AMD Radeon HD 6970m vs. 6990m

I am looking at the Lotus p150hm from malibal, and I have the choice of upgrading the GPU. I'm looking at the 6970m for $75, but they also have the 6990m for $145. Is the 6990m worth the premium in your opinions? I know that, on paper, the 6990m is better, but is it a big enough improvement to warrant the money? Please help, I am on a tight budget. My configuration is this:
MALIBAL Lotus P150HM -- 1371.58

Display: 15.6" 1920 x 1080 FHD LED Backlit Glossy Display

Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM, 6MB L3 Cache, 2.2-3.1GHz

Memory: (8GB) 8192MB, PC3-10660/1333MHz DDR3 - 2 SO-DIMM

Graphics Card: AMD® Radeon HD 6970M 2GB GDDR5

Hard Drive: 500GB 7200rpm 2.5" SATA 300

Optical Drive Bay: 8X Multi DVD+/-R/RW RAM Dual-Layer Drive

Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium; 64-bit

Wireless: Internal 802.11B/G/N LAN and Bluetooth Card

Cooling: IC Diamond 7 Thermal Compound, CPU & GPU

Lotus P150HM - MALIBAL

 

It's a difference of 10 to 15 percent. For me that isn't worth $70.

If your budget is that tight, take the 6970M and overclock it.

 

Hence the IC Diamond 7 thermal compound

 

70 bucks too much? really? come on man, don't drink beer for a week or two

if you wanna max metro 2033, then 6970m is the way to go, but 6990m is pretty much better in any other game.. still you got a hell of a laptop there for 1370, good deal

 

It's an opportunity cost. Will you wish you had bought the upgrade down the road? If you do...then it will cost a heck of a lot more to upgrade(aka buy the new card and replace it) later, than it would have to do it at purchase time.

 

I think I'll get the 6990m, then. Thank you!

 

yep on noticing this thread i thought instantly 25% difference with same games tested. certainly worth 6990m if you are even giving yourself an option.

 

Normally, the 6990m will run a bit hotter, but not by much. You can always undervolt it to make it run cooler without loss in performance. You can even overclock it a bit after you undervolt if you want even more juice out of your GPU and you will find plenty of guides and people here who can help you if you decide to do this. Make sure you get a good thermal paste with it. ICD7 should be enough, though.

Or you can wait for the new generation of cards like the high end 7xxx series which should be available this summer at the latest. It is said that the performance difference is rather significant because of the new 28nm architecture and many people here will either upgrade, or wait to buy them directly in a new laptop.

 

6990M hands down. I have run the 6970M and it just isn't as good.

I have only just begun using a 6990M but so far I can fold 100% GPU load at 730/900 at just 0.96V perfectly stable! My 6970M couldn't do that even with less horsepower! As for temps hmm how does 68C max sound

 

I have a pair of 6970m's and 6990m's. Honestly with the latest drivers there is a very small difference if any on most games. Definetly not 15-20% difference. Try about 5-10% at most minus maybe a game or 2. Some of the games I run there is no difference whatsoever. If the $70 saved is a big deal grab the 6970m and dont worry about it. If you can swing the extra $70 though, then go for it.