Introduction

With another HD 6990 4GB arriving, we take the time to have a proper look at the overclocking potential of the model. It was great that we achieved 1GHz on both cores on our Sapphire sample, but considering we had to run the fan at 100% which generated in excess of 90 dB of noise, we understand that it's hardly a feasible option for most people.

So instead of testing the HIS HD 6990 4GB at its reference speeds or in CrossFireX (two things we've already done), we'll instead be testing its overclocking potential with the fan set to a much more bearable AUTO.

Of course, we'll again be using MSI Afterburner software to overclock and that means we'll be able to increase the core voltage on both our cores which should help us achieve a strong overclock. Before we get into that, though, let's first check out the package of the HIS card before taking a closer look at the card itself.

Once we've done that we'll of course check out the specifications on the model, but more importantly the overclock we managed to achieve. Then the fun stuff begins and we find out just what kind of performance we're able to get from the card when it's overclocked above the 880MHz that AUSUM mode offers us.

The Package

The overall box design doesn't hold any surprises except for the fact it's a bit longer than we're used to due to the longer card. Inside we've got a strong showing of cables; before we get into that, though, we've got the normal line-up of stuff like manual, driver CD, CrossFire Bridge, two Dual-Molex to 8-Pin PCIE connectors and a DVI to VGA connector.

The other four connectors are all Mini DP convertors. There's an active and passive Single-Link DVI convertor; one that converts to HDMI and the final one converts to normal DisplayPort. It's fantastic that AMD and its partners have given us a load of adapters for the card as it means at launch you'll be able to really make use of it, depending on the monitor you've got.