GeForce 6600 GT AGP In Detail, Continued

The cooler itself is the same one used on the PCI Express model, while an additional passive heatsink cools the HSI bridge chip. The question of whether this cooling solution will be adopted by all card-makers is hard to answer. Some are sure to opt out of this solution in favor of a big cooler that covers both chips, placed in the usual straight position on the card. After all, the off-angle design is not everyone's cup of tea.

The funky cooler position makes the space needed to house the HSI bridge chip.

The unadorned card reveals the weird arrangement of the graphics processor and bridge chip on the board. It's strange, to be sure - but not ugly.

With two DVI-I monitor outputs and TV in/out, the NVIDIA reference card is extremely well-equipped. Unfortunately, this design is not standard. The PR photos released by NVIDIA show the card in the familiar configuration, with 1x VGA and 1x DVI.

The GeForce 6600 GT PCI model (above) compared with the new AGP version (below).

The Geforce 6600 GT AGP at a glance:

• DirectX support: DirectX 9.0c (SM 3.0)
• Pixel pipelines: 8
• Vertex shaders: 3
• Manufacturing process: 110 nanometer
• Transistors: 146 million
• Core clock speed: 500 MHz
• Memory clock speed: 900 MHz (DDR)
• Memory expansion: 128/256 MB
• Memory technology: GDDR3
• Memory buswidth: 128 bit
• Other features: Integrated video processor
• Probable street price: $199 - $249

Note that NVIDIA currently has no plans to offer a scaled-down AGP model (without the GT tacked onto the name).