Gigabyte 6600GT
500/500 MHz
NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT 128 MB DDR3Core Clock : 500 MHz
Memory Clock : 500 MHz (1000 MHz DDR3)
Overall Score: 75 points
Keeping with the trend, Gigabyte 6600GT is also based on the reference design of GeForce 6600GT. So, you could expect all the features to be the same and located in the same place. This includes the obvious accessories such as DVI to analog dongle plus the HDTV dongle. No extension cable though, so make sure you have a long enough cable to hook it up to your HDTV set.
Gigabyte bundles two games with this card: Thief: Deadly Shadows from Ion Storm and Joint Operations from Novalogic. For DVD playback, there's Cyberlink PowerDVD in the drivers and utilities CD. You'll also find Gigabyte's own VTuner utility. Alas, again there's no hardware monitoring available on the utility. The only options available are core and memory clock adjustments and profile support. You'll have to rely on basic hardware monitoring built into NVIDIA's Forceware drivers.
Unlike the other GeForce 6600GTs, Gigabyte didn't use heatsinks on the memory chips. So, these chips get pretty hot when the card's in use. Thankfully, the memory chips can handle it just fine, but for safety reasons we recommend at least blowing cool air on them. The chip's heatsink only flows the air in one direction, so the memory chips on the top doesn't get any moving air. Gigabyte did put finger guard on the heatsink, something the other card makers should have done. With thermal paste helping heat transfer, the graphics chip will stay cool.
MSI NX6600 VTD128R
400/400 MHz
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 128 MB DDR3Core Clock : 400 MHz
Memory Clock : 400 MHz (800 MHz DDR3)
Overall Score: 77.5 points
The only non GT card in this round up, the MSI NX6600 VTD128R runs 100 MHz slower. It also doesn't have the SLI connector, instead opting to offer video input. This card is probably more targeted for the all around gamer, who likes to do some video capturing on the side. Included in the bundle are DVI to analog dongle and video input / output dongle complete with HDTV connectors. To make the most use of its video input capabilities, MSI includes the Cyberlink Multimedia Pack, comprising of PowerDVD DVD playback software, PowerDirector to edit and capture video plus several others apps, which includes PowerGo DVD burning / mastering software. There's also Restore It! and Virtual Drive from Farstone. Last, but not least, there's the game Ground Control 2 from Massive Entertainment.
MSI used the same, single cooling design for both the X700 and GeForce 6600 cards. The heatsink cools both the chip and the memory chips, with thermal paste on the chip and the memory chips to provide better heat transfer. There's no finger guard on the fan, so again be careful no to touch or press on the fan while installing it.
[Previous Page]
[Go to top]
[Next Page]