Leadtek WinFast A6600GT TDH
The first graphic card of this survey, the WinFast A6600GT TDH differs from the others tested here by the cooling system, which isn’t one normally used by NVIDIA. It’s larger, supposedly turns slower and provides an equivalent amount of air. Therefore, it should also be quieter.
The board features one VGA D-Sub, DVI and TV output. Leadtek offers a DVI/VGA adaptor with its package to connect another analogical monitor to the graphic card and an adaptor cable to have a TV signal in S-Video, in composite and also in YUV for HDTV. The other cable part, however, isn’t provided.
The average Leadtek software package features DVD player software, InterVideo WinDVD, and two games, Prince of Persia the Sands of Time (the first one), and Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow.
In practice we measured the graphic card’s noise level at 47 dBA, which is quite normal. The board features GPU and PCB temperature monitoring. After continuous load, the temperature reached 68°C, one of the lowest temperatures in this survey.
For overclocking, the graphic card reached a stable configuration at 575 MHz for the GPU, and 605 MHz for memory (Samsung 2ns). This is respectively +15% and +34% compared to standard frequencies. The 3DMark03 score in 1024*768 AA 4x increased from 4612 to 5667 (+22.9%).
VerdictWith the WinFast A6600GT TDH, Leadtek has the best 6600 GT AGP graphic card of this test. Only the Point Of View might overshadow this graphic card, only because of the package.
MSI NX6600GT-VTD128
The MSI NX6600GT-VTD128 is the only GeForce 6600 GT AGP of this roundup with VIVO functions. MSI has included a SAA7115HL chip to the graphic card to accept analogical video signal input, which would be for acquiring video, for example. MSI also provides an S-Video cable and VGA to DVI adaptor for those who want to connect two monitors in analogical.
If the PCB looks like NVIDIA’s standard design, MSI decided like Leadtek to add a personal touch to the cooling system. MSI goes even further with the radiator being in contact with the memory chips, even if it isn’t necessary as long as there is some airflow passing over memory chips.
There are numerous games and utility software included such as XIII and Uru : Ages Beyond Myst and the following utilities: Restore It 3 Professional, Photoshop Album SE, 3D Album SE, WinDVD Creator, Cyberlink PowerCinema 3, Cyberlink MakeDVD, Cyberlink PowerProducer 2 Gold – DVD et Cyberlink Power2Go 4 – DVD.
We are disappointed by the noise of the cooling system chosen by MSI, which isn’t less noisy than NVIDIA’s standard fan. It’s actually slightly noisier at 53.5 dBA. The graphic card initially doesn’t offer any temperature monitoring. After a bios modification we activated it. The temperature in use, a good score for a 6600 GT, was 67°C.
For overclocking, the radiator in contact with memory chips (Samsung 2.0ns) doesn’t change the situation. The board we tested, 570 MHz for the GPU and 600 MHz for memory, was unable to reach higher frequencies than the Leadtek. This is still a very good result, though. The 3DMark03 score in 1024*768 and anti aliasing 4x increases from 4601 to 5576 points.
VerdictMSI’s graphic card only stands out from the competition because of VIVO functions. The cooling system was promising but doesn’t bring any improvement in practice. The advantage is small.
