The test
We used the same test protocol as the previous article. (If you would like more information on this procedure go and take a look at the NVIDIA GeForce 6800 vs ATI Radeon X800, Round 2 article) NVIDIA’s drivers changed from 61.77 to 65.76. The 61.77 is not fully compatible with the GeForce 6600GT.
With the PCI card release, we had to use two different platforms:
- ASUSTeK P4C800-E Deluxe (i875P – AGP) / ASUSTeK P5GD1 (i915P – PCI Express)
- Intel Pentium 4 3.4E GHz
- 2x512 MB DDR PC3200 en 2-3-3-8
- Windows XP SP1 French
- DirectX 9.0c
We included the following graphic cards in our test:
- Radeon X600 XT
- Radeon 9800 Pro
- Radeon X800 Pro
- GeForce FX 5700U
- GeForce PCX 5900
- GeForce FX 5900 XT
- GeForce 6600 GT
- GeForce 6800
- GeForce 6800 GT
These cards have 128 MB of memory except for the X800 Pro and 6800 GT, which have 256 MB. It should be mentioned that the GeForce 6600GT uses a relatively expensive 500 MHz memory. If the 256 MB version is released it should also be quite expensive. Furthermore, if the memory upgrade was justified with the previous top-of-the-line graphic cards it is not necessarily so with the current mid- range of products. Graphic card performances start to be restricted by this type of memory in 1280 or 1600 with anti aliasing 4X and most of the time mid-range graphic cards provide poor results at this resolution. Even if there was no memory restriction, resolution should be 1024*768 or 1280*1024 in 4X or even 1600*1200 in 2X.
The Radeon X600 XT is a version of the Radeon 9600XT in PCI format. The VPU frequency remains at 500 MHz, but the memory was improved from 300 to 370 MHz. The GeForce PCX 5900 is the PCI Express version of the 5900 with HIS. The frequency is 350/275 instead of 390/350 for the 5900XT AGP.
The other cards are in the AGP version. However, X800/6800/6800GT frequencies are similar for AGP and PCI versions. Results will be almost identical to PCI Express graphic cards because the interface doesn’t bring any performance gains and platforms are equivalent.
For this test we lowered the GeForce 6600 GT’s frequency to 300/300 instead of 500/500 to simulate a standard GeForce 6600 performance. NVIDIA shares information only on the 300 MHz GPU frequency insisting on the fact that the integrators are free to choose the type of memory.
However, according to information we just received, it seems that 275 MHz is the minimum standard frequency required for a 6600. Such a graphic card will have inferior performances to the 300/300 6600 used for this article, but most manufacturers almost certainly won’t restrict their memory to this frequency.
Overclocking fans will be glad to know that our reference card reached 570/580 instead of 500/500. Of course we will have to verify if retail graphic cards will be able to reach the same performance level.
