solutions.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 in NVIDIA 3D Vision mode

 

In Just Cause 2 in 3D mode with GPU processing of water surfaces and all sorts of other technological goodies turned on, for a comfortable game you will need at least a GeForce GTX 580. The performance gain in this case when moving from single-chip solutions to multi-chip ones is minimal.

Lost Planet 2 Benchmark

Lost Planet 2 did not show its best side and is a little rake project, unlike its predecessor Lost Planet, which many, many players played voraciously. The only interesting thing is its benchmark, which can fully reveal the full potential of modern video cards, although it is tailored for NVIDIA. The game is certified 3D Vision Ready.  

 You can read a detailed review of the benchmark in the following article.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080

 

Lost Planet 2 is optimized for NVIDIA video cards, which in this case have a significant advantage over their competitors, allowing single-chip GeForce solutions to outperform dual-chip Radeon solutions.

Testing at maximum quality settings 5760×1080 in AMD Eyefinity mode

 

For acceptable Eyefinity performance on three monitors at maximum graphics settings, you will need at least a combination of two Radeon HD 6950 or higher.

 Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 in NVIDIA 3D Vision mode

 

In 3D mode in Lost Planet 2, acceptable performance will be provided by the GeForce GTX 580 video accelerator, and comfortable SLI from the same video cards.

Dragon Age II

 

Dragon Age II is a controversial product – some players liked this RPG, and some did not…. The only asset is its technology and very respectable requirements for the video system of your personal friend.

 You can read a detailed review of the game in the following article.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080

 

Dragon Age II initially had a liking for AMD video cards, and even now they show quite decent performance, leaving their price opponents behind.

Testing at maximum quality settings 5760×1080 in AMD Eyefinity mode

 

 In AMD Eyefinity mode, only a combination of Cross Fire Radeon HD 6970 can show comfortable performance in Dragon Age II.

Bulletstorm

 

Bulletstorm came out recently and in our opinion is one of the best shooters of this year at the moment. In normal mode, the game does not pose a serious threat even to single-chip solutions, and rests at the threshold of 62 FPS, but in NVIDIA 3D Vision and AMD Eyefinity modes it can show its teeth… 3D in Bulletstorm has an Excellent rating.

You can read a detailed review of the game in the following article.

Testing at maximum quality settings 5760×1080 in AMD Eyefinity mode

 

Video cards in Bulletstorm also show excellent performance when AMD Eyefinity is activated.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 in NVIDIA 3D Vision mode

 

Acceptable performance in 3D was provided by all tested video accelerators.

Total War: Shogun 2

 

Total War: Shogun 2 is the iconic successor to the glorious Total War series. And although support for DirectX 11 was announced from the very beginning, it is not in the game until now. But even despite such an unfortunate fact, the game is quite capable of driving even the most advanced single-chip solutions into a dead end.

 You can read a detailed review of the game in the following article.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080

 

AMD cards have a slight advantage in Total War: Shogun 2, and this is especially true for multi-chip solutions.

Testing at maximum quality settings 5760×1080 in AMD Eyefinity mode

 

 Only multi-chip solutions at the Cross Fire Radeon HD 6950 level and higher will be able to show acceptable performance when AMD Eyefinity technology is activated.

Crysis 2

 

Crysis 2, unfortunately, was consoled and at the time of release was not able to show anything outstanding in terms of graphics technology. As in the case of Total War, a patch with support for DirectX 11 awaits us, but again this is a matter of time and depends on the diligence of the developers.

You can read a detailed review of the game in the following article.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080

 

Testing video cards in Crysis 2 is just for sport and is not critical to the performance of the solutions.

Testing at maximum quality settings 5760×1080 in AMD Eyefinity mode

 

 In Eyefinity mode, a single-chip video accelerator of the Radeon HD 6950 level will show acceptable performance, while multi-processor graphics solutions will be able to provide comfortable performance.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 in NVIDIA 3D Vision mode 

 

3D in Crysis 2 does not have a significant impact on performance loss and all tested video accelerators cope with it without problems.

3DMark 11

 

3DMark 11, in our opinion, this is, unfortunately, not what we are used to associating the expression 3DMark with. Lately, the emphasis has been placed not on the beauty of the picture, but on the “flexion” of video cards and hardly anyone will let out exclamations of admiration…. But whatever one may say, it is the only one that is not limited by the performance of the central processor and is suitable for adequately evaluating video accelerators.

Testing in Performance mode 1280×720

 In Performance mode we have a slight advantage of AMD cards.

Testing in mode Extreme 1920×1080

 

In the mode Extreme NVIDIA’s positions are rising slightly and its multi-chip video cards show performance comparable to opponents from the AMD camp.

Heaven Benchmark 2.5 

 

 Heaven Benchmark is also a product developed by our compatriots and is currently one of the most beautiful DirectX 11 benchmarks. All settings, including tessellation, were set to the maximum level of quality in order to squeeze all the juice out of all tested experimental subjects…

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080 AA 8X AF 16X

 

In Heaven Benchmark, as always, the advantage is on the side of NVIDIA video cards, which show simply impressive performance. This time, for clarity, the overall score was not FPS, but the overall score.

The amount of costs and rationality of using graphic configurations.

Below we have tried to show the optimal use and the amount of costs that the end user will have to pay to purchase video cards. We took the estimated cost of video cards at retail, calculated the total amount of minimum FPS in general benchmark tests, and calculated the cost of one FPS in the equivalent of an American dollar.

The most productive solution in our tests is an SLI combination of two GeForce GTX 580. An SLI combination of two GeForce GTX 570 turned out to be slightly slower than the GeForce GTX 590, although until the last moment we thought that everything would be completely different. CrossFire from Radeon HD 6970 turned out to be faster than the dual-chip solution Radeon HD 6990, followed by CrossFire Radeon HD 6950.

The very first thing that catches your eye is the price of the CrossFire Radeon HD 6950 bundle, which will cost less than one GeForce GTX 580, although it looks more attractive in terms of performance.

 

As we can see, the Radeon HD 1 costs 6950 FPS the cheapest, and then comes its Cross Fire configuration, which shows simply stunning performance for its money. The most unprofitable purchase is SLI of the two GeForce GTX 580. The two-chip Radeon HD 6990 and GeForce GTX 590 are also not particularly attractive in terms of saving money, but you can save on them by purchasing a motherboard with one PCI-E expansion slot.

	An excellent single-chip solution, the only downsides of which are overall performance and rather weak performance in Eyefinity mode in ultra-high resolution screens. But for a user with a very modest budget, this will be a very profitable purchase, which will show its worth in almost any graphics applications.
	High-performance single-chip solution for most enthusiasts. The video card was prevented from receiving a higher score by the high level of heat generation and very noticeable acoustic accompaniment when the graphics chip was fully loaded. It is quite sufficient for Eyefinity mode, but we still recommend using faster solutions for this technology.
	The fastest single-board video card from AMD today, whose performance is almost comparable to that of the Cross Fire Radeon HD 6950 Cross Fire Radeon HD 6970. The card has a very respectable heat dissipation and dimensions, so before installation you should make sure that you have 32 centimeters of free space in your system unit. The main advantage is lower power consumption than the Cross Fire Radeon HD 6970 combination and one occupied PCI-E slot.
	This is the only multi-chip solution that received a gold award in today’s test. The only disadvantage of this combination is the natural increase in power consumption and two occupied PCI-E slots. The card performed well in all test applications, including Eyefinity mode with ultra-high resolution 5760×1920.
	The Cross Fire Radeon HD 6970 combination has the same disadvantages as a single-chip accelerator plus two occupied PCI-E slots. This configuration will be beneficial if you already have a single-chip Radeon HD 6970 accelerator, and you want to significantly increase the performance of your graphics configuration without significant costs. However, it is worth remembering about the doubling of energy consumption and stocking up on a powerful power supply.

	An excellent single-chip solution that will allow you to enjoy maximum graphics settings in almost any game. A huge advantage of this video cards is its excellent price and high level of performance. The only thing that can disappoint is the amount of video memory equal to 1280 megabytes, which can sometimes not be enough for the screen in extreme situations.
	The fastest single-chip accelerator presented by both companies today, which has several disadvantages, the most obvious of which is its price, equivalent to a bunch of Cross Fire Radeon HD 6950 video cards. However, you should also not forget that this video cards will be enough for almost all modern games in the most difficult graphics modes.
	The fastest single-board solution from NVIDIA video cards developed by this company to date. The card has very impressive gaming performance, coupled with a very low noise level, so you can enjoy your favorite video games with great pleasure without the annoying noise of the cooling system. Due to NVIDIA’s desire to make the card energy efficient and quiet, its performance has suffered, which is significantly less than two GeForce GTX 580.
	A very profitable solution that has performance comparable to the GeForce GTX 590 for a lower amount. However, there are also some nuances here, such as a reduced amount of video memory and a motherboard with SLI support. Again, do not forget about a high-quality power supply capable of feeding this tandem, especially in overclocked operating modes.
	The fastest of the more or less accessible graphic solutions today, the huge disadvantage of which is the very steep price, which exceeds $1000. However, you’ll be well rewarded for your money’s worth with thunderous performance that’s more than enough to power every video game released to date.

Well, who is the “king of the hill” you ask – Radeon HD 6990 and GeForce GTX 590? This issue is quite controversial, since in the main graphics-intensive applications the video card from AMD is faster, and in others from NVIDIA, so mutual parity becomes quite obvious. Therefore, we will refrain from loud statements and invite our readers to draw their own conclusions. This test took us a very significant amount of time, so we quickly and without delay get down to our direct responsibilities, namely GPU tests in newly released games!

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Rating 88%