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AMD Radeon HD 5970 Dual-GPU Card Sweeps Benchmarks
MojoKid writes "AMD launched yet another high-end graphics card based on their Radeon HD 5800 series technology, and this time it's a dual-GPU variant. Considering the fact that AMD's Radeon HD 5870 is currently the fastest single-GPU powered graphics card currently on the market, the new dual-GPU powered Radeon HD 5970 should offer performance that completely outclasses any other single graphics card on the market right now. The card has 3200 stream processors under the hood, though its graphics engines are built on 40nm manufacturing technology, so power consumption isn't actually too insane. The card does exceptionally well in the usual benchmarks, as expected." HotHardware has begun providing single-page views — a user-friendly decision. PCPer.com also has coverage. And pcpro.co.uk wonders whether, at 13" (33 cm) in length, the new card will even fit in most PC cases.
Obviously, a card like this is pretty dubiously practical for virtually any application, and exists entirely to soak up the least cost sensitive gaming enthusiasts and the latest round of benchmark bragging rights(and, possibly, as the beta test for a much more expensive workstation equivalent, once the drivers are in order).
For benchmark bragging rights, it doesn't even have to fit into a case. It'll just be tested benchtop, get the numbers it needs, and be a success. For price-insensitive gaming enthusiasts, it barely matters if it fits in an existing case. The sort of people who buy the top-of-the-line card(rather than the 90% of the performance, 50% of the price model) can (and will) just buy a new case.