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First Impressions - MSI 6600GT AGP



 
 
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  #1  
Old February 5th 05, 02:23 AM
Ed Light
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Default First Impressions - MSI 6600GT AGP

My MSI 6600GT AGP came yesterday morning.

My impressions after one day of running MS Train Simulator and Trainz:

It is like a little swiss watch to hold in your hand and marvel at. It
weighs a ton thanks to the copper heat sink. You must be careful not to put
any pressure on the heat sink as there have been reports of separating it
from the gpu. My guess is that's why there's a big brace on the back (could
be a new feature) and the sink is resting on the memory through pads. Not
sure if they are thermal pads -- can they be real thick?

Anyhow, uninstalled nvidia drivers and took out my ti4200 and put her in and
installed the drivers from the CD (msi enhanced nvidia 71.22, and wdm
capture drivers - it's VIVO). and ran the above sims.

Amazingly, with my mobile XP at 2150, frame rates didn't increase. I guess
these sims need an A64 - they can barely feed the video card when there's
lots of detail. Especially, trees and buildings.

But, I had only been able to run 2x anistropic on the ti4200. Now I'm
running 8x anistropic and 4x antialising. This made things look much better.
Especially, when looking at the rail cars from an angle -- they don't fuzz
up.

Then -- revalation -- I found the sharpness control!

I had asked nvidia for one, I think. Or had I asked Gainward?

Anyhow, running with it at the 2nd notch is a whole 'nother world. Tiny
print on the speedometers is clear (at 1024) and I think I can reach out
through the air and touch anything I could get to. It is so totally real --
especially superdetailed engines. Of course textures still look like some
kind of artwork, but it's crisp. Half real and half travelling through great
rail artists' work.

I did get a couple of aberrations in Trainz and MSTS, but only in 2D menus.
Not sure why -- maybe the antialiasing. Couldn't run full AA in MSTS.

One custom railroad that crashed MSTS when set to full detail before now
doesn't crash.

There's much more to discover. So much software came with it. The driver CD
had all the latest stuff - no need to download. The nvidia driver has a
couple of msi tabs including overclocking. There's no temperature readout in
the drivers, though. It might be in a utility, but maybe not.

Anyhow, there are lots of utilities and multimedia apps. I do have an msi tv
card that's not installed, and there's an msi app by intervideo to do time
shifting with it, and of course with the video in on the 6600GT. There's
actually a copy of show shifter in there too, maybe it will work with the tv
card. The app that came with the tv card doesn't do time shifting reliably.

There are lots of free games included, but I think they're all violent.

Benchmarks with 1gig pc 2700, mobile xp 2200+ 166x13 = 2150. (Keeping it
cool and quiet.)
6600GT not overclocked, 500/900
Aquamark 40,xxx
3dmark 03 - 7164
3dmark 01 -13,461

The difference in the benchmarks from the ti4200 was massive. They ran so
smoothly, though their very most challenging parts could bring the framerate
down to minimum acceptable briefly.

The VIVO video in on my Gainward ti4200 had some problems around the edges.
Gainward offered to replace it, but I never did. I haven't tried this one
yet; it has both s-video and composite in.

I won't be using the tv out but it appears to have s-vide, composite, and
HDTV.

One not so great thing -- in overlay you can't adjust gamma or sharpness. I
really thought the gamma would be adjustable. But anyhow.

Oh, and the fan isn't loud but if you get close to it the bearing sounds
grungy. I have thin acoustic foam in my case and it's on the floor under the
desk top with rug on the back wall, so I don't think I'll ever hear it. It
was the quietest 6600GT in one comparison review. But it is possible to put
a Zalman fan-sink on it, they say. Not sure how that works out for the
memory. I think there was a thread on that.
--
Ed Light

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  #2  
Old February 5th 05, 02:54 AM
Ed Light
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Default


"Ed Light" wrote


Benchmarks with 1gig pc 2700, mobile xp 2200+ 166x13 = 2150. (Keeping it
cool and quiet.)

13x166, like a 3000+ for 333.

Trainz has both opengl and directx. The ti4200 ran a tiny bit faster in
opengl, but the 6600GT is significantly faster in directx. You can't tell
until you get to a less detailed area where the cpu can feed it enough info.
to get a good framerate. (I'm always running user-made stuff that's
super-detailed).

I'm talking about 12fps in some areas -- same for MS Train Simulator, 3rd
party railroads. The Aoteoroa line in Trainz starts out at 9fps in the big
city.

I was so hoping I wouldn't need an A64. Well, they really overclock on the
nforce 3 ultra, so I could use the slowest cpu and make it a $450 cpu. I
hear Trainz is smooth on them.

--
Ed Light

Smiley :-/
MS Smiley :-\

Send spam to the FTC at

Thanks, robots.


  #3  
Old February 5th 05, 03:01 AM
Anthony
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I am still in shock that putting my 6600 agp leadtek with my xp 2600 CPU is
working out better then my "old" AMD 64 system. But I plan on starting to
build an nforce 4 system soon I think now casue of my experience. Gotta get
a motherbaord that is ready for dual cores u know lol





"Ed Light" wrote in message
news:zHVMd.4324$Tt.1576@fed1read05...

"Ed Light" wrote


Benchmarks with 1gig pc 2700, mobile xp 2200+ 166x13 = 2150. (Keeping it
cool and quiet.)

13x166, like a 3000+ for 333.

Trainz has both opengl and directx. The ti4200 ran a tiny bit faster in
opengl, but the 6600GT is significantly faster in directx. You can't tell
until you get to a less detailed area where the cpu can feed it enough
info. to get a good framerate. (I'm always running user-made stuff that's
super-detailed).

I'm talking about 12fps in some areas -- same for MS Train Simulator, 3rd
party railroads. The Aoteoroa line in Trainz starts out at 9fps in the big
city.

I was so hoping I wouldn't need an A64. Well, they really overclock on the
nforce 3 ultra, so I could use the slowest cpu and make it a $450 cpu. I
hear Trainz is smooth on them.

--
Ed Light

Smiley :-/
MS Smiley :-\

Send spam to the FTC at

Thanks, robots.




  #4  
Old February 5th 05, 05:56 AM
Ed Light
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Default

Added coolbits and its auto-speed test set 3d at 605/1.11 !!!
Well, I'll have to try that out to see if it holds up in testing.


--
Ed Light

Smiley :-/
MS Smiley :-\

Send spam to the FTC at

Thanks, robots.




  #5  
Old February 5th 05, 06:00 AM
Ed Light
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Posts: n/a
Default


"Anthony" wrote in message
news:gOVMd.2234$GT.1283@okepread01...
I am still in shock that putting my 6600 agp leadtek with my xp 2600 CPU is
working out better then my "old" AMD 64 system. But I plan on starting to
build an nforce 4 system soon I think now casue of my experience. Gotta get
a motherbaord that is ready for dual cores u know lol


While reading in the Trainz forums I found a crucial thing, if true:

nvidia cards may run much better in an nvidia motherboard.

One guy had stutters with a geforce (common in Trainz) which were gone when
switching to an nforce, same processor.

You could put your 6600 agp in an nforce 3 ultra pretty cheap:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...123-230&depa=1

I think prices may be down further in several months.
--
Ed Light

Smiley :-/
MS Smiley :-\

Send spam to the FTC at

Thanks, robots.


  #6  
Old February 5th 05, 06:41 AM
Ed Light
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Posts: n/a
Default


"Ed Light" wrote
Added coolbits and its auto-speed test set 3d at 605/1.11 !!!
Well, I'll have to try that out to see if it holds up in testing.


No crashes. Made it through aquamark. But in 3dmark 03 it had some artifacts
in one mother nature scene. Just some green streaks. btw the directx 9 water
in there is something. It's like a lens through which you see the bottom of
the stream and as ripples in the water go by, so the lens changes the view.
The water isn't bouncing off the shore, though -- nit picky!

I suspect I won't have to lower it too much. 605/1.11 is pretty high.

I could use the dynamic overclocking feature in the msi nvidia drivers, but
it will do 10% maximum. That would be 550/990. Not so bad though.

Enough testing for tonight.

oh -- the Turbo Experience utility doesn't work. I think it's too old and is
on the cd by mistake.

The live update for bios, drivers, and utilities updated itself quite
nicely. It shut down the old one, uninstalled it, and installed a new one.
In offering my utilites, it didn't offer Turbo Experience.

The WMIinfo utility shows _alot_ of system info.

More after I install my msi tv card and then the entertainment bits
one-by-one. Maybe tomorrow.

I'm pretty cautious so I'm trying it all on a copy of C: first in case it
gets messed up. (Copy made with bootitng).

Read in the Trainz newsgroup that geforces work better in nforce boards --
the stuttering may be fixed (Trains stutters when there's too much detail).
I've got a KT880 socket A. Darn!
--
Ed Light

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MS Smiley :-\

Send spam to the FTC at

Thanks, robots.


  #7  
Old February 5th 05, 05:28 PM
DaveL
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Default

Anything runs better in a Nvidia motherboard, ATIs too.

DaveL


"Ed Light" wrote in message
news:KpYMd.4357$Tt.3814@fed1read05...

"Anthony" wrote in message
news:gOVMd.2234$GT.1283@okepread01...
I am still in shock that putting my 6600 agp leadtek with my xp 2600 CPU
is working out better then my "old" AMD 64 system. But I plan on starting
to build an nforce 4 system soon I think now casue of my experience. Gotta
get a motherbaord that is ready for dual cores u know lol


While reading in the Trainz forums I found a crucial thing, if true:

nvidia cards may run much better in an nvidia motherboard.

One guy had stutters with a geforce (common in Trainz) which were gone
when switching to an nforce, same processor.

You could put your 6600 agp in an nforce 3 ultra pretty cheap:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...123-230&depa=1

I think prices may be down further in several months.
--
Ed Light

Smiley :-/
MS Smiley :-\

Send spam to the FTC at

Thanks, robots.



  #8  
Old February 6th 05, 06:09 AM
Ed Light
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Posts: n/a
Default

Installed the MSI Media Center. Ouch. What junk. And it left a process
running that continually takes up 500mhz after boot. Then it wouldn't
uninstall. I had to go back to the previous restore point.

ShowShifter turned out to be a trial version.\

I'm about to try something very promising, though -- a bundle from
cyberlink.
MakeDVD
Power2Go
PowerCinema
PowerProducer

Their DVD Player has a fabulous picture, so I think this will be fun.

BTW the nvidia DVD decoder that enables the pure video thing isn't included.
It's $20 from nvidia. I haven't bought it yet. Apparently it enables
superior dvd watching in win media player 10. I know that on my ti4200
cyberlink's powerdvd was way clearer than win media player.

Here goes ...


--
Ed Light

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MS Smiley :-\

Send spam to the FTC at

Thanks, robots.


  #9  
Old February 7th 05, 01:21 AM
Ed Light
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I'm about to try something very promising, though -- a bundle from
cyberlink.
MakeDVD
Power2Go
PowerCinema
PowerProducer


Boy are they cut-down versions.

Back to Nero 6. They now have a new Nerovision.

Got the nvdvd decoder trial. It's about equivalent to cyberlink powerdvd in
quality and cpu usage.

I do like using Win Media Player for DVD's as you can slide to an exact time
point easily.

But I've just bought the Zoom Player Pro because I love the way the demo
(which can't do dvd's) lets me step frame-by-frame (or almost) in a wmv
file. It lets you choose from dvd decoders on your system, including nvdvd.

It turns out that in color adjustments in the forceware when you set the
overlay the sharpening and gamma dim out. But when you set them for desktop
(or all) they change in the overlay anyhow.

*You just won't believe sharpened dvd and video file playing! It's so real.*
--
Ed Light

Smiley :-/
MS Smiley :-\

Send spam to the FTC at

Thanks, robots.


  #10  
Old February 7th 05, 01:29 AM
Ed Light
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Back to Nero 6. They now have a new Nerovision.

Which won't make a dvd from a wmv file properly.
Workarounds:
Convert it to an ntsc wmv file in win movie maker.
Convert it to Nero Digital mp4 first in Nerovision.
Convert it to avi first in win movie maker.

It was ok with an mpg1 640x480 file.

Such a learning curve here! I'd hate to be a total neophite and run into
this stuff. Ow.

Nero always has awful bugs and super-features.
--
Ed Light

Smiley :-/
MS Smiley :-\

Send spam to the FTC at

Thanks, robots.


 




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