Gigabyte Dual 6600GT - tech
(hx) 06:54 PM EST - Dec,26 2004 - Post a comment
OC Workbench have published the
first (p)review of Gigabyte's GV-3D1 dual GeForce 6600 GT GPU graphics card which uses 2 pcs Nvidia 6600GT GPU in one card and named "3D1". It is the only one 6600GT card built with 256MB DDR III memory and supports 256bit memory bandwidth as well. 3D1 comes with 256MB of DDR III rated at 1.6ns which means a potential of 625MHz (1250MHz DDR). The card is rated with a core clock of 500Mhz and a memory clock of 560MHz (1120MHz DDR). The package comes with 2 games, Thief (DVD) and Joint Operation (CDROM). Here's a taster:
I know that you are waiting for this information on whether this card will work with other boards. Basically during the installation of the card, the K8NXP-SLI is configured to run in NORMAL mode and not SLI mode (since we are only using one card with 2 GPUs). In the windows xp properties, two instances of 6600GT is detected. The graphics driver detects that a SLI card (2 GPU) is installed and prompt you to enable the SLI link. Once that is enabled, you would need to reboot the system and it is done.
After completing the tests, I did try to test the card on two other PCI-E boards, e.g. MSI ATi K8 and EPoX 5EPA+ but it just couldn't POST at all. With the EPoX 5EPA+, the DEBUG leds shows "FF" and it wouldn't continue. I suspect that the graphics card has some form of detection algorithm within the BIOS that detects which board it is used on. Well, that is again my guess and I find that is highly possible as NVIDIA will come knocking on Gigabyte's door as it might affect the sales of SLI boards if the card can be used on any PCI-E board.
PCI-Express Roundup: Mainstream Video Cards - tech
(hx) 06:44 PM EST - Dec,26 2004 - Post a comment
The chaps over at MadShrimps have posted a
roundup of Mainstream PCI-Express videocards:
The Abit RX600 provides fair performance for a relatively cheap price. Available at online resellers for $130-150 the Abit RX600 5Guru would provide the casual gamer with fair performance and some nice features such as the 5Guru technology and utility, as well as the pretty lights and aesthetic design. I would caution those interested in this card that frame rates in current games such as Doom3 and other DX9 titles should be a secondary consideration to value and style. I would think that with newer cards coming into market, the price point for this card should shift down into the $100-125 area making it a more attractive buy for the value conscious.
As far as performance goes, the clear winner is the ATI Radeon X700Pro. Without current inclusion of NVIDIA 6600 series offerings, I cannot say that this is the "mainstream" card to have, but out of this samples we tested, the X700 stood head and shoulders above the others. Coming in at a price near $200 the card offers affordability, functionality, and impressive performance for the money.
Gigabyte 3D1 Dual 6600GT GPU (p)review on OCW.
Chaintech GeForce 6600GT AGP on OCModShop.
NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT PCI-E on PCModdingMy.