NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT: AGP Has Not Been Forgotten

Test Setup

For the test environment, we chose Intel’s D875 PBZ desktop motherboard with the i875 chipset, running an Intel Pentium 3.2 GHz processor. To compare performance, we sent the GeForce 6600 GT AGP into the ring against NVIDIA’s former top model (the GeForce FX 5950 Ultra), the bigger GeForce 6800, and ATI’s Radeon 9800 Pro.

For our benchmark suite we compiled numbers from several popular games and benchmarks, as well as a few new releases that make heavy use of pixel and vertex shaders. Since most games don’t feature their own built-in benchmark mode, we used the tool FRAPS to determine the frame rates. You can find more details on the games and benchmarks we used in the table below.

We tested the NVIDIA cards with the latest WHQL driver v66.93. The Radeon 9800 Pro was tested with Catalyst v4.11.

Benchmarks

3DMark 2005

In 3DMark 2005, the GeForce 6600 GT AGP is more than twice as fast as the GeForce FX 5950 Ultra. The Radeon 9800 Pro proves surprisingly speedy as well.