X700 Pro (8PP/6VS) or 6600GT (8PP/3VS): why is 6600GT considered better while it has worse specs?!

[Dance123]

Hi,

There is something I don't get: how come that most people say that the 6600GT is much better then the X700 Pro, where the X700Pro seems to have better specs (both 8PP, but X700Pro with 6VS) or are these vector shaders not that important?! Please explain?!

Also, should I consider the 6600 (without the GT added)? What are the specs of that card?

Hopefully somebody can help with these questions! Thanks alot!

 

[Leper Messiah]

Originally posted by: Dance123
Hi,

There is something I don't get: how come that most people say that the 6600GT is much better then the X700 Pro, where the X700Pro seems to have better specs (both 8PP, but X700Pro with 6VS) or are these vector shaders not that important?! Please explain?!

Also, should I consider the 6600 (without the GT added)? What are the specs of that card?

Thanks for the info!

6600GT has a faster proc and better ram. Hell, my 9800pro is faster than a X700 (which is basically a mix between the 9800 and the 9600). Plus you can SLi with the 6600 and run PS 3.0 games...

 

[dug777]

6600GT is the faster card...but if farcry is your game, until nvidia fix the shadow bug you'll enjoy far lower IQ...

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=31&threadid=1699680&enterthread=y has more info on that if you are interested, or doubt me...


EDIT: 6600 is a fair bit slower than the 6600GT, mainly due to the much slower DDR RAM as opposed to the 6600GT's DDR3 stuff...

 

[Dance123]

Hi,

Does that mean that vertex shaders aren't that important? I only want to play games like NBA Live however I want a fluid framerate with all graph settings set to high with I know is quite demanding. Which card(s) should be more then enough and why?! Please explain! Thanks!

And what about the fact that X700Pro has 256MB where 6600 GT has only 128MB. Does that still make 6600GT bettter? I don't understand.

Also, regarding color quality and complexity of settings, is there much difference between ATI and NVIDIA, as I remember that over a year ago that was a hot topic but how is that today with the cards I mentioned?! Which has the best colors, easiest settings, etc..

 

[forumposter32]

Nvidia caught up to ATI in terms of image quality (IQ).

the 6600 doesn't measure up to the other cards mentioned.

BTW, for DVD playback, Nvidia's Purevideo beat ATI's Avivo in terms of picture quality. But, that's not even available on the X700 Pro.

the 256 MB of the X700 Pro might be used on future games but you'd probably like a faster card by then anyway.

6600 GT vs X700 Pro totally depends which games you look at. Games like Doom3 just play better on a Nvidia card.

the X700 Pro is only shader model 2. 6600 GT is shader model 3 which means next year it will be able to display all the eye candy the way it's supposed to be shown.

6600 GT is a safer bet. I got the X700 Pro though because of the low price and the fact I only like games like BF2 and UT2004. In my case, the CPU makes a bigger difference although anything less than an X700 Pro is not a good idea.

I'd look forward to the X1600 XT if I wanted to buy a card in a couple of months. That will feature Avivo and shader model 3 (and also way faster than X700 Pro in some games).

 

[fishbits]

The simple answer is that specs don't matter a hill of beans when compared to performance benchmarks. "This dumptruck has a bigger engine! I don't understand why it isn't faster than a Corvette." Some folks geek themselves out so badly they forget what the point of the technology was. "But it must be better, because it comes with 4 gigs of RAM!" Well, not when you're talking about a mouse.

In reference to your question, all things being equal more RAM on a video card is better, but you've got to take the other factors into account. What I'd do is decide how much money you're willing to spend on a video card. Then go through the benchmarks and find out which one you can afford gives the best performance on the average. Then factor in things like whether the card stinks in certain games, or in DirectX/OpenGL which might rule it out for you.

 

[LTC8K6]

6600 GT is shader model 3 which means next year it will be able to display all the eye candy the way it's supposed to be shown.

Isn't it likely that the 6600GT will not be fast enough for any SM3 eye candy?