XFX 6600 256MB DDR2 XXX Edition Video Card Review :: XFX 6600 XXX Layout

6600 256MB DDR2 XXX Edition
Brand	XFX
Model	6600 256MB DDR2 XXX Edition
Graphics Chip	NV43
Graphics Memory Type	DDR2
Memory (MB)	256
Graphics Core Clock (MHz)	450
Memory Clock (MHz)	800
Memory Speed (ns)	2.5
RAMDAC Frequency (MHz)	Dual 400
Active Cooling on Graphics Chip	Yes
Heatsink on Memory	Yes
Video Capture	Yes
Ports
Dual Monitor Support	Yes
VGA Out	DVI-I, D-Sub
Video In and Out	S-Video Out
Package and Support
Printed Manual	Yes
Driver CD	Yes
Performance Tool Software	Coolbits
Major Games	Demos
Major Software	Tounmichi 3D Edit
VR Glasses	No
DVD Player Software	None
Video Recording Software	N/A

The 6600 is a relatively short single-slot PCI Express card, only barely longer than the PCI Express x16 slot it sits in on a system around an inch or so. This is in contrast to the high-end cards like the 7800GTX 512MB and ATI X1900XTX, which are as long as some people's cases and double slot cards. I prefer single-slot cooling to dual slot cooling as it's easier to take out of the case and work with on motherboards that have a PCI Express lock.

Card Shot

Single Slot

Rear of Card

NVIDIA introduced the 6800 Ultra in April of 2004. Shortly after, Intel introduced the 925X and 915G/P line of motherboards. With the introduction of the new motherboard chipsets came a slew of new technologies including LGA-775 CPUs, the BTX form-factor, the PCI Express bus and more. The PCI Express bus is a serial point to point protocol with bandwidth up to 4GB a second each way. Early PCI Express video cards from NVIDIA required a bridge chip called the HSI chip. Later cards were PCI Express native and didn't require the HSI chip.

PCI Express

Memory

The cooling on the XFX 6600 card consists of a heatsink covering the GPU or graphics chip and a 7 fin fan in the center of the heatsink. XFX chose not to cover the memory chips, and the heatsink is smaller than the ones found on the high-end 7800GTX cards. The memory chips are arranged in two rows of 4 chips each consisting of 32MB Tiny BGA modules. This brings the total memory on the board to 256MB, a standard for video cards today. Some manufacturers outfit their cards with 512MB of memory, but I feel that's overkill.

Cooling Fan

Power Regulators

No power connector

IO

The card has 12 power regulators and capacitors on the front of the card. The rear of the card is designed devoid of any capacitors. The 6600 card draws the power it needs from the PCI Express slot, up to 75W. No external power is required. One thing I like about the 6600 256MB from XFX is the inclusion of dual DVI-I ports. This allows the 6600 to use two LCD monitors at the same time. Many mainstream or value parts include D-Sub and DVI-I ports forcing you to use one LCD+ one CRT in tandem. NVIDIA's display control manager is called nView, part of their Forceware driver suite. Also included is a TV-Out port.