9700 Pro vs. 6600GT "OC"

T

TwiceSliced

Gawd
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May 1, 2002
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My 128MB Radeon 9700 Pro seems to be on its way out... There was minor artifacting with the stock cooling under heavy loads (just some black dots now and again), so I replaced the stock HSF with the Thermaltake heatpipe dealie in my signature. All was great (performed better than ever!) for a good long while until two days ago, when the display went completely screwy with major artifacting and general garbledness (even at POST). I've reseated the Thermaltake setup twice today (cleaned and reapplied thermal grease 'n everything), but no luck. I put in an old 64MB GeForce3 Ti 200, and that'll do for now... But It seems as though a proper replacement is in order.

I'm not about to spend too much money since I'm on an AGP board, and this will be the last upgrade before I build a whole new system (PCI-E). So, it looks like my best choice is the 128MB AGP8X BFG GeForce 6600 GT OC; reviewers seem to love it, and it's actually one of the cheapest in its class ($199 CDN after rebate; ~$133 US). How does that card stack-up against a 9700 PRO? Any other recommendations?
 
I would say that a 6600gt is ALOT better than a 9700pro. But I would also say go for the vanilla 6800 if you can. Much better than a 6600Gt.
 
Shipping to Canada would be $63 US... *ouch* Regardless, they stopped shipping to Canada at the beginning of August ;)

The cheapest 6800 I can find locally (Gigabyte) is $328 CDN (~$220 US)... But most reviews seem to show the 6800 and 6600 GT trading places pretty regularly, remaining about equal overall. Are there any really major differences between the two?
 
I can tell you that I personally have owned a 6600Gt (and a second in sli) and I have also owned a 6800. The 6800 performed considerably better for me YMMV.

But I did not realize the high prices you have to pay :(
 
The 6800 generally does better on bandwidth-sensitive tests, like high resolutions and with IQ (AA/AF) cranked up. In addition, the AGP version comes with some pipelines and a vertex shader locked, which you can try to unlock with RivaTuner. I'd recommend the 6800 over the 6600GT pretty confidently, as proven by the fact that I have a 6800. :)
 
Found a 6800 for $269.99 (~$180 US)... An extra $70 is a bit easier to swallow, but still more than I'd like to spend on a stopgap solution. I was very happy with the 9700 PRO (ran most games with high effects at 1024x768x32 with 4xAA quite well on my machine), so if the 6600GT is even better, than that should be more than sufficient to tide me over until my next major upgrade.

kcthebrewer: Nope.

qbackin: It's not that prices are considerably higher, just that we don't have the same distribution channels up here, and thus have a more limited selection. On average, our prices are usually within ~$15 US of yours.
 
qbackin said:
I can tell you that I personally have owned a 6600Gt (and a second in sli) and I have also owned a 6800. The 6800 performed considerably better for me YMMV.

But I did not realize the high prices you have to pay :(
Click to expand...

You think thats bad? I have to pay $280 for a 6600GT... and $340 for a ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe mobo:p

The 6600GT blows the 9700 to death... The 6600GT is better than a 9800XT and the X700Pro. Last time I checked 9800XT and X700 Pro was better than a 9700Pro.

A soild upgrade ;)
(Oh yea, and compare this...Faster clocks, faster fill rates, newer Shader verions, and a higher 3Dmark05 score :p)
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=187&card2=24
 
Go for the 6600gt. I went from a AGP9800 Pro to a 6600gt PCI-e and the difference is night/day.

Since your sticking to AGP, still go with the 6600gt...no need to blow more on a 6800 when you can save that for your new system.
 
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