6600GT ok?

N

nst6563

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I have the following system that I'm about to put together for my son who is starting to get into computer games. Since I work more than play now, I've kinda lost touch with the video cards and such. So, would the system listed below be sufficient to play games (like BF2, Ghost Recon series, Rainbow Six series, NFS Most Wanted/Carbon, etc) at 1024x768 with say, 4xAF or 8xAF and MAYBE (although not likely) 2xAA?

Asus P4P800E-Deluxe
P4 3.0Ghz (which does 3.4ghz with relative ease)
1Gb ddr400
6600GT AGP (which I plan to overclock if I ever ditch the stock cooler for something better).

I'm not looking for stellar performance, since I'd like his focus to be on excelling at schoolwork and not games at this point, but would that be sufficient? He only has a 17" CRT, so 1024x768 would be just fine.

thanks
 
Umm...I'd say a 6600gt is pushing it...it may be able to play those games somewhat acceptably; My 6800gt struggled in some of those games with eye candy on, playing at 1024x768...I guess it depends upon whether or not any newer games will be played, other than those listed. The 6600gt will not be able to keep up with any games released from this point on :)
 
Without AA and most games set at medium level visuals, yes.

he 6600gt will not be able to keep up with any games released from this point on
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I can play Splinter Cell Double Agent just fine - at next gen level detail.
 
If you stick to low/medium detail and no AA I would say a 6600GT should be OK. Heck, I played FEAR, NFS:MW and most of Call of Juarez with a X1300 (original non-pro!) at 800x600. I broke down and got something better of course, but even that crappy X1300 was playable.
 
I just cant turn off that 4xAA :( My previous statement respectfully withdrawen :)

I guess it comes down to future playability!
 
I have a system with a 6600GT and it can play Battlefield 2142 @ 1280x1024 with Medium settings and no AA or AF and still get 40-50FPS in decent conditions. Falls to 20FPS if there's a lot going on (artillery, 20 players on-screen, etc). Framerates are low in the beginning minute or 3 of a round, while it loads the map, but they smooth out substantially afterwards (that's a HDD issue anyway).

But I agree with the other posters. AGP is a dead end and a complete roadblock. If I wanted to upgrade that computer, I would have to get a completely new computer (new videocard would be PCI-E, meaning new motherboard, meaning a new processor [I have AMD on it, and I'm sure as hell not buying a new AMD right now], meaning new memory).

Get a 7600GT. It'll max out Battlefield 2142 @ 1280x1024 with high levels of AA and AF. And its $30 cheaper than what I got my AGP 6600GT for, over a year ago.

PS - Get a PCI-E motherboard. The future you will thank the present you for making that decision.
 
yeah, theres no point in going with older generation cards

get an X1650XT (note: NOT pro, differant core, the X1650 is nice, the X1600 and X1650 pro are not) or a 7600GT.
 
I have a FX5900XT and run 1024x768 with all medium settings and 4xAA in BF2 and get anywhere form 30 to as high as 60FPS ( just depends on how much action is going on around me ) so I would say that a 6600GT would be able to do much better than that. I have even played Oblivion on this card although I was almost all low settings at 800x600 but I still played it :D . I play carbon also at 1024x768 4xAA and mostly low settings but car detail and reflection are maxed.
 
jordan172005 said:
I have a FX5900XT and run 1024x768 with all medium settings and 4xAA in BF2 and get anywhere form 30 to as high as 60FPS ( just depends on how much action is going on around me ) so I would say that a 6600GT would be able to do much better than that. I have even played Oblivion on this card although I was almost all low settings at 800x600 but I still played it :D . I play carbon also at 1024x768 4xAA and mostly low settings but car detail and reflection are maxed.
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The beloved BF2 patches compromised performance A LOT compared to when the game came out. In July of 2005, I could run BF2 at 1280x1024 with Med settings and 4x AA on my 6600GT (which was a mid-range card back then), and all this without having anything overclocked in my system. This month, I've been running 1024x786 with Med settings and no AA, and I've overclocked that system substantially since then.

I can run BF2142 on higher settings than BF2. :rolleyes:
 
a 7600 gt is dirt cheap just now ..on sale for 130$ cdn.

But the downside is that it has a pretty noisy fan for a cooler.

i think asus makes a silent version...
 
RedStarSQD said:
a 7600 gt is dirt cheap just now ..on sale for 130$ cdn.

But the downside is that it has a pretty noisy fan for a cooler.

i think asus makes a silent version...
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I SLI'd 2 of them for my friend's computer, and they were definently quieter than my 6600GTs....
 
Everybody's suggesting PCIe board, but failed to notice that he's running AGP. :eek:

You could get a 7800GS, but I think that's about it. Or didn't ATI come out with an X1950 in AGP flavor recently?
 
apparently I forgot to mention, I already HAVE the 6600gt. It's in the HTPC. Which I was going to put my old AMD setup into which would be a 3800+ and a 7600GT (for $139 with hdcp support).

I was simply going to move the system in the first post to his machine, which is right now, a P3 1.1Ghz, 512mb ram, and a GF2GTS. With that, he's been able to play the rainbow six games, Battlefront 1, older Need for speeds, and it keeps him quite happy. However some of the newer games that are coming out he's been wanting to play and I had just thought about taking out that P4 hotbox and making it his machine and putting a cool running AMD system in the HTPC.

OR

kinda off topic for this section, but - should I just take the AMD setup which would consist of:
DFI Ultra-D
AMD 3800+
1Gb ddr400
80gb SATA drive
video card (to be purchased...probably a 7600GT)

????????

I'd prefer to have the AMD setup in the HTPC as it runs much cooler than what's in there, I can't OC the P4 that's in the HTPC b/c of the heat (with the AMD, I wouldn't need to worry about an o/c), I could use the extra power the AMD has over the P4 since I do use ffdshow for scaling and picture quality, and the HTPC is used quite a bit more than my son's pc. So there's pretty much my predicament. We're both happy as long as his games can RUN. He doesn't know about AA/AF and doesn't really see the effects it has in the game yet (he's ADHD, and at this point doesn't really pay attention to squat :p as for details go ). It won't bother me if he can't use AA or much AF, just so long as he can play most things at 1024x768.
 
gorilla show said:
reward yourself a little and get that nice 7900GS @ bestbuy for $150.

Else at least a 7600GT.
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But for him to go 7900gs, he'd have to upgrade mobo to pci-e...
 
nst6563 said:
I'd prefer to have the AMD setup in the HTPC as it runs much cooler than what's in there, I can't OC the P4 that's in the HTPC b/c of the heat (with the AMD, I wouldn't need to worry about an o/c), I could use the extra power the AMD has over the P4 since I do use ffdshow for scaling and picture quality, and the HTPC is used quite a bit more than my son's pc.
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I think your plan sounds good. The 6600GT and P4 will be vast improvement on what he has now so no worries. ffdshow runs fine on anything better than a 3.0Ghz P4 so no issues with processing power either.
 
I was glad I got this Asrock 939 Dual mobo - it let me swap from AGP to PCIE - a 6600GT to a 7600GT (and now to a 7900GS).

The 6600GT was okay, medium textures, no AA/AF (or very little) - but once you go eyecandy, you'll never want to go back.
 
guys (and ladies if any posted)....gotta remember...it's not for me. It's for a 7year old with ADHD :p He doesn't pay attention to anything enough to notice the eyecandy :p and the ram...well...I can see that, but not right now. Hell...for all I know I may end up upgrading my box next year and giving him mine :D (certainly wouldn't mind a nice Kentfield or similar system with some video card with an ungodly amount of ram and a disgusting amount of pipes/shaders :p )

I think I'll give him the p4/6600gt combo and put the 7600gt w/hdcp and amd setup in the htpc.
 
I'd say get a big typhoon on top of that P4 S478 and you should be set. I wouldn't let an AMD processor into my house, but I'm just an intel fan. haha. Anyway, you can find a 7600GT for around 100 on newegg, less with Mail in rebates.

and btw, he's ONLY got a 17" CRT? Yeah, and I've got a big 15" CRT that came with my P4 Willamette system, haha. 17" isn't a bad size for a monitor, atleast IMO. But the native support for 17" is 1280x768. I'd recommend a 7900GS just because the 7600GT only has 128-bit memory bandwidth, while the 7900GS has 256-bit memory bandwidth, translating into better high-res performance.
 
as I said before...he's 7. He has ADHD. If you know any 7 year old ADHD children...you'd understand what I mean when I say they don't notice the finer/higher detail of a higher res/more eye candy. They're so scatterbrained to begin with it's pointless. Which is why I don't want something spectacular for his system anyway....just enough to get by playing "some" games so he can focus more on doing his schoolwork instead. I plan to use it as an incentive. Do better in school = play better games 'cause dad will upgrade your computer kinda thing :p

I'm there's no room in the HTPC case for a big typhoon. So I'm going to stick the AMD setup in there, and I'm not going with a non-hdcp card for that either...at this point I'll spend the extra $30-60 and get that option since it's an HTPC and will be used for such things. The egg has a 7900gs w/hdcp for $164 after a rebate. not too bad I don't think ;)

and in my house, yes, he's "only" got a 17" crt. It's the smallest screen in the house other than my work laptop. I use a 19"LCD, and have 2 22" NEC diamondtron's on my wife's machine. Don't have a TV smaller than 37" either. you'd think we're all blind or something :p
 
You can see my system in my sig, it's PCI-express and I'm running a bit overclocked (lower than in the sig) and I can handle Battlefield 2 and 2142 at 1280x960 with a lot of eye-candy and get upwards 50fps.
Haven't tried NFS Carbon but NFS Most Wanted is no problem.

The 6600GT AGP is a little slower but it should be enough and then some for his needs.
 
nst6563 said:
as I said before...he's 7. He has ADHD. If you know any 7 year old ADHD children...you'd understand what I mean when I say they don't notice the finer/higher detail of a higher res/more eye candy. They're so scatterbrained to begin with it's pointless. Which is why I don't want something spectacular for his system anyway....just enough to get by playing "some" games so he can focus more on doing his schoolwork instead. I plan to use it as an incentive. Do better in school = play better games 'cause dad will upgrade your computer kinda thing :p
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That will never work, when he becomes a teenager he'll rebel against you and force you to let him play games even when he's making horrible grades. By then his ADHD will be 10x worse because he's never had to concentrate or focus on something for more than 5 minutes at a time.
 
Yeah... I've got ADHD... I can't contrate on ANYTHING for longer than... about 30 seconds (I'm lookin at you school work, grammar, long sentences) unless my attention is divided between my goal and a distractor... Music 24/7 ftw.

On the other hand I'm a better multitasker than anyone I know!
 
si0dine said:
That will never work, when he becomes a teenager he'll rebel against you and force you to let him play games even when he's making horrible grades. By then his ADHD will be 10x worse because he's never had to concentrate or focus on something for more than 5 minutes at a time.
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funny...it's worked so far. Makes straight A's now after me telling him I'd upgrade his machine to play newer games whereas before he was making c's and b's. Hell, if he finishes the year with all A's I may get a new system with my bonus and give him mine in the sig. Besides, I never said I'm doing that for life, he's in 2nd grade....got a long way to go. Get it in his head now that if he works hard good things will come and maybe it'll stick.

besides, this isn't an argument on child pshycology (show me your PHD in psy and I'll maybe put some merit into your statement), it's whether or not a 6600gt agp would handle games such as BF2, and NFS:MW/Carbon. Not worried about tons of eye candy or high resolutions, he likes to play for the fun, not the pretty pictures.
 
nst6563 said:
funny...it's worked so far. Makes straight A's now after me telling him I'd upgrade his machine to play newer games whereas before he was making c's and b's. Hell, if he finishes the year with all A's I may get a new system with my bonus and give him mine in the sig. Besides, I never said I'm doing that for life, he's in 2nd grade....got a long way to go. Get it in his head now that if he works hard good things will come and maybe it'll stick.

besides, this isn't an argument on child pshycology (show me your PHD in psy and I'll maybe put some merit into your statement), it's whether or not a 6600gt agp would handle games such as BF2, and NFS:MW/Carbon. Not worried about tons of eye candy or high resolutions, he likes to play for the fun, not the pretty pictures.
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"Funny it's worked so far" - Wait until he's a teenager.

Heres a reputable source for the other statement:
http://www.annals-general-psychiatry.com/content/5/1/16
 
It will play everything fine. Im one of those people who buys hardware and uses it until it effects gameplay. My 6600GT is still perfectly fine.
 
si0dine said:
"Funny it's worked so far" - Wait until he's a teenager.

Heres a reputable source for the other statement:
http://www.annals-general-psychiatry.com/content/5/1/16
Click to expand...

yeah...that's great and all, but you're assuming I let him play games all the time. Which isn't true. The games (whether they're xbox or pc) are reserved for the weekends only. Weekdays are for schoolwork.

As for the "wait until he's a teenager", for some reason you must hate all teenagers, or you assume that all kids that play games go bad, or some nonsense like that.

Do you always assume that the kids of parents who let their children play games turn evil and rebellious? If so, stop delving into these studies which show everything from games causing homicidal tendencies to the fact that breathing in itself is a cause of cancer. I know plenty of people who's kids played games alot when younger and now that their teenagers they're the farthest thing from being rebellious.

Here's a clue for you as well - this is why I was checking if a 6600gt would handle it. Obviously it's not going to be used a lot for "high performance" gaming. Seeing that his PC now is a P3 1ghz with a flippin' GF2GTS 32Mb should tell you straight off that it's not used much for gaming :rolleyes:

so keep flaming away about how I and every other forum member here with a child that has ADHD is a bad parent for letting our kids play games and that they'll all turn rebellious, that's what the ignore feature is for in the User CP. better yet, go to Genmay and declare to the world how NST is going to open the gates of hell and let ye demons forth and bring about Armageddon and judgement day. :rolleyes:
 
I dont know, i could never get the 6600GT to run any new game good.. or even run it ok. IMO it a POC, but then again i have allways been a high end GPU gamer not a mid range.
 
nst6563 said:
so keep flaming away about how I and every other forum member here with a child that has ADHD is a bad parent for letting our kids play games and that they'll all turn rebellious, that's what the ignore feature is for in the User CP.
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I know you already know this, but that guy has absolutely no idea at all about what he's talking about.

I wasn't a good student and my parents agreed to let me build my first PC 7 years ago if I got all As. It was probably the best thing that happend to me as a teen. Not only did I get a sweet PC, but I built it all myself, it booted the first time, and it pwned everyone elses. That's what I thought was important at the time.

Down the road I realized it kinda made me get my shit together, I went from B/C student to straight As. I had the confidence that I could actually do well in school.

Positive reinforcement isn't bad, carry on.
 
The 6600 GT is a low-end video card today, but it's not bad.

Back in the day I ran BF2 @ 1024x768, 2xAA with medium settings and %90 view distance. Gave me 60fps constant. I tried boosting it to 1280x1024, but I found it wasn't quite fast enough for my tastes.

But that means even modern games will run at 800x600 with some candy on, or 1024x768 with most of the effects off. That's plenty.

You people who tell him the 6600 GT won't be enough: you don't seem to realize, people run modern games on less. There are a lot of people who run Oblivion on 9800 Pros!
 
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