X-bit labs

Leadtek WinFast A6600 GT TDH Graphics Card Review

Category: Video

by Alexey Stepin

[ 05/10/2005 | 11:26 AM ]

In case you are looking for an affordable modern graphics card with such modern features as Shader Model 3.0, but still for AGP bus, you would probably consider the GeForce 6600 GT. Today we are taking a look at Leadtek's GeForce 6600 GT AGP product and its performance in modern games.

Table of contents:

• Leadtek WinFast A6600 GT TDH – First Look
  
• PCB Design
  
• Noise, Overclocking and 2D Quality
  
• Testbed and Methods
  
• Performance in First Person 3D Shooters
  
• Doom 3
  
• Unreal Tournament 2004
  
• Far Cry
  
• The Chronicles of Riddick
  
• Painkiller: Battle Out of Hell
  
• Half-Life 2
  
• Performance in Third Person 3D Shooters
  
• Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
  
• Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
  
• Performance in Simulators
  
• Il-2 Sturmovik: Aces in the Sky
  
• Lock On: Modern Air Combat
  
• Colin McRae Rally 2005
  
• Performance in Strategies
  
• Warhammer 40.000: Dawn of War
  
• Perimeter
  
• Performance in Semi-Synthetic Benchmarks
  
• Final Fantasy XI Official Benchmark 3
  
• Aquamark3
  
• Performance in Synthetic Benchmarks
  
• Futuremark 3DMark03
  
• Futuremark 3DMark05
  
• Conclusion
  

Graphics cards based on the NVIDIA NV43 (GeForce 6600) graphics processor and equipped with a HSI converter and an AGP connector enjoy a well-deserved popularity today. They are small and not too hot, consume little power and deliver an excellent performance, being generally faster than RADEON 9800 XT/PRO cards.

The GeForce 6600 GT AGP doesn’t yet have dangerous rivals since ATI’s Rialto bridge has been announced just recently. So, our today’s review is about Leadtek’s version of the GeForce 6600 GT AGP. The card is called Leadtek WinFast A6600 GT TDH.

Leadtek WinFast A6600 GT TDH – First Look

The device in many aspects resembles another product from the same company, the WinFast PX6600 GT TDH card we reviewed some time ago (for details see our article called Leadtek WinFast PX6600 GT TDH Graphics Card Review). Leadtek uses the letter A to mark its AGP-interfaced cards and the letters PX for its PCI Express solutions, so in fact we’ve got the same product but with a different interface.

It comes in the same package and has similar accessories. The contents of the box:

• Leadtek WinFast A6600 GT TDH graphics card
• Installation Guide
• User manual
• Power splitter
• Universal video splitter (YPbPr, S-Video, Composite)
• DVD-I-to-D-Sub adapter
• CD with drivers and software
• CD with Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
• Two CDs with Prince of Persia: Sands of Time

The adapter for attaching TV and HDTV display devices is different, and there’s also a Molex splitter enclosed for connecting additional power because the AGP 8x slot cannot supply enough power to the GeForce 6600 GT TDH and all versions of this graphics card are equipped with a 4-pin Molex connector. The splitter then allows to give power to the card and yet spare you one PSU output.

The TV/HDTV adapter isn’t as technically advanced as the one included with the PX9900 GT. Here, it is an ordinary splitter with a round 9-pin connector on one end and three RCA connectors and an S-Video output on the other end. Since it’s impossible to use S-Video/Composite and HDTV display devices simultaneously, one of the RCA connectors – the blue one – can serve not only to output one of the components of the YPbPr signal, but also as an ordinary composite video output.

By the way, the VIVO-supporting chip from Philips is missing in this product. Otherwise the card would have “MyVIVO” in its name.

These are all the points of difference between the contents of the packages of the WinFast PX6600 GT and A6600 GT cards. We’ll see more of them if we compare the PCBs of the cards.