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XFX GeForce 6600 DDR-2 |
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Redefining the Budget Market |
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By Josh Walrath |
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Conclusion The 6600 series of cards have been out for a year now, and they are still going strong. Even in the face of new products from ATI, the 6600 can still hold its own at a variety of price points. The 6600 DDR-2 is aimed to increase the base performance of the budget and mainstream market, and I think that it has done very well in that aspect. Using inexpensive but fast DDR-2, as well as increasing the core clock (and allowing NVIDIA’s partners to clock it higher, 400 MHz in this case) the 6600 DDR-2 provides a solid increase in overall performance from the previous 6600 and 6600 LE products. With expected price points hitting as low as $99, this card is encroaching on GeForce 6200 and 6600 LE territory.
In this view we can clearly see that the cooling for this product is pretty barebones. It does its job though, and it keeps it running smooth at 521 MHz. Overclocking this card was a surprise to me. I was honestly expecting a core speed of around 450 MHz max due to the overall design of the card and the limited cooling it sports. Hitting 521 MHz is no small feat, and in doing so allowed performance on par with 6600 GT parts. The memory was able to hit a very respectable 455 MHz (910 MHz DDR), which provided a very solid boost in memory bandwidth. While it does not match the 1 GHz GDDR-3 that the 6600 GT has, it comes very close. The extra 128 MB of memory that the DDR-2 has over the GT does make for smoother gameplay overall in more taxing applications. Battlefield 2 can certainly use the extra memory. XFX did a nice job on the bundle for a budget card, and the overall quality of the board is quite good. It is still a budget board, so top end components are not really to be expected. The lifetime support spanning two owners is another plus. Overall I am very happy with what NVIDIA and its partners have done here. Providing a higher performing part at the budget enthusiast level is always a good thing, and with new titles such as Quake 4, Battlefield 2, and F.E.A.R. hitting the shelves the budget enthusiast needs every ounce of performance they can find. This is also an excellent product for those stuck with onboard video, as it will have a very positive impact on the playability of pretty much every game out there. NVIDIA and its partners should have a metric ton of these cards out by the holiday season, and we can expect that they will sell like hotcakes at the pricepoint they are aimed at. The 6600 DDR-2 is a very important, new SKU for NVIDIA and its partners as it reintroduces DDR-2 to the graphics industry. With the decline of DDR, we can expect to see DDR-2 take over in the budget market very shortly.
Overall Score: 88%
Pros Good performance for the price Strong budget bundle Quality construction Dual DVI (for the retail version) HDTV out capable 256 MB of fast DDR-2 Solid overclocking potential Clean video output Expected $99 price point
Cons Electrolytic based capacitors vs. polymer Board design doesn’t appear to allow the memory to hit its true potential
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Copyright 1999-2005 PenStar Systems, LLC. |
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