Noise, Overclocking, 2D Quality

The noise parameters are identical to those of the GeForce 6600 GT for PCI Express as these cards are both equipped with the same cooler (see our article called Knowing the Depths: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT Architecture). In brief, the cooler is noticeably noisy, but the frequency range of this noise isn’t annoying.

The quality of the image the card was yielding in 2D applications was sharp in all resolutions up to 1800x1440@75Hz inclusive. Well, it becomes almost a useless job to evaluate the quality of the 2D image provided by modern graphics cards. There are ever more LCD monitors with the DVI interface, but even apart from that all modern graphics cards from leading and obscure manufacturers alike ensure a highest image quality in all resolutions. You can only have problems with cheap no-name devices where the manufacturer has tried to save on every cent.

Our GPU overclocking experiments were very rewarding as we managed to reach 560MHz frequency without any additional cooling. The memory refused to speed up above 1,000MHz – 3DMark would be all artifacts if the memory clock rate was just a few megahertz higher. So the reduction of the default memory frequency from 1000 to 900MHz seems reasonable as some samples of the GeForce 6600 GT AGP may be unstable at 1,000MHz memory frequency.

To all appearances, the GeForce 6600 GT AGP graphics card is a well-made product. We only have to check it out in a real race, choosing the RADEON 9800 XT as its opponent. It is only a year ago that this RADEON was considered the height of consumer graphics hardware, so the next, practical section of this review is going to be most interesting.