I would not buy either card. Noisy, hot and two GPUs... why?! Rather get one or two single GPU cards, depending on resolution and requirements, and other hardware. So what are your monitor resolution, image quality requirements, and other hardware (CPU, motherboard, RAM, PSU, Case?
The 690 is not noisy, it is much quieter than two single GPU's, though the 7990 is different.
The 7990 is quicker and the new drivers sort stuttering if you even notice it.
I personally would get the 7990. I think 2GB of VRAM for a card typically used to game at resolutions higher than 1080p is an issue.
This is a chart that shows both a 680 SLI with space and without space. The one with an * next to it is with space.There's no way that a single fan dual GPU card is quieter than two single GPU dual fan cards with space between for breathing room. You were probably comparing the 690 to two reference cards in SLI.
As you can see here, adding another card with a well designed cooler only increases noise levels by a few dBa. The setup still manages to stay quieter than many single GPU setups with non reference coolers.
Yet why wouldn't you buy two 7950's instead and enjoy a quieter and cooler experience for $150 less than a 7990?
Buying a card today with only 2GB ram is plain silly. We're seeing BF4 and Skyrim modded go way over 2GB already. I wouldn't buy any GPU with less than 3GB today and would really like 6GB per GPU. RAM is one of the few limiting factors for a card and usually towards the end of a cards life RAM starts to limit things.No issue here at 2560*1440 with 2GB.
Mind showing an example of where the 770 2Gb doesn't have enough VRAM using an unmodded game?You have to keep in mind though that if you intend to play on constant 60 fps, there's a certain lower limit to how powerful your GPU needs to be in order to actually make use of more than 2GB VRAM in a particular game. For example, a GTX 770 is almost twice the speed compared to a 7850, yet they have the same 2GB of VRAM. With the 7850, you wouldn't ever need more than that, whereas with the GTX 770 you could definitely use more than that.
Mind showing an example of where the 770 2Gb doesn't have enough VRAM using an unmodded game?
EDIT: OH and for the naysayers regarding AMD Drivers and stuttering? For the record - I have no micro stutter issues right now.
I doubt many people mod games much, but yes, if you are into modding Skyrim, you need more than 2Gb.Why do you want an unmodded game? I didnt make any claims about unmodded games. My remark was based mostly on my own experience of modded Skyrim using 2300mb or so of my 7950's VRAM. Running such settings wouldn't be viable on a 7850, for instance, so its being limited to 2GB would therefore be a non-issue.
In any case.
- Fact: RAGE uses well over 2GB with texture detail at max set in the config (wouldn't really call that modding, it's just a setting not available in the menu unless they updated the menu)
- Based on some remarks in this thread, BF4 may use over 2GB at 1080p on settings the 770 can benefit from.
- Here's a GameGPU.ru graph showing over 2GB VRAM use in CoH2 1080p low AA.
- I've also read Crysis 3 can use over 2GB on 1080p, can't really find anything concrete on that..