radeon hd 6990

[SuVegito]

This amdness.

[Kermanit]

Droool....

[apt.pupil]

This amdness.

too true

[Heron]

Noise is a factor though...no matter how good enigneering gets, noise is one thing that irritates.

[apt.pupil]

trust me: when I get into a game, you wont hear the gpu running over the music I have blasting in game

[Heron]

That's good for you. Not everyone can claim the same though, and the power it guzzles on load is insane. I mean, does any game need this to run at playable FPS?

EDIT: I run a HIS 5870, and I feel that single card solutions generally suffice. Then again, I use 24 inch monitors.

[apt.pupil]

absolutely not Heron. single card setups are laughable. there is just no way that single core solutions work these days in games. Not when its all about either having 3D, or several monitors to immerse yourself in the game.

and if its worth doing: its definitely worth overdoing. I'd rather fork out now and build a pc that will not only be able to max out current games, but also consistently max out- or close to- for the next 12 months.

[Heron]

It might be for you, apt, but there's still the majority without those capabilities, and games cannot be all about the high end, as Crysis will attest to. And my 5870 does what it needs to do with efficiently, and I don't need to rob a bank to get that.

But then again, my new games are Shogun 2: Total War, and Dawn of War 2: Retribution.

[Gas0lin3]

trust me: when I get into a game, you wont hear the gpu running over the music I have blasting in game

Some don't 'blast' their music and keep the volumes at an ok level, which is when you hear the GPU(Obviously dependant on the cooling solution, but in this case, the stock fan) when it's working. Actually you can hear the GPU even if you blasted because of the imminent situations where the sound is gone for a while.

absolutely not Heron. single card setups are laughable. there is just no way that single core solutions work these days in games. Not when its all about either having 3D, or several monitors to immerse yourself in the game.

and if its worth doing: its definitely worth overdoing. I'd rather fork out now and build a pc that will not only be able to max out current games, but also consistently max out- or close to- for the next 12 months.

Single card for 1920x1200 and lower is definitely enough. Even with 3D its enough if you get like 480, 570 or 580. You are quite hyperbolic.

[Heron]

And I will prefer card lengths to go down too...it's irritating when you have a card that's just so long it doesn't fit inside a Centurion 5 II.

Really, the 6990 is for the gaming purist. Mere mortals like me will rather stick with single-card solutions that suffice.