Final thoughts
The launch of the GeForce 6600 DDR2 SKU has filled the obvious performance gap that existed between present GeForce 6600 and '600 GT products. The latter, in most cases, benchmarked between 50-80% faster than a vanilla '6600, so the need for an interim GPU was obvious. NVIDIA has been able to bridge between its two low-to-midrange products by using a core clock that falls between the two and, tellingly, GDDR2 memory that provides the crucial extra bandwidth that was lacking from the 550MHz-rated GDDR1 RAM present on most GeForce 6600s. There's no technology barriers being broken here, obviously, but the introduction of the GeForce 6600 DDR2 can only be seen in a positive light.XFX realises what a potent seller the DDR2-equipped GeForce 6600 can be, and has been one of the first card partners to release a retail model. Featuring a pre-overclocked core running at 400MHz and 256MB of GDDR2 memory chugging along at 800MHz, it makes a compelling case for those users who are currently looking for a PCIe-based graphics card at around the £80 mark, which is still £25 or so shy of GeForce 6600 GT 128MB pricing. The fact that the sample overclocked to near-GT levels is also pleasing, as is the decent bundle and 2-year warranty.
The extraneous competition currently comes from ATI's RADEON X1300 range of cards, and both the vanilla and Pro varieties, priced at similar levels to GeForce 6600 and 6600 DDR2, fall a little short if judged in 3D performance terms. The performance gap is most evident in OpenGL-based titles with the GeForce 6600 range of cards significantly faster.
In summary, then, XFX's GeForce 6600 DDR2 256MB card provides more-than decent performance for the £80 asking price. Add to this the high-quality bundle and immediate availability and we have little reservation in recommending it to gamers who are looking to upgrade to a PCI-Express card and want a fistful of change from £100.
