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XFX 6600GT SLI Video Card Review :: Drivers and Gameplay

Author: Benjamin Sun · 06-16-2005 · Category: Hardware - Video Cards

NVIDIA started the practice of naming their video card drivers several years ago with the Detonator drivers. Starting at number 2.08, the Detonator drivers promised and delivered a performance increase over the previous NVIDIA drivers. One thing their drivers have been known for is good performance, and high stability. Recently, NVIDIA started a new name scheme called Forceware.

Forceware

If you have an SLI motherboard, setup of the 6600GTs in SLI mode is simplicity itself. Attach two of the same video cards to the motherboard in the PCI Express X16 slots, set the SLI selector to SLI mode (assuming the board has one), and attach the SLI bridge in between the cards. Turn on the system and install the drivers. After a reboot, the system will prompt you to activate the SLI. Once SLI is activated, the system will reboot itself and you have two cards in SLI mode.

Installer

XFX has a handy-dandy install program on their drivers CD. Simply insert the CD into the drive and a Window will pop-up to prompt you install the drivers. Also on the CD are the game demos, the trial version software in the bundle, the free software and the Coolbits registry bit to overclock the video card automatically. Of course the enthusiast will want to use the latest drivers off NVIDIA's website, but there is plenty of extra software on the CD.

I'm not very good at racing games. With MotoGP2 and a mouse/keyboard control setup I kept crashing the motorcycle. But that was my ineptitude at making turns on a race track in a racing game, not the video card's fault. Graphically, this game is beautiful. Rain is represented by raindrops gathering on the screen when you're racing. The XFX 6600GT was able to play the game with full effects on at 1024x768 resolution without hassle. The game supports pixel and vertex shader 2.0.

Recently I have been playing a lot of the game Empire Earth 2. Many have panned the game because it's boring. Personally I like games in the vein of Age Of Empires 2, and this game is just the type of game I really enjoy. The 6600GT was able to play this game without issue even with 8 empires building and maximum resolution on my LCD monitor. Anyway, if you enjoy the game, this card is a good fit.