So what driver should we choose to evaluate the GeForce 6600GT? If we were to use the 66.81, the GeForce 6600GT is the faster card with comparable image quality. But if we use the 77.72, it is the slower card with 'lower' image quality. The Radeon X700 Pro maintains both performance and quality in both driver versions (Catalyst 4.12 and 5.7). Even with this limited, problematic and confusing benchmark results, you can see that overall the Radeon X700 Pro has a better combination of hardware and software. Performance between driver versions are consistent, even constant and this also ring true with its image quality. The GeForce 6600GT is the faster card here, probably due to its higher clock (a 75 MHz difference) and being more efficient in Splinter Cell's shadow rendering method. But the drivers have some 'bugs'. Let's put off making a conclusion for now. What about other games?
| In Average fps | Catalyst 4.12 - Default | Catalyst 4.12 – 4x AA 16x AF | Catalyst 5.7 - Default | Catalyst 5.7 – 4x AA 16x AF | Forceware 66.81 - Default | Forceware 66.81 – 4x AA 16x AF | Forceware 77.72 - Default | Forceware 77.72 – 4x AA 16x AF |
| Lock On | 57.33 | 45.94 | 57 | 46.4 | 54.46 | 46.63 | 56.37 | 48.86 |
| FSW | 65.85 | 50.02(AF only) | 66.91 | 67.06(AF only) | 70.52 | 68.94 (AF only) | 63.72 | 57.43(AF only) |
| NFSU | 64.8 | 65.03 | 66.56 | 64.64 | 62.27 | 62 | 64.72 | 64.05 |
| BF1942 | 74.75 | 71.55 | 85.42 | 73.9 | 83.3 | 75.04 | 82.32 | 75.93 |
| STBC | 177.67 | 130.27 | 173.36 | 128.66 | 183.53 | 129.52 | 167.91 | 129.16 |
| DS | 107.72 | 100.8 | 107.26 | 101.19 | 103.24 | 95.73 | 104.1 | 99.3 |
| SS:SE | 78.8 | 65.2 | 78 | 67.8 | 96.6 | 86.9 | 80.7 | 56.2 |
Funny how even system limited benchmarks like Dungeon Siege and Lock On are generally faster on the Radeon X700 Pro (though hardly noticeable). Full Spectrum Warrior is faster with Forceware 66.81 than 77.72, just like Star Trek: Bridge Commander. Results from Battlefield: 1942 should not be taken 'as is', since these are not based on replays, but frame rates in gameplay with relatively the same elements. The same also applies to Need For Speed: Underground but this game is more predictable and as such repeated benchmark results are identical. All of the games benchmark results from both cards are very close to each other.
Yet, there is something interesting with Serious Sam: Second Encounter benchmark results. We chose the Valley of the Jaguar demo for this run, running it with settings applied by the addon script 'Extreme Quality'. Just look at the performance loss we get from moving to Forceware 77.72 – 16 to 30 fps! Another 'bug'? Honestly, we don't know – it could just be a bug in the game (we didn't patch the game to the latest patch – 1.5).
You might say that these benchmarks are system limited and thus results using a higher resolution should be viewed before making a decision. Unfortunately, its not always possible. You can't use a higher resolution than 1024 x 768 with Dungeon Siege, while with Lock On, you probably don't want to since it will be unplayable. Full Spectrum Warrior is limited to a maximum resolution of 1280 x 1024 as do Need for Speed: Underground. The other games can use resolutions up to 1600 x 1200, 32 bit. But look at the results: these are average fps and they're already bordering in 60 to 80 fps, minimum frame rates will be lower. We want to keep the minimum frame rates above 30 fps if possible. And if you're really want to play games at those resolutions, you're better off with a GeForce 6800 / 7800 or Radeon X800 / X850 with at least an Athlon 3500+, not the GeForce 6600GT and Radeon X700 Pro with an Athlon 3000+.
Here are some notes regarding image quality and graphical issues we saw:
- On Forceware 66.81 and 77.72, bloom in Full Spectrum Warrior is slightly off, resulting in white bars (the bloom effect) on the sides and bottom of the screen when you're looking at the sky. These are not present on Catalyst 4.12 and 5.7.
- Activating AA and / or AF in Battlefield: 1942 results in garbled text with both Forceware versions. None are present on Catalyst drivers.
- In Star Trek: Bridge Commander, we can see some artifacts on the ship's texture, with both Forceware versions. None are present on Catalyst drivers.
Of these seven extra games, only Full Spectrum Warrior and Serious Sam: Second Encounter are faster in Forceware 66.81 than either Catalyst (4.12 or 5.7) with both without and with 4xAA and 16xAF. The difference is only significant with Serious Sam: Second Encounter. Star Trek: Bridge Commander is faster without AA and AF, but it's only 10 fps out of 180 fps (not significant and certainly not noticeable). So, off all the game we test (11 in total), the GeForce 6600GT with Forceware 66.81 is only significantly faster in four games (Call of Duty, Splinter Cell, F1 Career Challenge and Serious Sam: Second Encounter). Four out of eleven is not a good enough number to declare a clear win for the GeForce 6600GT.
Heat
While we didn't have heat issues with either card (both are using reference cooling solutions), we'd like to share some information with you regarding heat and temperature. To see just how hot these cards can get, we continuously loop Doom 3's 'demo1' for 5 minutes, under High Quality settings (1024 x 768, no AA, application defined 8x AF). The temperature are viewed through Forceware default temperature monitoring and manufacturer's supplied utility. Here are the results:|
|
Core Idle | Core Full Load | Ambient |
| Radeon X700 Pro | 33º Celsius | 48º Celsius | 43º Celsius |
| GeForce 6600GT | 46º Celsius | 62º Celsius | 43º Celsius |
The GeForce 6600GT is hot. So, if you're using the computer in a quite hot environment, better be prepared to buy a more effective cooling solution for the GeForce 6600GT. or at least have a better air circulation inside your case. Cool down period is relatively quick: one minute after full load with zero load (desktop).
Other Miscellaneous Information
There are several beta Forceware lying around and a final, WHQL
qualified driver is expected in the coming months. Until they arrive,
we don't know if they will fix the bugs present in the current
Forceware 77.72. They might, or they might not.Just like we stated before, we're aware that the GeForce 6600GT is the faster card (both in clock, bandwidth and benchmark results). But think for a minute: what card is useful without good drivers? These drivers are what influence their performance in games, not just faster clocks and larger bandwidth. With a 75 MHz difference, we don't want the same performance, we want significantly faster performance (above 10%)! But it looks like we're only getting it if the developers code specific support in their game (Splinter Cell and Call of Duty). If you're very focused on certain games like these, the GeForce 6600GT will provide faster performance at comparable image quality.
There is additional features of GeForce 6600GT such as Shader Model 3 and SLI support that are interesting, but not without some caveats. Up till now, the amount of games fully utilizing SM 3.0 capabilities are limited – FarCry and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory comes to mind. There are performance gains with SM 3.0, but you have to ask yourself whether or not they're significant for you. Unfortunately, we didn't test the two games, but there are other sites that do. So, we advise you to look for benchmark results between the two cards in those games if SM 3.0 performance is important to you.
There's also high dynamic range (HDR) rendering, the latest wonder in real time 3D graphics made possible by SM 3.0. But look at the HDR benchmarks: if a GeForce 6800 Ultra is barely coping with 30 to 40 average fps, why would you think the GeForce 6600GT will be better off? The drivers certainly won't provide magical improvements. A GeForce 6600GT with HDR rendering is like the GeForceFX 5200 with DirectX 9: you can but trust us, you wouldn't want to.
SLI support will give you performance improvements, but not without caveats – right now, HDR is not possible on SLI setups. So, you're probably better off with a single GeForce 6800GT than two GeForce 6600GT (or the coming GeForce 7800GT).
There's also the lack of AA with HDR, so again we encounter the same problem with DirectX 8 bloom effects. This is a sad situation, gamers should never be faced with 'either / or' situation like this. With the GeForce 7800 series, you could probably suppress this by using a higher resolution, but that's not an option for the GeForce 6600GT (or even the 6800). Anti aliasing remains the more practical choice of image enhancement.
Conclusion:
For the less technically inclined gamer, incompatibilities and bugs with games old an new can be very frustrating. Even more so if the bugs are causing horrendous slowdown or worse, crashes. The Radeon X700 Pro is better suited for them and gamers looking for an all around graphics card. It simply works, the image quality is superb and its close to or just as fast as the GeForce 6600GT! Benchmark results with the exception of Call of Duty and Splinter Cell are very close if not identical between the Radeon X700 Pro and GeForce 6600GT. Of course, Catalyst is the better driver here.The GeForce 6600GT is faster, but their drivers are not up to par with the Radeon X700 Pro's. Even more alarming is the fact that the 'bugs' affect pre-DirectX 9 games. Of course, you can use the older, more matured drivers (like we did with the Forceware 66.81), but this probably means forsaking fixes for newer games. New drivers are supposed to be better, if not faster. The current trend with Forceware doesn't seem to reflect this. ATI's Catalyst drivers are way better here: offering consistent and constant performance plus bug fixes. NVIDIA may be the 'golden standard' for developers, but they sure as hell not for gamers. Forceware developers, take a hint – fix the bugs!!!
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