BFGTech GeForce 6600 GT OC - Introduction and Pictures - BFGTech 6600 GT OC AGP & PCI-E SLI

Date:: Thursday , February 10, 2005
Category:: GPU / Video Cards
Manufacturers:: BFGTech
Author:: Brent Justice
Editor:: Kyle Bennett

BFGTech 6600 GT OC AGP & PCI-E SLI

Today we game with BFGTech’s entire GeForce 6600 GT OC lineup consisting of the 6600 GT OC AGP, 6600 GT OC PCI-Express, and SLI setup.

Grammatical & Spelling Editor: Timothy Daniel

Introduction:

BFGTech has earned a very positive reputation with gamers as being a top choice for solid hardware that is truly “built by gamers, for gamers.” Their “OC” (Overclocked) line of video cards are very appealing for those hardcore gamers looking for extra performance right out of the box. BFGTech is well known for their support infrastructure, which includes free 24/7 tech support and a true lifetime warranty on their products. Today we are going to take a look at BFGTech’s GeForce 6600 GT OC lineup.

As you may or may not know NVIDIA announced the GeForce 6600 series last August, 2004, you can read our preview of the technology behind it here. The GeForce 6600 GT is what we are interested in today. Most gamers are considering this card because it offers good performance at a good price. The GeForce 6600 GT is an 8 pixel-pipeline video card with 3 vertex units. What makes the GPU unique is that it supports the entire 2D and 3D feature set of the GeForce 6800 series. This means DirectX9 Shader Model 2.0 and 3.0 support, a FP16 Framebuffer, OpenEXR support, Ultrashadow II, and Pure Video. It uses a 128-bit memory bus with 128MB of GDDR3 memory. Combine all of these features with a very fast core frequency and you have one appealing video card for gamers; one that has consistently shown to provide a better gaming experience compared to the competition.

The GeForce 6600 GT is a native PCI-Express GPU. Thankfully, there is also an AGP version of the card. For the AGP version of the video card, NVIDIA used their High Speed Interconnect (HSI) bridging chip to convert PCI-Express to an AGP8X slot. This gives NVIDIA an immediate advantage over the competition by having a fast gaming mainstream card on both the AGP and PCI-Express platforms. With the PCI-Express GeForce 6600 GT, you have the option of another great NVIDIA innovation, and that is Scalable Link Interface (SLI). Combining two PCI-Express 6600 GTs will provide an even better gaming experience than a single 6600 GT in most games.

BFGTech has both the AGP and PCI-Express GeForce 6600 GT at BFGTech’s special Overclocked speeds. The BFGTech GeForce 6600 GT OC AGP video card comes clocked at 525 MHz core frequency versus the standard 500 MHz clock frequency. The memory comes clocked at 525 MHz (1.05 GHz DDR) versus the standard 500 MHz (1G Hz DDR) speed. The BFGTech GeForce 6600 GT PCI-Express video also comes clocked at the same 525 MHz GPU frequency and 1.05 GHz memory frequency. Both cards have 128MB of GDDR3 on board. As you can see with the PCI-Express video card, it is fully SLI ready. All you need is an SLI motherboard and two video cards to run them in SLI.

BFGTech GeForce 6600GT OC AGP:

One great thing about BFGTech’s boxes is the big windows right on the front which lets you fully see what the video card looks like before you make your purchase. They also proudly list their 24/7 free tech support and lifetime warranty.

With the AGP GeForce 6600 GT, the GPU is positioned upward on the PCB with the memory closely surrounding it to give the card room for the HSI bridge chip. The copper heatsinks for the GPU and HSI chip give the card an attractive appearance.

The AGP version of the GeForce 6600 GT, unlike the PCI-Express version, requires external power to be connected for proper operation. BFGTech is using Samsung 2ns GDDR modules that are rated at 500 MHz. The BFGTech GeForce 6600 GT OC AGP has dual DVI ports and a multimedia out port supporting Composite and S-Video.

There are three blue LEDs on the heatsink fan unit that light up during operation. With the AGP version of the card, a Molex splitter cable is included. In the PCI-Express versions, no power cable is needed. The multimedia adapter lets you connect S-Video, Composite, and Component video out. The software bundle includes demos of Painkiller, Silent Storm, and Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow.

BFGTech GeForce 6600GT OC PCI-Express:

The PCI-Express version of the BFGTech GeForce 6600 GT OC is almost identical to the AGP version. The differences are that the HSI bridging chip is not needed on the PCI-Express version since it is a native PCI-E GPU. Therefore, the GPU can be moved down on the PCB,the RAM modules are set in a different position on the card, and the RAM has heatsinks attached. The AGP and PCI-E video cards are exactly the same size. The PCI-Express cards also do not require any external power; they completely operate off the PCI-Express slot. Also, note the PCI-Express cards have the SLI connector at the top because they are fully NVIDIA SLI ready.