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1) How does it compare to it's fanned brothers, performance wise?
2) Is 2 case fans enough without my mobo overheating with the 6600GT in?
3) PSU wise, I've got a bog standard 480W. Can it take the 6600GT? Or should I go hiper?
4) Are there any fanned ones that are as silent as the silentpipe version?
I'm not familiar with that exact model but here are some suggestions:
1) Check the core and clock speeds are the same and that it uses the same type of memory - if it does - performance should be very similar.
2) Depends on many factors. IS you case already crowded? Are they powerful? How have you positioned them? What's yor PSU like? Two sounds ok to me, but you need to have decent airflow near the card - the heat has to go somewhere!
3) bog standard PSUs do not always deliver the power they say they will. If there is any instability in the system i would first replace the PSU. Hiper are a good make.
4) Obviously not, since a fan requries a moving part, and pipes.. do not move. So they will bever be "as silent"
HTH
Rich
Erm, well, I have 2 optical drives, one HDD, and my 2 case fans are at the back.
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/VGA/Produ...-N66T128VP.htm < this model btw.
1) How does it compare to it's fanned brothers, performance wise?
2) Is 2 case fans enough without my mobo overheating with the 6600GT in?
3) PSU wise, I've got a bog standard 480W. Can it take the 6600GT? Or should I go hiper?
4) Are there any fanned ones that are as silent as the silentpipe version?
hey. I bought a pair of the gigabyte silent 6600 gt turbo cards recently, But now im pretty glad to say ive sold them.
They are pretty good cards but the I had to get rid of them because of the extra cooling i needed to keep them at a respectable level. They running at about 60 c in 2d mode but shot up in to the 80 c range in 3d.
When using modes like SFR the bottom 6600 gt was becoming corrupted because of all the waste heat from the top card. (this is why i added an extra fan to keep them cool).
I also got shut of them because im not impressed by SLi's lack of dual monitor support.
1) Performance wise they are good and the RAM is clocked higher than the fan version. My friend had the fanned version though and the difference was minimal.
2) Plenty of cooling is needed. a good flow through the case is needed and a fan attached opposite the cards is a good idea.
3) I have a 480w power supply and I never had any problems, but i fdont have many extras.
4)If your looking for a good quiet card for this price range then the leadtek 6600 gt aint bad. Just so long as you dont by card with the reference cooler.
Performance will be virtually exactly the same. As long as you have case airflow it should be fine. Overclocking results won't be as good though.
480w psu will be fine for one and if it was a good quality psu it would be fine for two but if its a bog standard psu they tend to equate to maybe 20% less power as they have pumped up rails that aren't used and quote peak not average power that kind of thing.
You can download a program that controls that fan on the 6600gt, can't remember what its called though but its great as it stops the annoying whine in 2d mode and its generally quieter in 3d mode too.
Thses are clocked lower than the pcie cards plus there is a perfomance overhead associated with using it on AGP (it was designed from the ground up on PCIE)
660GT's are among the best of the modern cars at not being power suckers they use ~20watts idle and 40-50 under load, most others use up to 40 idle and 70w under load.
Regarding SLI its not something I'll ever consider but thats personal preference. I use it on GTA VC and Halflife 2 on 1680*1050 res with most setting on high absolutely fine.
By the way my system is a 3ghz p4, 1Gb ram, 6600GT, two optical drives and a 160gm hd running off a 250watt power supply.... so juice isn't everything! just watch what components you put in.
I love not having a fan on the GC btw:)
Cheers,
JB
must admit my gigabyte x800xl silentpipe is [a] quiet :) [b] bliming hot
I have a 80mm fan on a variable control, directed onto the heatsink. I just crank it up for when I play games (and therefore when I don't care about the noise)
I think the card temperature is not helped by the fact the room/case is v. hot in the first place room temp is often >25 and the case could do with some better venting (working on that today)
I have checked the manual etc and don't find mention of anything about keeping it cooler, but with a little air flow onto the heatsink it drops from 70-80 to 60 pretty quick.
apart from the temp - and of course it is a slightly different card, I have found it v. stable and performance rocks
thanks everyone! screw SLI, can't afford that! lol
I see the Gigabyte X800 is about £135 @ Scan now, surely worth the extra few quid on top of a 6600GT?
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=172711
I'm asking for it as a pressie for my bday, but thats 2months away, but thanks! i lik eto research early lol :D
btw, that X800 is PCI-E, not AGP