A Turkish website posted AMD's HD 6990 slides and [H]ard|OCP has posted the cream of the crop for us. Using the slides I was able to add the HD 6990 to our database so you guys can begin your GTX 580 vs HD 6990 comparisons 6 days early!

The reviews are out and the word on the street is that AMD's HD 6990 is indeed the fastest single card available right now, however it does cost $700. I recommend reading the last page of [H]ard|OCP's review because they have described the performance and the value of the HD 6990 when it is compared to a GTX 580 SLI, GTX 570 SLI and HD 6970 CrossFireX setup.

I'll be spending the rest of the day adding cards and reviews to the site. If enough reviews contain overclocking data, I will try to post an overclocking roundup for y'all.

I have a hunch that this week is going to be very exciting for graphics card enthusiasts. I am pretty confident that Nvidia will be using PAX East to celebrate the arrival of their GTX 590. One thing is for sure, I will be there, and I will do my best to make you all feel like you are there as well.

For now all the HD 6990s look the same except for the sticker that the manufacturer has slapped onto the card. I haven't seen Gigabyte or Asus' card yet, so right now PowerColor has the prettiest sticker and Diamond has the most boring sticker.

It is important to note that all HD 6990s come with two BIOS settings that the user can switch between using a switch located near the CrossFire connector. Here's a picture from TechPowerUp that shows what the switch looks like:

All the sites listed in the chart below (except for TechPowerUp) overclocked their cards with the BIOS switch at position 1 which gives the card a clock speed of 880 at 1.175 volts instead of 830 at 1.12 volts. This is probably why TechPowerUp got a lousy core speed even though they managed to get the highest memory overclock. Major props to HardwareHeaven and Neoseeker for reaching the coveted 1Ghz mark!

I'm back from PAX East and do you know what I noticed? I noticed that the GTX 590 was not launched or even mentioned. I did hear about the GTX 550 Ti from one of Nvidia's partners and now that Tuesday is upon us, so is the 550 Ti.

What we have here is a $150 dollar card that is not as fast the GTX 460 (which can be had for as low as $155) but faster than the HD 5770 (from $120 to $150). The neat thing about the GTX 550 Ti is all the overclocked offerings from the various manufacturers. Zotax, Galaxy and Gainward all pushed the core clock up to the 1Ghz mark and Galaxy's White Edition is the big kahuna with the highest memory clock of 4,600Mhz.

A few of these outlets put up several reviews so now long chart is llllooonnnggggeeerrrr. Some outlets increased the voltage so I added a column for it.

Today Nvidia has shot put their GTX 590 into the market, and much like a shot put, it has landed with a thud, but within a few inches of the competition. The HD 6990 at stock speeds uses less power, is a little bit faster (in most games) but the GTX 590 is cooler, quieter, it's more overclockerable and it has a neat light up GeForce logo on its side.

All the cards are being made by Nvidia so the best looking launch card contest will be decided by which company has the nicest sticker. For the guys we've got the GoldenEyesque Palit and for the Christian ladies we have a male angel with rock hard abs from Gainward.

Once again it is time for our patented overclocking roundup! The GTX 590 has improved OverCurrent Protection (OCP) but if you raise the voltage too high some really bad things could happen. If you are planning on increasing the voltage on your GTX 590 make sure to take very small baby steps.

TechPowerUp was the only outlet that managed to get the GTX 590 to GTX 580 speeds and from what I read, they were able to do so without increasing the voltage. Unfortunatley, the average overclock speed came in below GTX 570 levels (732/3,800).