Why is the 6990m upgrade so cheap?

I finished ordering my 8150 and was playing the happy waiting game when it just occured to me.

Right now, all of the major resellers have the HD6990M upgrade at around $145 dollars, which supposedly is up to twice as powerful as the stock 560M. I know its on promotion and all, but feels like there could be a catch.. are there some known issues with the 6990m? one that perhaps made it unpopular, thus the sale?

I know AMD cards are generally cheaper than similar performing Nvidia cards, but $330 difference from a 580M?? makes me wonder..

 

Having owned both AMD and NVid, I can tell you there have been issues over the last couple of years with heat on the AMD's. I bought an Asus G73 last year with a 5870m and although I and many others had no issues, there were a good many on the Asus forums with issues. After the 6970m came out, there were some more issues. I have in my newest laptop a 485m, which was more expensive, but I didn't read about the heat like I did the AMD chips.

All that being said, I do believe that there is, on these boards, an increase in the number of people talking about issues because there is just many more people seeking info, help and just having more knowledge about computers. I don't know that there is in reality a big difference in performance or issues, but perception does mold the real life experience.

Again, I have had my 5870m for well over a year and a half, and it runs great.

I should also add, I believe many more people tweaked their 5870m's on the Asus, and therein may lie some of the issues.

For the price, the 6990m is a great buy. And if you have any issues, you can always RMA it.

My whole family uses my Asus with the 5870m, and they work it. My son on games, my wife on photo editing, the rest of the fam just using it every day, all day. It has been a workhorse.

 

who knows, but it's good enough for me. count me a happy owner.

 

the card is a beast, no question about it.. but the catch is.. the catalyst drivers..

 

They are a lot cheaper to manufacture, for sure. In the past, I always thought of AMD as; "you get what you pay for." Nowadays, it's more like the drivers are still a disappointment at times, and others it's just the fact they can under-cut Nvidia and get a larger following.

 

Really happy I went with a 6990M. The driver issue is much more of a problem for x-fire setups. As an added bonus my card overclocks like a beast, 24% max oc, 20% stable oc. I use a notebook cooler and run the fan at 100% to keep temps low. Saved hundreds and oc'd my card will best a 580M in most situations. Know I sound like a fan boy, but results are results. You'd be insane to spend so much more on a 580M unless you really want 3D or are just super rich and need to own the fastest possible SLI setup.

I've switched between AMD/Nvidia many times in the past , and for a desktop I would definitely be going with Nvidia for this generation of GPUs. But with notebooks, the price difference is just bat sh*t crazy. $330 more for a card that could be slower in some situations, and maybe 10% faster in others. Thats pretty much the price of my 256GB SSD right there. I'm really not sure what they are thinking.

 

I'm pretty sure I'm going to be happy with the performance of the 6990M without overclocking (once I order the laptop hehe). Because of that, I'm likely going to undervolt mine following the guide thats floating around here to help reduce the temps. I figure the combination of undervolting, laptop cooler, and IC Diamond 7 will keep the temperatures very far below troublesome levels.

 

It's AMD... If you don't know what that means, you've managed to beat the odds and somehow avoid any driver issues lol Personally I swore them off after I found out one of my games was running about 40% faster on a GT 525M than an HD 6850 (desktop). At that price it is tempting though

 

That reads as impossible. Because it is.

 

^ I agree. You must have had a defective card or some corrupt drivers. Those cards aren't anywhere near in the same league.

 

yeah, thats total BS. I dont even think 520s are gddr5 lol

 

two words.

Driver Support

ATI can't hold a candle to Nvidia when it comes to driver support and fixing issues. Again and again the dreaded catalyst issues seem to crop up

 

Im happy with my 6990M! Its performing AMAZINGLY and I have no issues with it.

Its 78○C under max load, so its cooler than the nvidia GT540M I had on my Acer.

I installed the drivers trough Device manager, so there goes the Catalyst bloatware! Im very happy that way.

Overall, this thing (never had issues with this laptop so far) is worth every cent I paid for and Nvidia can inhale the dust as I run away from them for being overpriced greedy mobs.