AMD Radeon HD 6790 Video Card Review

How We Tested

During our benchmarking sessions, w
e used the configuration listed below. Between our benchmarking sessions the only variable was the video card being tested.

Hardware Configuration

• CPU: Core i7 Extreme 965 (3.2 GHz, 8 MB L2 memory cache)
• Motherboard: MSI Big Bang XPower (1.5 BIOS)
• Memories: 3x 2 GB G.Skill F3-10666CL7T-6GBPK (DDR3-1333/PC3-10666, CL7-7-7-18)
• Hard disk drive: Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000GLFS (300 GB, SATA-300, 10,000 rpm, 16 MB cache)
• Video monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 305T (30” LCD, 2560×1600)
• Power Supply: SilverStone Element ST75EF
• CPU Cooler: Intel stock
• Optical Drive: LG GSA-H54N

Software Configuration

• Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
• Video resolution: 2560×1600 @ 60 Hz

Driver Versions

• AMD video driver version: Catalyst 11.3 (Radeon HD 5770 and 6850)
• AMD video driver version: 8.84.2 Beta (Radeon HD 6790)
• NVIDIA video driver version: 266.58
• Intel Inf driver version: 9.1.2.1008

Software Used

• 3DMark 11 Professional 1.0.0
• Aliens vs. Predator + Benchmark Tool
• Call of Duty 4 – Patch 1.7
• Crysis Warhead – Patch 1.1 + HOC Bench Crysis Warhead Benchmark Tool 1.1.1
• Far Cry 2 – Patch 1.03
• Lost Planet 2
• StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty – Patch 1.1.0

Error Margin

We adopted a 3% error margin. Thus, differences below 3% cannot be considered relevant. In other words, products with a performance difference below 3% should be considered as having similar performance.