XFX 6600GT AGP

[BrianG]

First time in a long time...

http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/xfx6600gtagp/index.shtml

Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Clay]

Nice review Brian! :thumbsup:

[Sazar]

nice review... interesting bout that resolution bug, keep us posted if you get any more info...

frame-rates are pretty nice for the price...

[BrianG]

Clay, Thanks.

Sazar, Going to try the card next week in an nForce2/OC'ed 2500 system to see what happens. Will update the review at that time.

[TheTaz]

I don't trust the "bridge chip", yet.

A buddy of mine runs an XFX 6600GT in an ABit NF7-S revision 2 motherboard, and has nothing but problems (Stutters in applications, including Adobe Premiere which he uses the most).

My 6800 GT runs flawlessly in both my machine and his. (same motherboard, same bios level, same drivers, same DX builds, same XP builds).

There's only 3 things I can figure are wrong.

1) He has a bad card. (And can't return it since he threw out the box like a dumb@ss)
2) There needs to be a bios flash on the card to correct the issues. (But none available yet)

or

3) The NF7 doesn't like the bridge chip. But the problem was worse on his previous nForce 1 motherboard he had it in... so I think it's the bridge chip itself.

Taz

[BrianG]

Taz,

The last post by Doug_S was that everything was fine. If he is still having problems, we'll try to help.

[Qinstaller]

Nice review.
I like mine also defiantly a good buy.

[Rytr]

Nice review! The 6600 series cards are proving to be able performers in the latest games at a price more people can afford.

[MikeC]

Good job on the review Brian. :)

[Cota]

WHY GOD WHY!!!???

Damn you Brian, after reading your review I might end up getting a 6600gt.
I was saving for a 6800 or GT but I also need a athlon64 and matching mobo or I'll be very CPU limited. I have a 2600+ righ now

Now I think I'm better off getting a 6600gt, for what I can see it should last until I'm ready to jump to PCI-e.

Great review.

BTW if anyone know of a 6600GT AGP for under 200dlls please let me know

[saturnotaku]

Now I think I'm better off getting a 6600gt, for what I can see it should last until I'm ready to jump to PCI-e.

Why not pick up a Socket 939 3000+ or 3200+ CPU and an nForce4 Ultra (non-SLI board) and a PCI-E 6600 GT? It would be kind of pointless to go with an AGP card when you'll eventually be switching over to PCI-E. Besides, those cards are at least $25-30 cheaper than the AGP variants.

[Cota]

Why not pick up a Socket 939 3000+ or 3200+ CPU and an nForce4 Ultra (non-SLI board) and a PCI-E 6600 GT? It would be kind of pointless to go with an AGP card when you'll eventually be switching over to PCI-E. Besides, those cards are at least $25-30 cheaper than the AGP variants.

hmm lets see $500+ upgrade vs $220

I can only spend 200 bucks now so the choice is obvious.

Its just a "minor" upgrade, I want to see what next gen nforce mobos bring by years end, who knows we might get soundstorm back.

[BrianG]

Why not pick up a Socket 939 3000+ or 3200+ CPU and an nForce4 Ultra (non-SLI board) and a PCI-E 6600 GT? It would be kind of pointless to go with an AGP card when you'll eventually be switching over to PCI-E. Besides, those cards are at least $25-30 cheaper than the AGP variants.
Saturn,

That is really the point of the review. This is an effective upgrade to get you the performance to run HL2 and Doom3. In the next product cycle, sure, go all out.

I tend to have three steps; new system, refresh vid, refresh CPU. My next step is new system, and that is when I plan to make the jump to PCI-E.

Cota,

Keep your eyes open, but Newegg has this card for $225.

[Cota]

Tnx Brian I already saw that.

I'll give it a few weeks, if it doesn't go down I'll get it.

[gizmomelb]

BrianG,

I just thought I'd let you know that there is a component video output for the XFX 6600GT, as I have one! Though I don't have a component / HD TV which I can test it on sorry. The video connector at the top rear of the XFX card seems to be fairly standard for all the 6600 series (PCI-E and AGP), so you might be able to buy/loan a HD 'dongle' from another 6600 series card and then try it on your plasma TV.

The video 'dongle' I have, has RGB component as well as composite and S-VHS connections on it and came with the card (maybe it's an Australian only thing? I'm in Aus. by the way).


TheTaz - try getting your friend with the stuttering XFX 6600GT to upgrade their video drivers to at least 67.03 - I had 2 motherboards with SIS chipsets that did very similar things (stuttered in 3D, missing polygons and textures etc.) until I upgraded to the newer (unofficial) drivers. v67.03 (and later 71.20) fixed the graphic/stuttering problems for me.

cheers,
Gizmomelb

[zoomy942]

good review brian. :)

[TheTaz]

Taz,

The last post by Doug_S was that everything was fine. If he is still having problems, we'll try to help.

I appreciate that. :)

Unfortunately... last that he's told me... he jumped the gun and the thing still stutters... just no where near as bad (After I had him do some bios tweaks, that doesn't have to be done on my 6800GT). That's also compared to his Ti4600, which didn't stutter at all, in non-game applications. Combined with the fact that my 6800GT doesn't stutter in his apps, I just have to suspect it's either a bad card or the "bridge chip" isn't exactly perfected yet.

Anyway... I'll see if I can get him to post the latest issues. :)

Taz

[toxdetox]

Yup

I bought this card the day it came out from XFX. I had waited months for the AGP version. The XFX was actually the first AGP videoboard using the 6600 GT gpu to hit the market.

Like many, i did not want to upgrade my whole system (motherboard, memory, powersup, HD, reinstall winxp etc... just to play doom 3 in dx9)

Here is a cost comparaison:

Moving from DX8 to DX9 with ease...and only 210.00 USD (15 bux shipping) = 225 USD...Thats' it and you're ready to go!

Absolutely no change was made to the original computer.

- AMD Athlon 2000+ CPU.
- 1 GB DDR333 RAM (2x512)
- 160 GB Maxtor ATA 133 (2x80)
- MSI KTA 333 Motherboard ( has 4x AGP, XFX 6600 GT AGP is 4X/8X compatible ) !!
- PSU 350 W Enermax
- VideoMate TV tuner.
- About 20 minutes installation (for removing the old video card, put the 6600 GT AGP in, install the driver).

Doom 3 is now running very smoothly at 1280x1024 Ultra Max detail + AA 2X. With the old Geforce Ti4200, i had to leave it at 640x480 low setting to get playable fps. Now with the XFX 6600 GT AGP i can even crank it up to 1600x1200 no aa and get 40-60 fps. I choose to leave it at 1280x1024 with AA2X because i want all the heavy scenes to hit the highest fps possible without any lag. But honnestly, the XFX 6600 GT AGP can be set at 1600x1200 Max Details (no AA) with v-sync no problemo. And ofcourse the coolest thing is that it is a DX9.0 card.

The card also work well under Mandrake Linux. It took a bit a modification to my linux config files but after about few hours i managed to make it work under Linux! and Doom 3 is working.. in OpenGL..


Anyway, If i had chosen a PCI-E upgrade here is differential :

- Just to put a PCI-E in, you are forced to upgrade the motherboard just to ...which was a tough choice to make back in november/december (2004) as most manufacturers were still adding all kind of new features like: SLI chipset optimized. The entire industry is kinda getting revamped at the moment. So it's not the best timing for a whole upgrade.

Those who bought the 6600 PCI-E video card had to buy a motherboard made pre-SLI. Now if they want to take full advantage of SLI (im not sure about it) although it might work, those people may need to change their motherboard again to really take advantage of SLI.

The motherboard to buy at the moment is the new MSI K8N Diamond - nForce4 SLI which has been released only last week of january 2005. So weeks after the XFX 6600 GT AGP hit the shelves. If i really wanted to be in PCI-E trend i woulda waited.
In other words, with the newest motherboards released last week, only now you can really choose PCI-E over AGP, presuming you want SLI someday. (150-300 USD for a new mobo)

The other (last year solution) was ofcourse to buy an 6800 AGP.
But 400.00 USD is quite expensive especially if you plan to buy the next upcoming video card and the next big after... and so on. So in long term. (30 years+) it comes out to be cheaper to buy the second best rather than always buying the obsulutely best. The difference between the best and second best is not that huge in term of performance as shown in this review.

If you are using old memory sticks, you will need to buy new memory sticks to take advantage of your new mobo. (2-4 x 100 USD, 1 or 2 GB RAM respectively )

Newest motherboards also use Hyperthread technology and a different cpu socket (939) ... if you are not an owner of an AMD64 you will have to buy a new CPU aswell. The AMD64 is a little faster than Athlon but it is not a must at the moment, so why bother ?... winXP64 ? yea right.. adios muchachos to all 16 bits apps and some 32 bits one not to mention that many companies will not provide support you if you run into problem with XP64 (including release of drivers). It might not be a wise choice to install XP64 yet. The cpu it self is still pricy. (Still over 800.00 bux for the AMD 64 FX-55 cpu).

Your old HD ATA133 will probably work on those new motheboards but what for ? might aswell get all SATA while at it. (120-160 USD)

New casing ? unless you plan using your old casing you have to buy a new computer case preferably with a nice Powersupply with it. (60-150 usd bucks)

Also, you are forced to re-install winXP completely everytime you upgrade the mobo and everything. Installing XP and all the softwares that were previously installed on the old system take days (if not weeks)
- Installing all the apps, codecs, games, registrations, etc.. presuming you have every installation CDs handy and ready. If you are like me and have all the installer files in different directories, most of them impossible to remember by their names its going to take some time to rebuild your OS the way it was before the upgrade. Not to mention all the personalized setting for each apps that you probably don't remember by heart, and all linux setting if you had it.

Something XFX recently did is that they changed the FAN on the 6600 GT AGP for their next production batch. Someone will need to check with them why they changed the FAN. The FAN showing in this review is the old FAN. According to XFX the new FAN is better. Does it mean the old one is not good ?

Overall, just upgrading the video card was the best choice. While manufacturers are fighting for standard technology and revamping their stuff i can fully enjoy Doom3 or any DX9.0 games at the speed of light for just 200 bucks+ 30 min of my time instead 1500+bucks and days of installation....

The 6800LE AGP version is another alternative to this kind of wise move for money savers out there. It would be cool to see a 6600 GT AGP vs 6800LE AGP kinda review...

[BrianG]

toxdetox,

Thanks you for the feedback on your upgrade.

I will try to get you information on the fan. My guess, they are going to use the GT set up to have one fewer item to stock.

[Gentle]

http://www.xfxforce.com/pinetechnotes/Fan%20Update.pdf

Here's the text from this PDF that talks about the fan.

"The XFX 6600 GT AGP is now shipping with an improved fansink. Not only does our new fansink look good, it sports a copper under plate and provides a
10~20 degree improvement in GPU cooling."

http://img26.exs.cx/img26/8863/xfx6600gtfanupdate3di.png

I know I've seen another 6600GT manufacturer use one like this too..

I just can't remember who made that one.

Gentle

[Nutty]

hmm lets see $500+ upgrade vs $220

I can only spend 200 bucks now so the choice is obvious.

Its just a "minor" upgrade, I want to see what next gen nforce mobos bring by years end, who knows we might get soundstorm back.

Heh, I'm not upgrading my mobo, until SoundStorm _is_ back :) Or until creative start doing proper DD encoding..

[BrianG]

Gentle,

Thanks for the info. I will update the review this evening to include information on the GPU cooler change and link to the .pdf file.

[the_hood]

Thanx for an excellent review, help me make up my mind :cool:

[logan]

A review (http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2295&p=19) on AnandTech shows the XFX 6600GT PCI-e as one of the best cooled cards out there (33c idle), albeit a bit loud. Unfortunately, the AGP does not follow suit. Instead most are reporting ~59c idle, I'm seeing 51c, and this is with the new fan.

It's pretty rare that I have to contact the support group for any company, but XFX has to be one of the worst. I sent an email with some background info on the problem, but it all boiled down to a simple yes or no question, they failed to answer it. Instead I received a useless response (windows driver update for a linux user), relating to a different problem.

A forum is setup on their website, but don't bother looking for help there as it's just troubled users wandering in the dark. Most are pretty irate and I can't blame them, tired of questions going unanswered, tired of their expensive new hardware collecting dust, tired of exchanging one card for another, only ending up where they started.

Guess I'm one of the lucky people out there... The card works great, now that I'm past the power-related instability. Overall, it's completely suprassed my expectations. Although a limited test, my score on doom3benchmarks.com (82.5FPS) puts me right up there with 6800GT users.

Perhaps you'll be one of the lucky ones too.

[BrianG]

Logan,

I found one thread here concerning the 6600GT AGP overheating and it was apparently a defective card. Other responders in the thread mentioned a guy on another board that had to underclock his card with out any other explanation or information. Others brought up software instabilities. ALL make the XFX, named in the title of the thread, out to be the culprit.

I do not want to sound as though I'm here to defend XFX, but there have been other instances in the past where other hardware/software in the system caused issues with an NVIDIA card. At first, the NVIDIA part was to blame, but later, we found that several manufacturers were not building other components to spec. I have a problem with FUD fueled frenzies about one manufacturer or another on message boards. It is hard to establish whether it is the drivers, manufacturer or user that causes issues, as noone likes to be completley honest when they are trying to justify their position. You can not blame a manufacturer for driver related issues anymore than you can blame them for a bad chip supplied by NVIDIA.

I will attempt to relay your concerns about tech support to XFX. I hope you have already emailed their consumer@xfxforce.com inbox with comments. Did you also try the 800 support line?

Thanks for your feedback...