In the focus of this article, one of the best video cards,the popularity of which has not declined for several years - GeForce 6600. In just a few years, technology in the field of gaming applications have moved so far that most users already do not remember about devices of this class. However, there is a category of people who prefer to use computers before the first break, without subjecting them to improvements. This article is intended for this target audience.
The reader will learn what is so popular about thisvideo adapter among users, get acquainted with the representatives of the market, built on the basis of GeForce 6600, and will receive full information of performance testing and data on overclocking of this video card.
The thing is that the video adapter Nvidia GeForce6600 was produced at the time of the transition of manufacturers of computer components from one technology to another (the AGP video bus was replaced by a PCI slot). Accordingly, the manufacturer tried to sit on two chairs: to make the fastest device for the old AGP technology and, not knowing the trends of the new market, to implement all technologies available at the time of manufacture in devices with a new PCI bus. It is considered that it was with the GeForce 6600 video adapter that the epic started with the overclocking of the graphics core and the memory bus.
It can not be said that a few years laterthe video adapter continues to occupy top positions, rather, on the contrary, its performance is negligible for modern games. But with certainty it can be stated that the GeForce 6600 graphics card is the best solution for owners of old computers.
The chipset is code-named NV43 and exists inseveral modifications. The first partition is on the platforms: PCI and AGP. And the second concerns directly technical characteristics. So the manufacturer created an inexpensive solution called GeForce 6600 LE, giving it weak characteristics. He released a lot of basic modifications, which do not have any letters in the marking, and made the top ruler of GT, providing it with high power. Moreover, this power is achieved by increasing the frequency of memory and graphics core - the usual overclocking, only performed by the manufacturer's hands.
There is a lot of media in the mediareviews of IT professionals who claim that in fact, the separation of video adapters by modifications responsible for performance is an ordinary rejection. If the chipset is able to work stably in a hard mode, it is labeled as a GeForce 6600 GT. If the chip is unstable, it is not labeled in any way, and if there is a strong heating during overclocking, then it is an inexpensive LE modification for it.
The technology of manufacturing the NV43 chip corresponds tostandard 256 bits, has a manufacturing process of 0.11 microns and includes 143 million transistors. The manufacturer based on Nvidia GeForce 6600 introduced modifications with the GDDR and GDDR3 memory bus. Naturally, this difference affected the performance of video adapters (in fact, the difference in bandwidth for GDRR3 is 1.5 times higher). The amount of video memory of the device is 256 MB, although sometimes there are instances with 128 megabytes on board.
The actual frequency of operation of the improved modificationis 500 MHz, but for cheap chips the limit is set to 350 MHz. All devices support DirectX 9.0c, 10 bits per channel color and are equipped with a built-in TV encoder, which uses the power of the video processor for its operation. Do not forget that it was the sixth modification from Nvidia that began the epic with the introduction of special functions into its hardware solutions: adaptive, real trilinear filtering, UltraShadow and similar additions.
Due to the fact that the company Nvidia on the marketthere is a competitor - ATI, all users have the opportunity to purchase computer components at an affordable price. This application also refers to the video card in the review - GeForce 6600, the characteristics of which are as close as possible to the ATi Radeon X700 Pro. The video adapter of the competitor has a lower frequency of the graphics core (425 MHz) and an underestimated memory frequency (800 MHz), but this does not prevent it from showing high performance.
It's about technology that supportsATI adapters. For a long time having refused races for the increased frequencies, the manufacturer has started to introduce own development in system which allow to show excellent potential in work. In the media, the owners note the poor technical support of users in terms of drivers, as is developed in the GeForce 6600. Windows 7, by detecting a discrete video adapter ATI Radeon X700 Pro, assigns an integrated driver to it.
The most productive video adapter based onNvidia GeForce 6600 GT is considered to be a product from Leadtek. Huge power is due to high rates of graphics core frequency (550 MHz) and memory bus (1120 MHz). High speed for video data transmission is provided by memory modules from Samsung, the response time of which is 1.6 nanoseconds.
Absolute market leader in performancehas several shortcomings. First, the cooling system. It provides only a graphics chip with a cold airflow, but memory modules and other important components of the device are ignored. Secondly, there is no video input, as it is implemented by all competitors. But the video output has support for HDTV. In fact, it is not clear that this is a virtue or a disadvantage. By the way, many potential buyers literally chased after the video card Leadtek, because it included three licensed games: Splinter Cell, Prince Of Persia and Pandora Tomorrow.
When it comes to devices thatare built forever, then many owners immediately remember about the GeForce 6600 GT video card from Gainward. The video card is included in the gold series, which means, along with high performance, it guarantees fault tolerance in operation. The manufacturer made an interesting marketing move, setting the BIOS BIOS basic settings for the frequency of the video core (500MHz) and the memory bus (1000MHz), it gave a lifetime warranty on the device. Only if the user does not overclock it. However, when installing the proprietary software that comes bundled on the disc, the video driver independently accelerates the graphics core to 540 MHz, and the bus to 1150 MHz.
Compared to competitors, performanceGainward video adapter is very high. Hardware support for video input and video output from HDTV is an excellent addition to a worthy purchase. It will please the future owner and the cooling system of the chipset, which effectively cools all installed modules on the board.
If the user thinks that the Nvidia graphics cardThe GeForce 6600 GT with passive cooling is unlikely to surprise fans of dynamic games, it is exactly mistaken, because Gigabyte will never allow everyone around to regard its products as low-grade. The copper radiator grips the video board from two sides, closing all the chips installed on it. To normalize the temperature between the two radiators there is a fairly wide copper tube.
And yet it is warming itself. But not strong enough for the protection to work, and the computer went into rebooting the system. To future owners, experts recommend thinking about the availability of a spacious system case with decent ventilation. High performance adapter provides an increased memory frequency - 1120 MHz and Samsung modules 1.6 ns. As a result, this product is recommended to many users, for whom high performance and noiselessness in work and games - competitors from Gigabyte for the NV43 chip are not present and are not expected.
The legendary Nvidia GeForce 6600 AGP graphics cardMSI was remembered by all users for its advertising, because it was thanks to her that all fans of dynamic games learned about the wonderful shooter "The Chronicles of Riddick." The hero of the film was depicted on the box, and the toy was delivered free of charge in the kit to the video adapter. The power of the device was declared by the Diamond marking. The video card for the AGP bus had a huge potential - 400 MHz for the core and 800 MHz for memory. It is unfortunate that the developers of MSI did not take another step forward, giving the user at least some tool to increase the frequency of the graphics core and the bus. In tests of this a little bit is not enough.
The manufacturer took care of cooling: The cooler blows the graphics controller, and the memory chips are equipped with radiators. Judging by the reviews, users are confused by the lack of a copper patch on the back of the video card, because the power dissipated just heat this part of the board. In general, the attitude to the product is positive, the video card is beautiful, made with the mind and, as for the technology of the last century, copes very well with the tasks set.
ASUS products always took topposition in all tests, however, with the GeForce 6600 128Mb Extreme graphics card, the leader of the computer market got embarrassed. The clock frequencies of the memory and the cores installed in the factory are not affected by the changes. What the manufacturer wanted to achieve ASUS in the market remains a mystery. Removing the video input and placing slow memory modules with a response of 2.5 ns, the famous Taiwanese brand did not even bother to reduce the price of its products.
In the media, many ownersassure others that ASUS is the only company in the world that has supplemented the configuration with the licensed game "Joint Operations". In such statements there is no logic, because the game can be purchased separately, and in your own computer everyone wants to see a productive video card, not consumer goods.
The Albatron product, TrinityGeForce 6600 AGP is considered a standard for many video cards, because this brand at the dawn of the computer era set the direction of the market for all components. The appearance of Albatron devices, whether it's a video card, motherboard or tuner, always differed from competitors with an emphatic severity and conservatism.
In the race for high performance leaderthe market decided not to participate, sending all its potential for the bundle and the software that comes with the video card. It is unfortunate that many manufacturers at this time very little attention to the software supplied with the video adapter, because it is in these products that the attachment of users to the brand is hidden.
Get a GeForce 6600 PCI device workingwith DirectX 9.0 technology, it's unlikely to be able to launch a more advanced toy in the tests, so the corresponding applications (The Chronicles Of Riddick, Half-Life 2 and Doom3) will be used to compare the video cards. Naturally, there is no question of any FullHD parameter, the standard resolution is 1024x768 dots per inch with 32 bits of chroma.
As you might expect, the leading positionstook devices with the maximum frequencies of the graphics core and memory bus: Leadtek, Gainward and Gigabyte. From this it is necessary to make one only correct conclusion that in games the video card that has maximum overclocking wins. Appearance, beauty and equipment is all just to distract potential buyers from high-performance video adapters.
Manufacturers always hide the shortcomings of theirproducts from prying eyes. So it happened with the chip NV43, which has already distinguished itself from competitors and shows its superhigh strength of the crystal, with careless handling leading to disastrous results. Having improved performance characteristics for GeForce 6600 with placement of 143 million transistors on a chip, the manufacturer did not think about the security that is disrupted by careless handling of the video card.
The fact is that the chip loosely adheres to thethe surface of the video card, and the cooler installed on top does not have a recess for the graphic chip. Accordingly, if you click on one of the edges of the radiator, then the crystal of the graphics core bursts. There is already a lottery: only the corner of the chip will fall off or the whole graphics processor will split in two. In the first case, the video adapter with high probability can work, and in the second - will have to go to the store for a new purchase.
Many owners of non-modern computers alreadyhad time to notice the strange location of memory slots on motherboards with an AGP connector installed. It seems that the manufacturer joked on users by placing a contact for installing the video card in the immediate vicinity of the locks for fixing the memory modules. All owners of video cards GeForce 6600 have a chance to break a couple of air conditioners on the board during the installation. And that this does not happen, you need to make installation with maximum responsibility and with good lighting.
In the media, IT professionalsrecommend installing memory modules first and then inserting the graphics card into the connector. Gently lowering it down to the stop, you need to use the fingers of the other hand to remove the edge of the board away from the pads to fasten the RAM modules. If the end face of the video card of the video adapter for any reason rests against the capacitor on the motherboard, then the user can easily solve the problem by carefully unbending the interfering device to the side.
A curious user will certainly come toindependent conclusions that the performance of the video adapter can be increased by overclocking and further, if you have the appropriate software at hand, and the video card has excellent cooling. In the media, judging by the reviews for a few years, the overclocking of the GeForce 6600 is not a waste of time. The owners managed to achieve record at that time: the frequency of the graphics core 615 MHz and the frequency of the bus 1340 MHz.
First of all, the user's task is toproviding the video card with decent cooling. There are many options. You can replace the standard cooler with some professional solution from Shuttle or Zalman, but the doubt is caused by the price of cooling systems. It's easier to change the motherboard with a processor than to give a round sum for a professional solution. The second option is to install an additional 12 mm fan above the standard cooler with an airflow of 90-140 CFM. To overclock it is recommended to use the official software that comes with the Nvidia driver.
The GeForce 6600 video card is the only link,which so far still connects two epochs of personal computers capable of working with dynamic games. The transition models of video cards will leave the market - the time of old PCs will end. And if the potential buyer is faced with a choice, to buy a GeForce 6600 or to upgrade an entire system, then it's worth thinking about the last thought, because nothing in our world exists forever. Sooner or later, old technologies will be lost to humanity forever. But if to improve the new system there is a choice between the video adapters themselves, then unambiguously by the criterion "price-quality" the buyer will not find anything worthier than the GeForce 6600 chip.
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