Sunday, April 1st 2012

AMD Radeon HD 7990 Reference Board Pictured, Specs Confirmed in GPU-Z Screenshot

Admittedly, this is a terrible day for news on unannounced GPUs, but we rushed it in anyway. Here are the first board shots of AMD's next-generation dual-GPU graphics card, the Radeon HD 7990 (codename: "New Zealand"). Sources told us that AMD working overtime to release this SKU, to restore performance-leadership of the Radeon HD 7900 series. The dual-GPU card, according to the specifications at hand, is bearing AMD's coveted "GHz Edition" badge, its core is clocked higher than that of the HD 7970.

But first, the board shot. Pictured below is the first picture of this beast. Right away you'll question its authenticity for using a 70 mm fan instead of a lateral-flow blower, but that design change serves a purpose. Despite its high performance, the previous-generation Radeon HD 6990 was plagued with user complaints of high noise. That's because a single, normal-sized lateral-flow blower was positioned in the center, blowing through two sets of aluminum channels, at a very high speed. With the HD 7990, AMD on the other hand, borrowed the ventilation design of NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 590, to a large extant. It reused the fan found on reference-design HD 7850 and HD 7770, and placed it in middle of two heatsinks.
The picture reveals the card to be fairly long. AMD chose a fancy PCB number to denote "leeeet" (elite), it did a similar word-play with "AUSUM", around the HD 6990. 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. Moving on to specifications, the HD 7990 features 1 GHz core clock speed, with 1250 MHz memory. The card has a total of 6 GB GDDR5 memory, 3 GB per GPU. It features completely-unlocked 28 nm "Tahiti XT" GPUs, with 2048 stream processors. It draws power from two 8-pin PCIe power connectors. Display outputs include one dual-link DVI, four mini-DisplayPort connectors. 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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84 Comments on AMD Radeon HD 7990 Reference Board Pictured, Specs Confirmed in GPU-Z Screenshot

#26
radrok
btarunrBecause GPU-Z 0.6.0 doesn't have tested support for HD 7990. It still recognizes HD 7990 as two HD 7900 series "Tahiti" graphics cards in CrossFire. Things like GPU codename and launch date are parameters that are manually written to GPU-Z's database. With most other things, GPU-Z is taught how to detect them.
So my guess was correct, thanks :)
Posted on Reply
#27
dorsetknob
"YOUR RMA REQUEST IS CON-REFUSED"
congratulations good april "FOOLS"
google search shows ya spoofed many a reputable site with this one
nearly all search results refer back to TPU

one set of fanboys are creaming their pants and the other are sh****g their pants

Myself i will reserve my opinion till there is a test card benchmarked on the site
:roll::nutkick::respect::toast::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:
Posted on Reply
#28
Birdman86
Anyway, why not start adding those GHz Edition stickers to HD 7970 and make it a bit harder for GTX 680?
Posted on Reply
#29
Maban
I gotta ask, what's with all the watermarks on the news images lately? I can understand this type of thing needing them but you've gone as far as watermarking the press release images.

Just noticed there's a "Displays" tab on the GPU-Z pic. What's that about?
Posted on Reply
#30
hardcore_gamer
Its good to see a 1Ghz Tahiti. AMD should have clocked 7970 at >1Ghz. Its clear that nvidia increased the clock speeds of GTX680 more than they originally planned, to beat 7970.
Posted on Reply
#31
NHKS
While other forums are seriously making their analysis :rolleyes: on this TPU article and the 'alleged' photo leak <cough cough>... I ve stumbled upon another pic(below) of this card but I am going crazy :banghead: over which will be the 'final' version.. anyone want to bet ;)
Posted on Reply
#33
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
MabanI gotta ask, what's with all the watermarks on the news images lately? I can understand this type of thing needing them but you've gone as far as watermarking the press release images.
Other sites are copying PRs posted on TPU verbatim, without linking back to us. They're hence freeloading on the contacts and relationships we built with companies tirelessly, over years, which reward us with early access to PRs.

Not only do we watermark images in PRs, but also make subtle/unnoticeable changes in the wording that allows us to track down sites (using google) that copy PRs posted on TPU, without linking back to us.
Posted on Reply
#34
Kreij
Senior Monkey Moderator
btarunrbut also make subtle/unnoticeable changes in the wording that allows us to track down sites (using google) that copy PRs posted on TPU, without linking back to us.
And all this time I just thought you made a lot of typos. :laugh:
Posted on Reply
#36
NHKS
"Two Words Mr.President - Plausible Deniability"



More generally,“plausible deniability” can also apply to any act which leaves little or no evidence of wrongdoing. ;)
Posted on Reply
#38
hardcore_gamer
symmetricallol it's April 1st people...
And it's 7990 dude.
Posted on Reply
#39
badtaylorx
Ill try to ignore the fact that one side is glossy and the other is matte....AMD's light booth is better than that
Posted on Reply
#40
entropy13
btarunrMy 2010 joke drove people to suicide.
As Solaris admitted in another thread. :shadedshu

:laugh:
Posted on Reply
#41
Delta6326
If you looks at these 2 pics you will notice that they are not the same.

has metal under fan, thus the heatsink. if you re-read the article
btarunrWith the HD 7990, AMD on the other hand, borrowed the ventilation design of NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 590, to a large extant. It reused the fan found on reference-design HD 7850 and HD 7770, and placed it in middle of two heatsinks.
And now take a look at the 7990 pic


No metal because it is in the middle of both gpus. also notice how the top of the 7990 from fan to the right has slightly different PCB marking. :)
Posted on Reply
#42
jpierce55
you can also see markings/components at the top of both cards on the right side. That is also different. I wish I was not noticing little details like that!
Posted on Reply
#43
Delta6326
jpierce55I wish I was not noticing little details like that!
You wish for this 7990 to be fake? I sure don't If its at 1GHz than that would be awesome-sauce!
Posted on Reply
#44
NHKS
:pimp:

I would prefer this one..
Posted on Reply
#45
Lionheart
OK is this real or fake, I can't tell and it's april 2nd here so april fools is over ^_^

herpy derp :)
Posted on Reply
#46
librin.so.1
TheMailMan78I wonder why they would change the PCB markings, serial codes and the fan but forget the DVI imperfections. Stupid noobs.......... or AMD marketing is getting better lol
Well, the most fishy part for me personally is: "why is there nothing under the fan? Is it [a top-blowing fan] supposed to be blowing into a void? Using the positive pressure it creates to vent through the sinks, never mind it is probably not very efficient, etc?;"
And then even more so: "Why is the fan blowing into a space made almost completely out of #0D0908 ???" << LOL
Posted on Reply
#47
mtosev
today is april 1st so I don't know if this is another joke or if TPU is serious this time.hmmmmmmmm:wtf:
Posted on Reply
#48
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
VinskaWell, the most fishy part for me personally is: "why is there nothing under the fan? Is it [a top-blowing fan] supposed to be blowing into a void?
Because under the fan there's just a baseplate heatsink. The fan's job is to push air laterally, a not-so-old example of this concept is GTX 590:



Not much happening right under that fan.
Posted on Reply
#49
radrok
I can definitely see some copper heatsinks under that fan, or am I imaginating things? :D
Posted on Reply
#50
jpierce55
Delta6326You wish for this 7990 to be fake? I sure don't If its at 1GHz than that would be awesome-sauce![/QUOTE

TBH, I can't afford it, so it does not matter!
Posted on Reply
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