As cool as it is to cover the cutting-edge of video card performance, today?s release of the mid-range GeForce 6600GT and 6600 standard is, in some ways, more exciting.  The excitement over GeForce 6800 or X800 Pro performance is, after all, matched by an awareness that these cards are so expensive that only a handful of people can possibly afford them. 

For the  past few months there?s been a marked gap between the next-gen $500 powerhouses (and their $350 ?budget? counterparts) and the last-gen products available in the $150-$250 range.  Between ATI and NVIDIA, NVIDIA is the first to move to change that though we expect to see the X700 (ATI?s answer to the GeForce 6600 series) arriving soon.  So what?s NV43, what?s it got, and how excited should you be?  Lets have a look.

Unfortunately, I’m still hunting around for my camera’s data cable post-move, so no pictures from us.  Tech-Report has good shots of the board up here.

NV43:  Features and Highlights

Full Support for all Standard 6800 Features:  When it comes to raw feature sets, NVIDIA hasn?t pulled any surprise moves.  NV43 includes support for Shader Model 3.0, NVIDIA?s Ultra Shadow II technology (not yet implemented in any game, including Doom 3), 32-bit shader precision, and 64-bit texture filtering.

Up to 256 meg of RAM:  No word yet on whether or not the card will actually be able to effectively utilize this much memory, but rest assured?it?ll be there in time.  Ever since the days of the GeForce2, board manufacturers have loved doubling the RAM?and the price. 

Native PCI-Express:  NV43 is NVIDIA?s first native PCI-E chip, though this isn?t of much importance, and, save for video editing, may never really matter.  As we?ve demonstrated, AGP bandwidth was never saturated in gaming, so there?s little reason to expect PCI-E to matter.

NVIDIA will release an AGP version of the NV43 using the same bridge chip it first used to adapt its PCI-Express design.

Hybrid Design:  Unlike the 6800 Ultra / GT, the 6600 GT is hybridized design with eight pixel pipes but only four ROPs.  Beyond3D has done a good write-up on this here.  We’ll see how much this actually impacts real-world performance.

Advanced Video Display:  Like the 6800 family, the 6600 supports advanced de-interlacing, WMV acceleration, and motion-estimation.  This could be the card that finally gives NVIDIA an edge when challenging ATI?s ironclad-lock on the All-in-Wonder market. 

SLI:  The 6600GT is SLI-capable, the 6600 standard is not.  We?ll have more to say on this later.  SLI is the ability to link two GeForce cards together for parallel rendering (provided both are PCI-Express and one?s motherboard supports it, of course.

Quiet, Single-Slot Design:  One of the best things about the 6600GT is its noise-output (negligable).  It’ll fit into any single-slot system, its quiet, and it doesn’t require additional feed from the PSU. 

next >

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• Concerning SLI: Possible--but check your facts. (1 of 6)
• The Widening Gap Between Launches and Availability (2 of 6)
• Test Setup and Expectations. (3 of 6)
• 3DMark (4 of 6)
• Doom 3 and HL Stress. (5 of 6)
• Conclusion: The 6600GT Rocks. (6 of 6)