Hello!

Hi, i'm planning on buying an AMD 6990 video card next later next month. Anyway, i'm currently using 2x ati 3870 video cards and can't play any good games these days. They were like $200 each when they first came out and didn't last very long(can't handle new games). Can i expect the 6990 to play any game i want for 2+ years? It's annoying for something so expensive to be obsolete in a few months for what i paid for it. Money is hard to come by these days. Here's the rest of my pc, no money to upgrade but would it work well with the video card?

PhenomxII 940
2x Ati 3870
Gigabyte ga-ma 790x ud4p
4gb patriot ddr2 1066
Corsair 750w psu

First of all...

And when you ask if you could play games... At what resolution do you game? There is a big difference in power requirements from gaming on a single 1920x1080 monitor to gaming on three (or even just one) 2560x1440 monitors.

Secondly...
Lets say you were to get the 6690. That's about $750 spent on just the card. And your current system would bottleneck the hell out of it...

Thirdly...
I guess the cpu you have is the Phenom II X4 940?

If I were you; I would not spend the $750 on a 6990. I would buy a 6950 (they can be found as low as $260 at newegg), and would use the rest of the money to upgrade CPU, Motherboard, RAM.


I'm assuming a price on the HD6990 of $750

This is what I would do with that money:

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-890FXA-UD5 - $179.99

CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition - $199.99

Ram: Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 RAM PC12800 CL 8 - $63.99

Video Card: XFX HD-695A-CNFC Radeon HD 6950 2GB - 289.99
You can turn this card into a 6970 with a single BIOS flash on the card and gain that performance for free. Success rate on this modification is super high, but there are some cards that won't take it. I have a Sapphire 6950 and it successfully flashed to 6970.

That comes out to a total of $733.96 which is right smack in the middle of the range of prices fro the 6990 (they go from $700 to $750 depending on brand).

And you still have the option of selling all the old HW and making some of that money back. Keep the Corsair PSU though; they are very good.

Oh, sorry for the lack of information on my part, just got back from a 12hr work shift. Wow that is alot of really helpful information! I will see what i can do, it saddens me though, i really wish i could just pop the card in without bottleneck.

EDIT: Yeah, Resolution is 1920x1080 and the CPU was the AMD Phenomx4 940.

Friggit said:

Oh, sorry for the lack of information on my part, just got back from a 12hr work shift. Wow that is alot of really helpful information! I will see what i can do, it saddens me though, i really wish i could just pop the card in without bottleneck.

EDIT: Yeah, Resolution is 1920x1080 and the CPU was the AMD Phenomx4 940.

Click to expand...

No problem...

The thing with those super powered cards like the 6990 and/or GTX580 is that you will need a processor just as powerful to be able to feed it all the data that it processes.
You would definitely see a large improvement in game performance if you were to drop the 6990 into your system, but adding that card to your system would be kind of like buying a Lamborghini LP640 and never going past 2nd gear on it... Yes; you'll hit 100MPH on 2nd gear with that car, but that's as far as it will go... Sad proposition; knowing that if you let the car go through the rest of the gears you can hit 200MPH...


After having given this a bit of though... It hit me... With the budget; you could even go with a SandyBridge setup and really have a computer that will play your games for a few years to come.

Something like this:
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz - $219.99

Motherboard: MSI P67A-GD65 (B3)

Ram: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 - $64.99

Video Card: XFX HD-695A-CNFC Radeon HD 6950 2GB - $289.99

This system comes out to $754.99 and you will have a computer that will last you a few years for sure.

I know it's overwhelming, but just take your time and digest everything. I can tell you the the one "non-smart" option for you would be to purchase a HD 6990 to put in your current system.

Agreed with a full powered upgrade. A 6950 unlocked to a 6970 with a new system will be stronger, faster, and very likely would have better frames than dropping a 6990 in your current system.

Ive been on my LGA775 socket intel computer for a while and I LOVE it. I only upgraded from a 4870 to my current 5870 because I got a great deal on the sale of the old + purchase of the new. As for the system, I've only had to change the processor once. If you live near a microcenter you can even pick up a sandy bridge 2500+ processor for even less.. ($179.99 compared to that $219.99 link...)

A system upgrade like this will last you at LEAST 1 year. Since I cannot predict the type of games coming out after that I wouldn't be able to promise 2+... technology does move fast.

Thank you for the help guys, i think i will upgrade the pc next month with that shiny Intel setup and buy the 6990 after!