[steelman2202]

I am looking for a good 6600gt (agp) video card and I am not sure what to choose. I want it to work right out of the box and I only have $160 tops.

I am RMA'ing my "refurbished" MSI 6600GT because it would lock up in anything (new) 3d. I am not sure what caused the problem, but I am going to try it in another system tomorrow, before I ship it off...

Anything you guys would suggest? I was looking at CHAINTECH 6600GT, eVGA 6600GT and XFX 6600GT The evga I can get cheap at tiger direct, and the other two seem to have better cooling of the, erm... "hsi?" chip, than the MSI card.. Or should I go back and try my luck with a brand new MSI 6600GT? (No more refurb for me, EVER! :1angel: )

Any ideas? (Any other cards?)

All help is greatly appreciated :sayyes:

Steelman

 

[Compumaniac12]

it could be a temp or power supply problem,
again check that you have atleast 300w and 20A at 3.3v+ on your power supply
temperature, if you didnt overclock most cards will bare about 54C while in use. once you oc them they go mad over 50C
an ideal temp is low 40's tho.
i would check the temps in one of your test computers, if its too high you could underclock them and still get enough performance for games.
check your temps and power before you purchase another.

 

[steelman2202]

psu is going to get ruled out.

My psu is a cheapo 350W with 16a on the 12v and 28a on the 3.3v
I am going to try it on an antec 300W with at least 20a on the 12v! (somehow)

How do you get the temp readings in a MSI card? I couldn't get rivatuner to show me anything.

Thanks for your time.

 

[knighty]

300W with a 6600gt would that work?

 

[Compumaniac12]

Try Everest home edition. (google it)

it should tell you under computer-sensor

if it doesnt show GPU then you dont have a sensor, and the best way to test is with ingame fps. if you underclock and they go up. then it was overheating at default clock speed...

 

[steelman2202]

bad 6600gt or bad psu/case?

Everest only game me cpu & mobo temp sensors.

I underclocked the card to 300/650 (of the original 500/900). It got through all the 3dmark03 game tests, dropping below 20fps on the last one. (no better performance on the first few tests, than with the card at stock speeds) But when it got to the cpu tests the cpu temp got above 57 degrees celsius and the system soon rebooted (I think that may be heat issues)

I also tried using the "detect optimal frequencies" in the nvidia firmware and suprizingly it pushed the card to around 550/1000. The card froze no earlier than it usually does.

:4-dontkno

Steelman

 

[rebellion]

Hopefully this guide will help.

 

[steelman2202]

Thanks - but most of those are pci-e

As the title says - most of the cards reviewed are pci-e.

After reading a couple of other posts I am not sure if I should even buy a 6600gt or, maybe go for a vanilla 6800...

Any ideas?

 

[Compumaniac12]

ide go with a card that blows the air out of the computer, when your cpu overheats you really need to do something.
the only cards i can think of are...
x700pro
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102489

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814161145
and i think there is another x800 that does