I have read a lot about this card and it seems pretty good, especially for the price. Do you think this is a card worth purchasing?

Hi madad2005,

If that card meets your needs, your budget and your system requirements and in three months its doing what you ask of it, then yes.

What will you be using the system for ?

Hi,

I use the system for both gaming, 3D solid modelling, and some CFD inc. post-processing. My budget really would be around the £150 mark at the very most, since I don't get on here as often as I'd like. I was more looking for something that would be useful in 6months time minimum and wasn't too loud. any ideas?

The GF 6600 is a good card, but at that price, I would suggest a Radeon X600 Pro (or even an X600 XT if you can find a cheap one). The X600 Pro has higher clock speeds than a regular GF 6600, and has arguably better 2D rendering. Also, since the vid cards in this price range are middle-of-the-line, noise & heat & power consumption shouldn't be problems for you.

Hi guys,

I am now extremely interested in getting me one of these. My motherboard has the AGP slot and from what I understand this will mean I will need to supply external power to the card for it to work.

Could someone explain to me how much power it will need and how exactly do you supply the extra power to the card? I don't want to end up spending £150 on something that I can't use in the end. The good 'ol 5200FX has already gone on the huff, because he is getting replaced with a better model! :-p

Adriano

The AGP version has a molex power connector (the kind used for hard drives and CD-ROM drives) on the end of the card. Depending on what model of power supply you have, and what you currently have in your system, you'll probably need a 350W or 400W PSU.

Hmm. Not sure what you mean.

I have an ASRock P4VT8+ motherboard, with P4 3.0 GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 120GB Hard Disk (taking up 1 IDE port), LG DVD-RW (taking up 2 IDE port), and a 128MB GeForce 5200Fx graphics card.

I'd like to get a kick-arse AGP graphics card, but I am not sure how much flexibility I have with my current motherboard. I've also got a 2nd CD-RW drive that I'd like to be made available, but as far as I am aware I only have 2 IDE ports for cd-rom and hd devices, or am I wrong? If anyone could direct me to information that describes what motherboards are all about and what to look out for future expansion options, I'd be very grateful.

Cheers

Ok. Apologies for that last post. I had a look inside the pc and it finally clicked as to what you were talking about! Now all I need to make sure is I can find the money for it! ;-)

Cheers again,

Ad

EDIT: I just checked my motherboard documentation and it says that I shouldn't use AGP 3.3V graphics cards as it can cause permanent damage. From what I've seen, no voltage rating is given in graphics card descriptions. Anybody know what it is for the 6600?

The card will work with AGP 2.0 and AGP 3.0 (http://www.evga.com/articles/public.asp?AID=103). Your motherboard uses an AGP 3.0 slot, and will run the card at the lower voltage. Nothing to worry about with this card; it will run at 1.5V.

As for the CD-RW, from what you listed there, you should be able to put it in your system. With IDE drives, there are two channels, each capable of running two devices, meaning you are able to run a total of four IDE devices. Since you only are using two at the moment, you will still be able to add yours in.

And, as requested, motherboard information. (http://www.pcguide.com/ref/mbsys/mobo/index.htm)

I'd like to get a kick-arse AGP graphics card
Also consider the 6800 n/u which can be had for £175 inc p&p. This card has 12 pixel pipelines and 5 vertex processors but 'can' be modded to 16 pp & 6vp which is the same set up as a gt/ultra. The performance boost from this mod is very good.

Thanks for the help with the motherboard. It has proven invaluable. The 6800 is a bit on the expensive side for me at the moment. Can't wait till it arrives!

Cheers,

Ad