AGP 6600 & 6600GT

[DevilsGT2]

It is just about the perfect card for my price range and system, but it is in PCI-E only. Anyone know when it's due out?

[Yawgm0th]

Re: AGP 6600 & 6600GT

The AGP version is already out, and the PCI-E to AGP bridge nVidia made is also out. I'm not quite sure if the AGP models are actually AGP or just come with the bridge, butI can tell you both are out and at online retailers. For example:

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=14-150-080&depa=0

[wayout44]

Re: AGP 6600 & 6600GT

The AGP models do use a PCIe to AGP bridge and offically the AGP version has slightly slower memory though most manufacturers seem to want the memory speed to stay the same as the PCIe version (they'll be more commonly available as Xmas gets closer).

[sr4470]

[Yawgm0th]

Re: AGP 6600 & 6600GT

Well they still outprice good 9800 Pros by about $30 U.S. over here, but at this point I can't see much reason to get a 9800 Pro if 6600GTs are available to you. The performance is better overall in most games, and it's much better in some newer games (ie Half-Life 2, Doom 3).

[sr4470]

Re: AGP 6600 & 6600GT

The card i saw is cheaper as it has 10% slower memory (900mhz DDR) as opposed to 1000mhz on the PCI-E 6600GT. If you look at FSAA performance, you'll find the 6600 will fall a ways behind cause the 9800 has that 256bit memory bus with more bandwidth...though that is not always the case... as for HL2 it still looks like that is ATi's game, much like Doom 3 is Nvidia's game

[Yawgm0th]

Re: AGP 6600 & 6600GT

Not necessarily... The 9800 Pro doesn't even compare to the 6600GT in Half-Life 2, AA or not. In many other games a 9800 Pro can actually beat out a 6600GT when AA gets bumped up, but there are plenty of games where the 6600GT beats it there, too. Overall, AA makes it pretty close, but performance without AA would give the 6600GT the win IMO. Of course the fact that most 9800 Pros overclock to XT speeds or even flash to XT should have some factor. It really depends on what type of games you're going to be playing, but I'd say the 6600GT is probably a more desirable card for the majority of users.

The 6600GT at Newegg (not for U.K. unfortunately) has the full 1000MHZ DDR memory speed, but like I said, it's more expensive. For the same amount as the 6600GT, you could get Arctic Silver 5, the relevant Arctic Cooling ATI Silencer version and a Sapphire 9800 Pro. That can either be flashed to XT or overclock well past XT speeds, which would probably give the 9800 Pro an advantage over an overclocked 6600GT with stock cooling. I think the 6600GT would still win in Half-Life 2 and Doom 3, though.

[sr4470]

Re: AGP 6600 & 6600GT

Games nowadays make intensive use of pixel shaders, and the 6600's higher core speed gives it the advantage in this area (its superior architecture compared with GeforceFX also comes into play), and its raw fillrate is some 30% higher than the 9800 pro. Having looked at more scores across a variety of newer games, the 6600 does still keep up even with AA enabled...the reason i said it falls behind is because there are games (such as Splinter Cell, and various older OpenGL titles) that make use of the extra memory bandwidth offered by the 256bit radeon 9800.

[Yawgm0th]

Re: AGP 6600 & 6600GT

Yeah, I also noticed that it was mostly older games with the 9800 Pro being better with AA, but there are some newer ones.

The 6600GT's higher memory speed probably does just as much as the core, and more so in some games (and less so in others). Most of the better-looking games tend to get more advantage from a memory speed increase than core. Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 are excellent examples. Hell, the 6800 with 4 more pixel pipelines and the 256-bit memory interface barely beats out the 6600GT in Half-Life 2 due to it's much lower speeds. Games like UT2004 (not to say that it's ugly, but compared to other games of it's time it is worse) make better use of more core power and the 256-bit memory interface. Older OpenGL titles and particularly Quake 3-based games seem to show the same trend, like you said. The 6600GT seems to need both huge speed advantages over the 9800 Pro just to get about on-par performance, and it does just that in those games, or loses by a close margin.

Personally I'm looking at a regular 6800 or 6800GT as my first upgrade after replacing the rest of my system. My 9800 Pro and the 6600GT can actually beat the regular 6800 in certain areas, but the 6800 wins out in the more relevant ones.

[sr4470]