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A Pair of Graphics Cards from Chaintech Reviewed

Chaintech’s Offer for Home Theater PC Users

by Yaroslav Lyssenko

[ 04/20/2005 | 04:28 PM ]

HTPCnews.com has reviewed a pair of graphics cards from Chaintech. The Chaintech AA6800 and Chaintech SA6600G graphics cards are based on the GeForce 6800 and GeForce 6600 GT graphics processors featuring AGP interconnection. Both cards are equipped with the company’s own cooling systems which is designed to improve stability, reliability and without much noise. The author compared products in terms of price, performance and especially video input/output capabilities.

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“The 6800 is really a good card. The performance was there with settings cranked up and things ran very smoothly. Chaintech included a great little bundle with the card that should keep you pretty happy. HTPC users may opt for a Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer to keep things quiet though. The 6800 is no doubt a great card falling in as the lowest clock of its family. But this is a good thing for HTPC users, the GT and Ultra may run much hotter and offer up only a little more performance for each step up you go. The 6800 can handle most things thrown at it without any problems, most things except interlaced resolutions through the VGA port that is. Hopefully NVIDIA can find something in their drivers to rectify the problem. But as stated if using progressive scan resolutions or interlaced through direct DVI connection you have nothing to worry about,” writes HTPCnews.com.

“The 6600GT, I have to say I was really incredibly impressed. The component out looked amazing and worked very well. Granted I did have problems getting PowerStrip to modify some timings but really it wasn’t necessary to modify what was made available. The component video out was really easy to use and was a cinch to compensate for overscan. Couple that with some great gaming performance at high resolutions with excellent detail levels, then put in a very nice bundle and you have a great card for HTPC & gaming use. To top it off the Chaintech 6600GT is at a much lower price point than it’s big brother the 6800. Again HTPC users may opt for another cooling solution to keep things silent. I have not, to date, seen an add-on silent cooler for the AGP 6600GT,” concludes the author.

HTPCnews.com: Chaintech 6800 & 6600GT AGP Video Cards.