6600GT 128MB or ATI X1600PRO 512MB

[Toadster]

my 10-y/o son wants a newer computer and i'm building him some stuff from extra parts (rough life eh?)

he's going to use it for homework, internet and some gaming - he wants to get into the call of duty stuff from my games archive

which card will give the best performance?

nVidia 6600GT 128MB
or ATI x1600PRO 512MB

i'm pretty sure the 1600 is a newer card...

 

[Bateluer]

I'd go with the X1600 Pro myself, they are roughly the same cost. The X1600Pro has a much better feature set than the 6600GT.

 

[Rockinacoustic]

Both are pretty darn close in performance if I remember correctly. You could probally get a used 6600gt for <$100 easily, while the 1600pro's usually go for more.

Go for whatever is cheaper in my opinion.

 

[Toadster]

well - i have both cards... :S

going to use the 'lesser' one in a buddy's system that we're rebuilding

 

[Rockinacoustic]

For sheer performance, I'd go with the 6600gt. Don't let the lesser Pipelines and RAM fool you. The 6600gt has ddr3 memory, much faster than the 1600pr's ddr2, which can barely utilize the full 512mb's anyway. The pipeline architecture is different between the two cards as well, but I'm not sure which one would favor COD performance.

Bateluer makes a good points as the x1000 series from ATI will offer a better feature set, such as video playback, and it's performance is pretty similar to the Nvidia card. It depends what will give more use to you. Hope this helps.

 

[Toadster]

Originally posted by: Rockinacoustic
For sheer performance, I'd go with the 6600gt. Don't let the lesser Pipelines and RAM fool you. The 6600gt has ddr3 memory, much faster than the 1600pr's ddr2, which can barely utilize the full 512mb's anyway. The pipeline architecture is different between the two cards as well, but I'm not sure which one would favor COD performance.

Bateluer makes a good points as the x1000 series from ATI will offer a better feature set, such as video playback, and it's performance is pretty similar to the Nvidia card. It depends what will give more use to you. Hope this helps.

good thoughts.... i've used the 6600GT flawlessly for a few years now

one more thing, will Vista like one card over the other (for my future OS upgrade)
this is running on a Dual-Core P4Extreme 3.46GHz system...

 

[Rockinacoustic]

Originally posted by: Toadster

Originally posted by: Rockinacoustic
For sheer performance, I'd go with the 6600gt. Don't let the lesser Pipelines and RAM fool you. The 6600gt has ddr3 memory, much faster than the 1600pr's ddr2, which can barely utilize the full 512mb's anyway. The pipeline architecture is different between the two cards as well, but I'm not sure which one would favor COD performance.

Bateluer makes a good points as the x1000 series from ATI will offer a better feature set, such as video playback, and it's performance is pretty similar to the Nvidia card. It depends what will give more use to you. Hope this helps.

good thoughts.... i've used the 6600GT flawlessly for a few years now

one more thing, will Vista like one card over the other (for my future OS upgrade)
this is running on a Dual-Core P4Extreme 3.46GHz system...

Hmmm, you open up a new can of worms for me with Vista

I could be wrong, but the 1600pro *might* be better to run Microsoft's new OS. Suposingly Vista requires "at least" 256mb's gpu ram to run graphically optimized. Not only that, but the 1600 is also the more recent release of the two cards, possibly making it better fitted for a vista PC. However, as far as we know the difference could be null between the two cards in Vista, just as much as gaming already is.

I love my 6600gt as well, still going strong after a year.

 

[Fenixgoon]

any chance you can get an X1650 pro? that'd be a much better buy. Otherwise, 6600GT > x1600pro

 

[Dean]

You should get him this: Text

 

[Toadster]

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon
any chance you can get an X1650 pro? that'd be a much better buy. Otherwise, 6600GT > x1600pro

I already have both cards...

in reading alot of comparisons, it does seem that the 6600GT kicks the 1600PRO's butt... sad to say... the new video card getting it's butt handed to itself by a 2 year old nVidia card...

 

[secretanchitman]

6600GT. i have one, overclocks nicely, performs well above expectations in games (mine were set pretty high too). highly recommended. im sure the x1600pro is just as good, if not better, but im sure thats a bit more expensive.

i'd still go for the 6600GT though.

 

[evolucion8]

Originally posted by: Rockinacoustic

Originally posted by: Toadster

Originally posted by: Rockinacoustic
For sheer performance, I'd go with the 6600gt. Don't let the lesser Pipelines and RAM fool you. The 6600gt has ddr3 memory, much faster than the 1600pr's ddr2, which can barely utilize the full 512mb's anyway. The pipeline architecture is different between the two cards as well, but I'm not sure which one would favor COD performance.

Bateluer makes a good points as the x1000 series from ATI will offer a better feature set, such as video playback, and it's performance is pretty similar to the Nvidia card. It depends what will give more use to you. Hope this helps.

good thoughts.... i've used the 6600GT flawlessly for a few years now

one more thing, will Vista like one card over the other (for my future OS upgrade)
this is running on a Dual-Core P4Extreme 3.46GHz system...

Hmmm, you open up a new can of worms for me with Vista

I could be wrong, but the 1600pro *might* be better to run Microsoft's new OS. Suposingly Vista requires "at least" 256mb's gpu ram to run graphically optimized. Not only that, but the 1600 is also the more recent release of the two cards, possibly making it better fitted for a vista PC. However, as far as we know the difference could be null between the two cards in Vista, just as much as gaming already is.

I love my 6600gt as well, still going strong after a year.

Windows Vista Aero Glass doesn;t need 256MB of VRAM to run it. I ran it on a 9600PRO 128MB on my moms computer and runs as fast as mine. Aero Glass is not something that pushes the hardware to the limits like a game with textures, geometry, shaders etc. My videocard doesn't get warm at all running it, with all the Aero Glass features on. Aero Glass is simply an 3D animated 2D GUI. With transparencies, Basic 3D animations and colorful images. Great but not spectacular.