How much faster is....

TheQuestor

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 5, 2004
Messages
130
I have a HD 6990 right now but am thinking about replacing it with a RX 580 8GB card. Is the 580 a huge leap in performance or would I be better off holding on to my 6990 until the prices come down on some of the faster cards?
 
Without even comparing performance I'm going to suggest you hold on. 580's are inflated still.

Unless the 6990 isnt cutting it in games for you at 1080p, cause the 580 is a boss at 1080p, less so at higher resolution. If thats the case, someone else would have to chime in on actually performance metrics.

I have a 580, and its overkill for my needs. Also doubles as a space heater, but your likely used to that with the 6990. If you can get by with what you have I would definately wait for 7nm. I dont expect anything to happen out of the new NV card launch, they will be priced too high to shake up the mid range.
 
I have a HD 6990 right now but am thinking about replacing it with a RX 580 8GB card. Is the 580 a huge leap in performance or would I be better off holding on to my 6990 until the prices come down on some of the faster cards?

I couldn't find any benches of a 6990 vs a 580, but this how a 6990 compares to a 290X:

https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1183?vs=1059

And this is how a 290X compares to a 580:

https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1721?vs=1868
 
if you can get one at normal retail then its a great purchase......I never regretted getting mine for 260ish a little over a year ago and the 8 gigs of vram comes in handy. ill be honest and wouldnt mind a vega56 if i could ever purchase one at actual msrp
 
Look for a used 980 TI! As the recent hardocp review showed, it's still a beast, and it's cheap since it's a bad miner.


But yeah, whatever you get will be a huge leap in performance over a 6990. Driver support will also be much better, and you'll get Fast Sync for some good smoothness/tearing improvement.
 
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Like mentioned above if you can land a deal on the 580 8GB, it's a great card and will crush that 6990 even in the best case scenario with Crossfire scaling.
 
I'll never own a Nvidia card again. Ever. I can't stand the company for a lot of reasons I won't go into here but surfice it to say I'm only interested in an AMD at the moment and current funds only allow me to get the RX580. If I could afford more I would as I have always until now have bought the highest end vid card available. This old 6990 has been a beast and I really got the $700+ I paid for it back then [+ the 150 for the waterblock] and it seems really hard to justify letting it go if it is just going to be a slight bump and I have read that it might not even be that. https://www.game-debate.com/gpu/ind...eon-rx-580-8gb-vs-radeon-hd-6990-asus-edition kind of shows that @ 1080 my 6990 might be the better choice at the monent which is almost scary considering how old my 6990 is. This is the 1st time I ever used a vid card this long as I used to be the kind of peep that needed the latest and greatest. But hey if the dude who is interested in buying it does so I may let it go anyway,

I can get a new RX580 for about 260 so I may just do that as it DX12 over my 6990 which is DX11 but that seems to be the only thing really "better' at the moment. I'm not going to mine with it or anything and I don't hardcore game like I used to but hey I may WANT to do some real gaming if any really cool games come out. Just lately all games suck. Lol.
 
580 8GB models have been just over $200 for weeks now, just setup and alert on Slickdeals and wait for it to pop.
 
I'll never own a Nvidia card again. Ever. I can't stand the company for a lot of reasons I won't go into here but surfice it to say I'm only interested in an AMD at the moment and current funds only allow me to get the RX580. If I could afford more I would as I have always until now have bought the highest end vid card available. This old 6990 has been a beast and I really got the $700+ I paid for it back then [+ the 150 for the waterblock] and it seems really hard to justify letting it go if it is just going to be a slight bump and I have read that it might not even be that. https://www.game-debate.com/gpu/ind...eon-rx-580-8gb-vs-radeon-hd-6990-asus-edition kind of shows that @ 1080 my 6990 might be the better choice at the monent which is almost scary considering how old my 6990 is. This is the 1st time I ever used a vid card this long as I used to be the kind of peep that needed the latest and greatest. But hey if the dude who is interested in buying it does so I may let it go anyway,

I can get a new RX580 for about 260 so I may just do that as it DX12 over my 6990 which is DX11 but that seems to be the only thing really "better' at the moment. I'm not going to mine with it or anything and I don't hardcore game like I used to but hey I may WANT to do some real gaming if any really cool games come out. Just lately all games suck. Lol.
Your 6990 was a great card for it's time and can still hold it's own in some cases, but I assure you, the RX 580 8GB is A LOT faster especially in newer titles where terrascale does not hold up as well compared to GCN.
 
Not to mention you won't need to worry about things like Xfire profiles, etc.

You may find the 6990 holds its own a lot of the time, but the 580 is more modern, has way more VRAM, uses way less power, will be quieter, and smoother. Even if your averages won't increase dramatically, your minimums definitely will and that's where most people notice the performance differences in terms of smoothness and stuttering.

The 580 will be a good card for a while at 1080p. It'll even handle some general 1440p if you turn some settings down. Just look out for ones on sale, and consider selling the 6990 to make back a few bucks.

I don't really know this site nor how reputable it is, but https://ocaholic.ch/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=1240&page=11 the 290x here comes out on top quite a bit, and the 580 is a better version of that so...

Alternatively spend the extra and grab a Vega 56 if you can find one not inflated! :p.
 
Also, check this out for example:

index.png


As you can see, your 6990 performs EXACTLY the same as my GTX 960.

(an RX 580 is about twice as fast as a 960 and therefore, your 6990.)
 
Also, check this out for example:

View attachment 94769

As you can see, your 6990 performs EXACTLY the same as my GTX 960.

(an RX 580 is about twice as fast as a 960 and therefore, your 6990.)
A 580 is about 70% faster than a 960. You can see right there in your link that a 980 is 65% faster than the 960 and a 580 is usually about 5% faster than a 980.
 
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A 580 is about 70% faster than a 960. You can see right there in your link that a 980 is 65% faster than the 960 and a 580 is usually about 5% faster than a 980.

index.png


^^ Depends on the game obviously.

I was making a statement that, in general, tends to hold true heh
 
Even your example is 75%. Overall it would be around 70% faster. Bottom line is it is just as close to being only 50% faster as it is to being twice as fast...:p

Gotta say though, the difference in-game between 36 and 63 fps is two completely different gaming experiences lol
 
Gotta say though, the difference in-game between 36 and 63 fps is two completely different gaming experiences lol
Absolutely. If OP had a 7990, I could see reason for a little more hesitation, but even still the RX 580 is a great 1080P card and will not only run newer games better, but use less power doing it.
 
if you can get one at normal retail then its a great purchase......I never regretted getting mine for 260ish a little over a year ago and the 8 gigs of vram comes in handy. ill be honest and wouldnt mind a vega56 if i could ever purchase one at actual msrp

I've seen VEGA 64s for as low as $420 new at NewEgg.
 
Out of curiousity I picked up a 580 8gb on the board because we have 4 freesync monitors at the house. I put it in the wifes machine and the cards is super nice for GTA 5, and a lot more perkier than the 1060 3gb she was using...the only issue is it's Annoyingly loud. I guess it's something people get used to if they use AMD, but the 580 is a LOT louder than many of the video cards I've had...mosttly for being an middle of the line performer. When we play GTA 5 together, my old 980ti sounds like a purring kitten compared to her mating call of a 580.
 
Out of curiousity I picked up a 580 8gb on the board because we have 4 freesync monitors at the house. I put it in the wifes machine and the cards is super nice for GTA 5, and a lot more perkier than the 1060 3gb she was using...the only issue is it's Annoyingly loud. I guess it's something people get used to if they use AMD, but the 580 is a LOT louder than many of the video cards I've had...mosttly for being an middle of the line performer. When we play GTA 5 together, my old 980ti sounds like a purring kitten compared to her mating call of a 580.

What 580 did you grab? If you got any type of reference-style, yes it would sound like a hair-dryer, though even some aftermarket ones could be quite loud.
 
I always buy the Sapphire cards with aftermarket coolers. The Vapor X, Nitro, etc. They're always super quiet and cool very well.
 
I always buy the Sapphire cards with aftermarket coolers. The Vapor X, Nitro, etc. They're always super quiet and cool very well.

Random question. Have you had a recent Nvidia card to compare? I only ask because my 980ti and 580 are in the same room. Both running 1440p and pretty much same settings. The 980ti can't be heard where the fan on 580 can be heard from about 15 feet away.

I don't think it's a bad fan, because it just ramps up with use. AC'ed room and nice airflow in the case also.

We are going to deal with it, but it was just one of those things we weren't expecting. I was pretty excited about the card to try it out...but now we probably have to find a way to put the thing in another room and run a long cord to the monitor or something.
 
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