It is almost new video card buying time (I am too embarrassed to admit what my PC is currently running) and it seems NVIDIA has taken back the speed crown from ATI.

However, NVIDIA 6800 series video cards are not necessarily in great supply and to supplement their demand NVIDIA announced in August the launch of the 6600 series. Although this was a paper launch many people were hoping that this chip would feel the gap for people who didn’t feel like spending 6800 prices, but were still looking for 6800 type speed.

The 6600 is powered by the NV43 core, while the 6800 is powered by the NV40 so they are essentially different. The pipeline behind the 6600 is only half that of the 6800 and its memory bus is only 128-bit compared to 256-bit for the 6800 line (wow). You can get the 6600 with either DDR3 memory or plan ol’ 1999 DDR for $150. Even though it seems greatly crippled the card performs amazingly well in comparison to the 6800.

It’s easily the best card you can find for $200. ATI’s midrange cards can’t even compare.

Reviews

Here are some sites offering reviews:

• Beyond3D
• [H]ard|OCP
• Hexus
• Hot Hardware
• The Tech Report

Now as long as I can find one that has dual-dvi then I might be all over this card.

Related posts:

Nvidia GeForce 8 series is launched
Nvidia GeForce 6800 Released
NVIDIA announces fastest GPU again
Doom 3 Benchmarks: Ati vs. Nvidia
NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GS for AGP Launched

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