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- Date:
- Sunday , November 27, 2005
- Author:
- Brent Justice
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
XFX GeForce 6600 DDR2
We take a look at a new GPU from NVIDIA in the form of the XFX GeForce 6600 256MB DDR2 video card. We see if DDR2 makes for better gaming in four of the most intense games out today including Quake 4 and F.E.A.R.
Introduction:
There have been a lot of new announcements, launches, and evaluations to do in the video card arena as of late. We’ve been very busy here at HardOCP to keep up with all the video card demands and we bypassed this smaller NVIDIA GPU launch a month ago. Though it was a launch that NVIDIA did not hype up as much as some others recently, it was still a very important launch because this is NVIDIA’s current answer to ATI’s value segment, the new Radeon X1300 and X1300 Pro. Again, this was another hard launch from NVIDIA to put more competition in the value segment. When we talk about the value end of the video card spectrum, we are mainly talking about cards in the $99 to $149 level. At this level, you can’t expect the gaming performance at the same level of mainstream or performance enthusiast cards, but with the new technologies that each new generation of cards brings to the table, they just might give you a solid, enjoyable gaming experience. That is what we are going to find out today.
Let’s start out and see what this new GPU is offering. This is technically the NV43 GPU on TSMC’s 110-nanometer process, and it has around 146 million transistors. This product comes in right between the GeForce 6600 DDR1 and the GeForce 6600 GT. This puts the price of this GPU at an MSRP of $119, while the 6600 GT has now been reduced to $149 MSRP. The big feature of the 6600 DDR2 is the use of 256MB of DDR2 memory modules. These modules allow faster memory clock speeds than the 6600 DDR1 GPU. This is in direct competition with the Radeon X1300, which also uses 128 or 256MB of DDR2 memory.
Since this is the NV43 GPU, it contains all the features of the GeForce 6 series like Shader Model 3.0 and FP16 HDR. However, it does not support the GeForce 7 series features like Transparency Antialiasing. The Radeon X1300, however, does support the Radeon X1000 series’ Adaptive Antialiasing and High Quality AF features. The real question about the X1300 is if it actually has enough performance to effectively use these high-end features. The 6600 DDR2 has a 350 MHz GPU with 8 pixel pipelines and 3 vertex units. The memory is clocked at a high 400 MHz (800 MHz DDR2) on a 128-bit bus. This means the peak theoretical Texel fill rate is 2.8 GTexels/sec and the peak theoretical memory bandwidth is 12.8 GB/sec. The Radeon X1300, for comparison, has a peak theoretical Texel fill rate of 1.8 GTexels/sec and a peak theoretical memory bandwidth of 8 GB/sec.
Since this is a hard launch, full retail video cards were ready to go when the product was announced. We have for you today a full retail package XFX GeForce 6600 256MB DDR2 video card.
XFX GeForce 6600 256MB DDR2:
The XFX box itself is shaped like a giant “X.” The front of the box informs you that this video card is for the PCI-Express bus and that it contains 256MB of DDR2. On the back of the box, the video card is actually visible so you can see what you are getting before you buy it. There is also a description of features and box contents as well. The box design is actually a bit hard to open. There are four flaps on both outside edges that are taped that must be opened up, and then the box inside slides out. Once you open it up, the video card can be taken out of the plastic container.
The first thing you will notice is the size and color. This video card is small and light; the heat sink is aluminum and doesn’t add much weight. XFX has gone with a blue PCB instead of the standard green color. You will also notice the memory layout. The RAM modules are arranged on the front of the card in eight 32MB modules to equal 256MB total. No external power is required for operation.
You will also notice there is no SLI connector at the top, yet this card fully supports an SLI configuration. What this means is that you can put two of these cards in SLI without needing an internal bridge connector. All of the SLI communication is handled over the PCI-Express bus. Therefore, these video cards are fully capable of SLI without needing the internal bridge.
Notice the label on ours says it should have dual DVI, yet, obviously, our card does not have two digital connections. We have one DVI and one VGA connector on board. The memory modules are Infineon HYB18T256161AFL25 DDR2 modules. Checking out the specifications of these modules, they are 16Mx16 rated at 2.0v at a maximum of 400 MHz. This means that the reference 6600 DDR2 clock speed of 400 MHz is the maximum rated speed of these memory modules.
XFX includes the full DVD version of FarCry in the bundle so you can enjoy a full game right out of the box with your purchase. Two DVI to VGA connectors (though our card obviously didn’t need them), and one S-Video cable were included.