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NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT Performance Preview September 07, 2004 Brandon Sandman Bell |
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Summary: What if we told you that you could get RADEON 9800 XT-like performance from a $200 graphics card, with shader model 3.0 support added in and the ability to connect a second identical card to give you nearly double the performance? Sounds too good to be true doesn't it? With NVIDIA's GeForce 6600 GT GPU, this has become a reality! See why we were so impressed with this graphics card in today's article!
 Introduction | Page:: ( 1 / 17 ) |
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Since ATI’s RADEON 9700 PRO was launched two years ago, gamers and hardware enthusiasts have wanted a cheaper DirectX 9 alternative. Initially the RADEON 9500 PRO was all the rage, as its eight pixel pipeline architecture provided it with fill rate that was close to the RADEON 9700 PRO. This allowed it to perform competitively with the 9700 PRO in the DirectX 7 and DirectX 8 titles that were popular at the time at lower screen resolutions. The RADEON 9700 PRO didn’t really pull ahead until you cranked up the screen res, and turned on anti-aliasing and anistropic filtering. The 9500 PRO just didn’t have the memory bandwidth to keep up in these situations.
NVIDIA and ATI upped the ante with their second generation (NVIDIA’s first actually) mainstream cards, the RADEON 9600 PRO and GeForce FX 5600 Ultra. Enthusiasm for these cards was mixed. The GeForce 5600 Ultra initially launched to lackluster reviews, while the enhanced, second revision GeForce FX 5600 Ultra was perpetually in short supply up until it was replaced. Meanwhile the RADEON 9600 PRO offered little, if any performance improvement over the original RADEON 9500 PRO. Those in the know simply bought RADEON 9500 PRO instead. The follow-up cards, the RADEON 9600 XT and especially the GeForce FX 5700 Ultra were an improvement, but by then gamers were hoping for a mainstream-level card that was built to displace the RADEON 9700 PRO from a performance perspective.
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NVIDIA really shook things up with the launch of GeForce FX 5900 XT. By integrating the 5900 core and its 256-bit memory interface on a PCB that was less expensive to manufacture and by using slower memory, the GeForce FX 5900 XT was priced to move at $200. NVIDIA even partnered with a few board partners to throw in a free copy of Call of Duty. The result was a product that delivered an unprecedented price/performance ratio up to that time. ATI was forced to counter by lowering prices on their RADEON 9800 PRO.
Now NVIDIA is back again with another mainstream product that should turn heads: the GeForce 6600 GT. It sports an 8x1 pixel pipeline architecture with a 128-bit memory interface just like the beloved RADEON 9500 PRO, only it runs at much higher clock frequencies, supports shader model 3.0 and NVIDIA’s SLI technology. But the real kicker is its performance: we found multiple cases where the GeForce 6600 GT outperformed former flagship cards like the RADEON 9800 XT!
| The board and image quality | Page:: ( 2 / 17 ) |
Board analysis
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The first aspect that really stands out on the GeForce 6600 GT reference board is its small size. In comparison to NVIDIA’s previous mainstream offerings, the GeForce FX 5900 XT and especially the GeForce FX 5700 Ultra, the 6600 GT is tiny! You’ll also notice that an external power connection isn’t necessary – the PCI Express interface is capable of supplying GeForce 6600 GT with all the power it needs.
In comparison to other reference boards, the GeForce 6600 GT’s PCB is rather spartan. You’ll notice NVIDIA has significantly reduced the amount of power circuitry on the board, while a simple, single-slot ducted cooling design is used to keep the GeForce 6600 GT’s core cool. All this should help to keep production costs in check.
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In operation, the GeForce 6600 GT board itself runs much cooler than GeForce FX 5700 Ultra and 5900 XT, despite its high clock speeds. Obviously the use of GDDR-3 memory helps here somewhat. Samsung’s 2.0ns modules were used on our reference board. These are the same modules used in GeForce 6800 GT. You’ll also note the SLI connector on the top of the card.
Image quality
While we plan on taking a closer look at image quality with the GeForce 6600 GT and NVIDIA’s ForceWare 65 driver later this month, we still wanted to take a quick look at both AA and AF:
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Notes
NVIDIA has adopted a rotated-grid sampling pattern for all GeForce 6 series GPUs, including the GeForce 6600 and GeForce 6600 GT. This new AA pattern has drastically improved the quality of NVIDIA’s anti-aliasing, an area ATI had held a decisive advantage over NVIDIA in the past. As you can see in our screenshots above, both company’s 4xAA mode looks very good, with each card having its strong areas over the other. NVIDIA’s 2xAA actually looks a little better overall than ATI’s:
RADEON X600 XT 2xAA
GeForce 6600 GT 2xAA
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| Test systems | Page:: ( 3 / 17 ) |
System Setup
Intel Pentium 4 3.4GHz “Prescott”
ABIT IC7-G Max II Advance
Intel D925XCV
1GB OCZ EL DDR400 Platinum Edition Rev 2
1GB Corsair XMS2 5400 DDR2
ATI X600 XT
ATI RADEON 9800 XT
ATI RADEON 9800 PRO
Driver version CATALYST 4.8
Leadtek WinFast A400 (GeForce 6800)
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT reference card
Driver version 65.76
eVGA e-GeForce FX 5900 SE
eVGA e-GeForce FX 5700 Ultra
Driver version 61.77
250GB Maxtor Hard Drive Maxline III SATA Hard Drive w/16MB Cache
Windows XP Professional SP1
DirectX 9.0c
Benchmarks
Lock On: Modern Air Combat (Mig-29 custom demo)
Unreal Tournament 2004 (T3 custom demo)
IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles (The Black Death track)
Splinter Cell (FS custom demo)
Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness (Beyond3D custom demo)
Halo: Combat Evolved (stock benchmark)
Far Cry 1.2 (custom demo for mp_jungle, SM2.0b and SM3.0 paths used)
DOOM 3 (gameplay custom demo)
| IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles | Page:: ( 4 / 17 ) |
IL-2 Sturmovik: FB - OpenGL
| Lock On: Modern Air Combat | Page:: ( 5 / 17 ) |
Lock On: Modern Air Combat – Direct3D
| UT 2004 | Page:: ( 6 / 17 ) |
Unreal Tournament 2004
| Splinter Cell | Page:: ( 7 / 17 ) |
Splinter Cell – Direct3D
| Tomb Raider | Page:: ( 8 / 17 ) |
Tomb Raider – Direct3D
| Halo | Page:: ( 9 / 17 ) |
Halo – Direct3D
| Far Cry mp_jungle | Page:: ( 10 / 17 ) |
Far Cry – Direct3D
| Far Cry 2xAA | Page:: ( 11 / 17 ) |
Far Cry – Direct3D
| Far Cry Jungle 4xAA | Page:: ( 12 / 17 ) |
Far Cry – Direct3D
| Jungle 2xAA/8xAF | Page:: ( 13 / 17 ) |
Far Cry – Direct3D
| DOOM 3 High Quality 8xAF | Page:: ( 14 / 17 ) |
DOOM 3 – OpenGL
Notes
When looking at the DOOM 3 numbers, it’s important to keep in mind that we’re running our own custom demos now, and not the stock demo1 benchmark that ships with the game.
| DOOM 3 High Quality 4xAA/8xAF | Page:: ( 15 / 17 ) |
DOOM 3 – OpenGL
| Overclocking | Page:: ( 16 / 17 ) |
Far Cry – Direct3D
DOOM 3 – OpenGL
| Conclusion | Page:: ( 17 / 17 ) |
With GeForce 6600 GT, NVIDIA has established new levels of performance for the mainstream graphics segment, shattering all the previous performance records for a $200 graphics card. But beating up RADEON 9800 PROs and GeForce FX 5900 XTs isn’t all the GeForce 6600 GT can do, in our testing the GeForce 6600 GT outperformed last year’s high-end $500 RADEON 9800 XT graphics card in many of our benchmarks.
In fact, thanks to its 500MHz core clock and 8 pixel pipelines, the GeForce 6600 GT boasts a slight fill rate advantage over GeForce 6800. This allows it to perform roughly evenly with the GeForce 6800 under less intensive situations, even in more recent titles such as DOOM 3.
But before you whip out your credit card, don’t forget ATI. Rumor has it that they have a mainstream GeForce 6600 GT competitor of their own up their sleeve. Some online reports suggest this upcoming part shares many of the same traits as GeForce 6600 GT, such as a similar 8x1 pipeline configuration and comparable clock frequencies for the graphics core and memory.
If these rumors ring true, ATI’s upcoming mainstream part could be quite a worthy competitor to the GeForce 6600 GT, although it’s doubtful such a card would support SM 3.0 considering that the high-end RADEON X800 doesn’t have it. Clearly ATI needs to respond to GeForce 6600 GT if they wish to remain competitive in the mainstream segment, as the X600 XT doesn’t come close to matching the 6600 GT in performance.
Besides ATI though, another lingering question remains: availability. NVIDIA has stated that the first GeForce 6600 GTs will begin shipping later this month, but these will be PCI Express 6600 GT cards that are destined for the OEM market. We have no doubt that e-tailers like Newegg and Zipzoomfly will be able to get their hands on some of these cards, but the question is can NVIDIA deliver? GeForce 6800 Ultra is still in short supply, with most board partners focusing their efforts on GeForce 6800 and GeForce 6800 GT instead.
It would be a definite disappointment to a lot of gamers if history were to repeat itself again for GeForce 6600 GT and cards were hard to find. Also keep in mind that AGP-based GeForce 6600 GTs will trail PCI-E boards by a few weeks, so if you planned on picking up an AGP 6600 GT, we wouldn’t be surprised if you have to wait until the middle of October until the first boards become available.
In any case, NVIDIA’s engineering team deserves our recognition for significantly raising the bar this year. First they unveiled their groundbreaking GeForce 6800 series (with a particular emphasis from us on the extremely popular GeForce 6800 GT), then SLI for their high-end PCI Express graphics cards, and now the GeForce 6600 family. For a $200 upgrade, the GeForce 6600 GT is going to be tough to beat. When you factor in the SLI advantage NVIDIA currently boasts, ATI is going to have their hands full surpassing the GeForce 6600 GT…