Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/450
Asus V6600 SDRAM provided by Data Privat
Originally a manufacturer
of quality motherboards, ASUS made the transition into the video card market
with a card that almost revolutionized an industry: the TNT based V3400. It
was the first time that a Taiwanese company successfully spread from spread
from one very skilled area of design, motherboards, to another, video cards
and was able to sell these cards at the larger computer stores and maintain
product quality. This formula spelled big success for ASUS, which could now
appeal to not only system makers but also to hard core gamers.
ASUS has continued this tradition of high quality of card manufacturing as can be seen in their GeForce based V6600 SDRAM (internally named the V6600 TF), a board that contains the quality that we at the lab have come to expect from ASUS.
Specifications, courtesy
of ASUS:
Key Features |
Powered by the World's First Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) - NVIDIA GeForce 256 |
Built-in 32MB Frame Buffer (SDRAM)- Provides more resolutions and color depths |
4x4 Engine Integrated Transform and Lighting- Frees up CPU bandwidth |
256-bit QuadPipe Rendering- Delivers industry's fastest graphics performance |
AGP 4x with Fast Write- Maximizes overall system performance |
Optimized for DirectX 7.0 and OpenGL Features- Ensures broad application support |
- Quad Engine Architecture
Four Independent Pipelined Engines
15M triangles/second
Sustained DMA, transform/clip/light, setup, and render rate
>70% of the chip active at all times
Up to 6 triangles "in flight" at a time (typically 1-3)
Very low latency between engines - QuadPipe Rendering
4 pixels per clock
480M pixels/second fill rate
32 texture samples per clock
Full-speed 8-sample filtering - Superior 2D Performance
256-bit 2D rendering pipeline
4 pixels per clock on all scaled and indexed image operations
1 GB/s CPU-to-GPU memory via AGP 4X with Fast Writes - AGP 4X with Fast Write
Enables CPU to send data directly to GPU
System memory bus free to perform other functions
Balanced design increases overall system performance - High Quality Video
Playback: DVD Acceleration
Full frame rate DVD to 1080i resolution
Full precision subpixel accuracy to 1/16 pixel - High Quality Video
Playback: Video Overlay
5 horizontal, 3 vertical taps
8:1 up/down scaling
Independent hue, saturation, and brightness controls in hardware - Optimized for the
latest DirectX 7 and OpenGL features
Transform and lighting (T&L)
Cube environment mapping
Vertex blending
Protective textures
Texture compression
Max Refresh Table |
||
Resolution |
Color Depth (BITS) |
Max Refresh Rate (Hz) |
640 x 480 |
8/16/32 |
240/240/240 |
800 x 600 |
8/16/32 |
240/240/240 |
1024 x 768 |
8/16/32 |
240/240/200 |
1152 x 864 |
8/16/32 |
200/200/170 |
1280 x 960 |
8/16/32 |
170/170/150 |
1280 x 1024 |
8/16/32 |
170/170/170 |
1600 x 900 |
8/16/32 |
150/150/120 |
1600 x 1200 |
8/16/32 |
120/120/100 |
1920 x 1080 |
8/16/32 |
100/100/85 |
1920 x 1200 |
8/16/32 |
100/100/85 |
1920 x 1440 |
8/16/32 |
85/85/75 |
2048 x 1536 |
8/16/32 |
75/75/60 |
As with the majority of the GeForce based cards that are coming into the AnandTech lab, the ASUS V6600 SDRAM is based upon NVIDIA's reference design. By using this design, ASUS was guaranteed to have a functional card off the bat and, in theory, prevented the need for future board revisions. By using NVIDIA's reference design, ASUS could also essentially skip the costly and time consuming development and testing phase, as they were guaranteed a fully functional and efficient card upon manufacture. However, rest assured that ASUS put the card through a battery of tests, as this is the tradition at ASUS.
Naturally, with such high levels of quality control, the V6600 SDRAM is a very solid card. The GeForce processor itself is cooled with a low profile heat sink that is attached to the processor via a very thoroughly applied layer of thermal grease. It is exactly the type of cooling setup that we wish more manufacturers could achieve. The card, as tested, was outfitted with 32 MB of EliteMT 5.5 ns (183 MHz) SDRAM, accomplished by strategically placing sixteen 2MB SDRAM chips around the front and back of the board. While many of the GeForce based cards are now using 5 ns RAM, the 5.5 ns EliteMT RAM has been a common RAM choice for venders since the release of the TNT2 Ultra, however 5 ns SDRAM chips would have resulted in even more overclocking potential.
The ASUS V6600 SDRAM is not available with TV out features, but rather the ASUS V6600 Deluxe offers these features. In addition, the V6600 Deluxe offers more advanced features, such as SGRAM, higher stock clock speeds, video capture, and 3D glasses. There is also another model of the V6600 which is named V6600 Pure. This is the same as the SDRAM version reviewed here, except that it uses 5.0 ns SGRAM as the RAM choice, uses ASUS's own reference design, and includes hardware monitoring capabilities. This card will provide a definite speed boost, as the 5.0 ns SGRAM allows for additional overclocked memory speed.
The 2D image quality of
the V6600 SDRAM is above average, as the V6600 SDRAM provides clear and crisp
text and images at resolutions as high as 1600x1200. This is a definite plus
for those of us out there with larger monitors, as sometimes output can be fuzzy
at these higher resolutions.
Overclocking GeForce based cards has been a tricky task. With the standard heat sink and fan that most manufacturers are using, the core speed of the processor appears to go no higher than 150 MHz, well above the specification speed of 120 MHz. Pushing the core any amount above the 150 mark when using normal cooling methods results in improper textures and blue screens of death. Then there is the other side to overclocking: the memory. Back a few months ago when the TNT2 Ultra was the card to own, we could routinely push 5.5 ns (183 MHz) SDRAM chips well past 200 MHz and the manufacturers speed on the memory was 183 MHz out of shop. When the GeForce came along, the lab noticed something different: the 183 MHz SDRAM that we used to run smoothly at neat 220 MHz would now only go up to 183 MHz or a bit above. This decrease in overclockablity is most likely due to the way that the GeForce uses the SDRAM itself. While the TNT2 Ultra could not saturate the RAM during normal use, the GeForce and its 480 million pixels per second fill rate quickly saturate the RAM and use it to full potential, making it very RAM dependent.
With this knowledge, it was no surprize that we could only push the sixteen 2 MB 183 MHz SDRAM chips to 186 MHz, an improvement which does provide significant speed increase over the stock 166 MHz but still leaves us dreaming of the days of the TNT2 memory speeds. The RAM in the card did overclock slightly better than the previously tested 5.5 ns Samsung SDRAM chips found on the ELSA ERAZOR X, however the 3 MHz difference is very small can can routinely be found in different batches of the same RAM, let alone different SDRAM chips.
By overclocking the memory
to 186 MHz from the stock 166 MHz speed and pushing the core from 120 MHz to
150 MHz, the ASUS V6600 SDRAM was able to perform like a champ. At these clock
rates, stability was no concern and speed was abundant. Thus, the V6600 SDRAM
is a card that can easily hold its weight in heavy use. Keep in mind, however,
that all overclocking has to be performed using a third party application (such
as Power Strip or the NVIDIA refrence drivers), as the ASUS drivers do not come
with any clock utility.
In recent driver releases, we have seen the same features and abilities used over and over again. Not to say this is a bad thing: while most of the drivers look a like, the features are very comprehensive. Until more companies release drivers capable of high tweaking, such as ELSA, the competition on the driver front appears to be rather nonexistent. Companies such as ELSA include very advanced features such as the ability to change refresh rates in 1 Hz intervals which the ASUS drivers lack. The ASUS drivers tested here fit the mold of most NVIDIA drivers, including an easy to use taskbar utility, color control not only for the desktop but also for OpenGL and D3D, refresh rate adjustment, and comprehensive D3D and OpenGL settings. The only downside to ASUS's drivers is that they are the same driver set as used in the V6600 Deluxe, meaning that features that are only available for use with the Deluxe will loom in your taskbar, taunting you and making you dream of the Deluxe's advanced features.
Useful settings at your fingertips via the taskbar resident driver icon.
Color adjustment options are easy found for not only the desktop, but also for
D3D and OpenGL.
Refresh rate adjustments are easy to make.
The Direct 3D settings are plentiful and easily adjusted.
On the downside: the unified drivers leave you wanting more (mainly the V6600
Deluxe).
|
Windows
98 SE Test System
|
|
Hardware
|
CPU(s) |
Intel Pentium III 550E |
Motherboard(s) |
ABIT
BF6
|
Memory |
128MB PC133 Crucial Technology SDRAM |
Hard Drive |
Quantum Fireball CR 8.4 GB UDMA 33 |
CDROM |
Acer 24x |
Video Card(s) |
ASUS V6600 SDRAM |
|
Software
|
Operating System |
Windows 98 SE |
Video Drivers |
|
|
Benchmarking Applications
|
Gaming |
GT
Interactive Unreal Tournament 4.04 UTbench.dem |
<
As can be seen, the ASUS V6600 SDRAM performs on par with the other GeForce cards in Quake III Arena. When overclocked, the V6600 SDRAM performs with plenty of speed and leaves little to be desired. Differences between the cards with SDRAM and similar clock speeds (the ELSA and the ASUS Pure) are almost nonexistent until the card is overclocked.
The Unreal engine is not very picky with the type of card it is given. It seems that the engine is more processor based than video based, causing very little difference to be seen in the performance between the GeForce based cards. Even when overclocked, the V6600 SDRAM performs just on par with the other cards running at stock speed.
As with the majority of GeForce based cards that we are seeing in the lab now, the ASUS V6600 SDRAM is based on NVIDIA's reference design, making it almost indistinguishable from the other reference designed GeForce cards. With this in mind, the decision to buy this GeForce card over any other is a tough one to make. The decision can only be made by scrutinizing the differences between the cards.
As far as SDRAM choice ASUS made a safe, abet lower performing, decision. The 5.5 ns EliteMT SDRAM chips used are high quality chips, however some of the other GeForce based cards on the market are coming shipped with 5 ns SDRAM chips, an upgrade that will improve overclocked speed. Fan and heatsink design, on the other hand, are prime for overclocking. The precisely applied thermal grease will definitely keep the card running at cooler temperatures for longer periods of time when overclocked.
Included with the ASUS V6600 SDRAM package you will find your standard 3D game package and demo set that are all but useless for the avid gamer. One nice addition to the package is the included software DVD decoder. With this software it is possible to watch a DVD movie without the need for a separate DVD decoder card. This is a nice feature that we wish was included in more upper level video cards. Also nice is the V6600's ability to put out clear, crisp graphics at resolutions as high as 1600x1200.
When all is considered, ASUS has produced a good middle range GeForce card. The drivers are solid, the card performs well, and the overclockabilty of the card leaves little to be desired (except for 5 ns RAM that is). Price wise and availability wise is where the ASUS V6600 stands out. The V6600 SDRAM will run about a tad bit less than the ELSA ERAZOR X, as the card runs about $220, however it can be found in more places than the ELSA, including your local hardware dealer. With most GeForce based cards performing very similarly in our tests, price, as usual, turns out to be the final line. The ASUS V6600 SDRAM is the card to buy if you are looking for an easily accessible midrange GeForce based card, especially if the price is right.