Head to Head: NVIDIA GeForce 5900XT vs. NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT

If we take a look at the price of the GeForce FX 5900XT in our RealTime Pricing Engine, we see a card that hovers somewhere around $185. The 5900XT is the lower rung of the high end graphics cards from NVIDIA at the end of the year in 2003.

Under Doom 3, the 5900XT just can't keep up with the 6600GT, especially at higher resolutions. We are seeing the same type of pattern we saw with the 9800 Pro head to head: as resolution increases, so does the 6600GT's lead.

Doom 3 Performance

 

NVIDIA GeForce 5900XT

NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT

Performance Advantage

640 x 480

65.6

105.9

61.4%

800 x 600

50.2

100.3

99.8%

1024 x 768

36.3

82

125.9%

1280 x 1024

25.4

58.7

131.1%

1600 x 1200

18.9

43.4

129.6%

Winner

 

-

6600GT

 
This test isn't even a contest. The 6600GT makes short work of the 5900XT under valve's VST test. Though, with Half-Life two finally released, we'll have to see just how good a predictor of performance the VST is.

Counterstrike: Source Visual Stress Test Performance

 

NVIDIA GeForce 5900XT

NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT

Performance Advantage

640 x 480

81.8

191.8

134.5%

800 x 600

60.6

175.3

189.3%

1024 x 768

40.2

133.3

231.6%

1280 x 1024

24.8

83.3

235.9%

1600 x 1200

18.9

68

259.8%

Winner

 

-

6800GT

 

This test shows virtually no difference in the framerates of Unreal Tournament 2004 until we started working beyond 1024x768. It is very likely that before 1280 graphics are not a limiting factor in performance here. Nevertheless, the 6600GT comes out on top, and when graphics power does start to matter the 5900XT starts to fall behind.

Unreal Tournament 2004

 

NVIDIA GeForce 5900XT

NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT

Performance Advantage

640 x 480

72.7

72.3

0.6%

800 x 600

71.4

71.4

0.0%

1024 x 768

67.2

70.5

4.9%

1280 x 1024

51.9

62.8

21.0%

1600 x 1200

39.1

50.2

28.4%

Winner

 

-

6600GT


The 5900XT is not playable at anything above 1024x768 in FarCry, but the 6600GT holds on and manages over a 100% performance advantage at the higher resolutions.
 

Far Cry 1.3 Performance

 

NVIDIA GeForce 5900XT

NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT

Performance Advantage

640 x 480

60.2

86.3

43.4%

800 x 600

45.7

80.8

76.8%

1024 x 768

33.3

67.9

103.9%

1280 x 10 24

23

48.7

111.7%

1600 x 1200

16.4

37.1

126.2%

Winner

 

-

6600GT

 
Halo continues the 6600GT reign with almost double the performance across the board.

Halo 1.05 Performance

 

NVIDIA GeForce 5900XT

NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT

Performance Advantage

640 x 480

71.4

131.7

84.5%

800 x 600

55.1

111.7

102.7%

1024 x 768

39.7

82.4

107.6%

1280 x 1024

26.5

56.9

114.7%

1600 x 1200

19.2

41.3

115.1%

Winner

 

-

6600GT

 
This OpenGL benchmark shows a tie between the two boards, and at lower resolutions the 5900XT board is acutally leading the 6600GT here. This older quake III engine based game definitely shows a side we haven't seen, but so far the 5900XT has tied one benchmark while the 6600GT has won all the rest. Let's contine on and see what the rest stack up like.

Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory Performance

 

NVIDIA GeForce 5900XT

NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT

Performance Advantage

640 x 480

111.8

107.6

3.8%

800 x 600

110.3

107.5

2.5%

1024 x 768

103.7

104.2

0.5%

1280 x 1024

84

88

4.8%

1600 x 1200

64

68

6.3%

Winner

 

-

Tie

 
In Battlefield vietnam, the results are pretty steadily in favor of the 6600GT: it wins with over a 50% performance advantage every time.

Battlefield - Vietnam Performance

 

NVIDIA GeForce 5900XT

NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT

Performance Advantage

640 x 480

139

217

56.1%

800 x 600

106

180

69.8%

1024 x 768

76

134

76.3%

1280 x 1024

53

97

83.0%

1600 x 1200

36

68

88.9%

Winner

 

-

6600GT

 
Running with 78% higher fps at 1600x1200, the 6600GT closes out its victory against the 5900XT.

The Sims 2 Performance

 

NVIDIA GeForce 5900XT

NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT

Performance Advantage

800 x 600

33.4

50.3

50.6%

1024 x 768

29

42.1

45.2%

1280 x 1024

20.3

32.6

60.6%

1600 x 1200

15.6

27.8

78.2%

Winner

 

-

6600GT

In every test but one the 6600GT dominated the 5900XT in performance and value. In our head to head battles, price was a key factor. Now that the 6600GT has entered the AGP market, there is no reason to look at either of these other two AGP based products.

Head to Head: ATI Radeon 9800 Pro vs. NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT Doom 3 Performance
Comments Locked

66 Comments

View All Comments

  • Avalon - Tuesday, November 16, 2004 - link

    Thank you for taking our concerns into consideration, Anand :)
  • coldpower27 - Tuesday, November 16, 2004 - link

    That's intresting, how the 6800 GT dips like that in Sims 2 performance at 12x10, do you have any reason why? Even stranger still how the X800 Pro seems to be actually beating the 6800 GT in this particular game in high res. However it's FPS seems to be limited to 40FPS max across the board :S. Also could you possibly bench the Sims 2 under 1152x864, I would like to see what the performance of the 6800 GT is at that res for this game.

    Oh good review, would like a 300/700 6800 LE 8x1/4 and 325/700 6800 Vanilla 12x1/5 tested as well. To see how those compare to these cards,
  • ciwell - Tuesday, November 16, 2004 - link

    Hmm...try to get the BFG OC one then...

    :D :D
  • Anand Lal Shimpi - Tuesday, November 16, 2004 - link

    Thanks for the comments. We did not have a vanilla 6800 available for testing for this review, but as soon as we get one in we will make sure to include it in our upcoming reviews.

    Take care,
    Anand
  • ciwell - Tuesday, November 16, 2004 - link

    Yeah, I am wondering where the vanilla 6800 is too? It clearly is in direct competition with the 6600GT.
  • ciwell - Tuesday, November 16, 2004 - link

  • CU - Tuesday, November 16, 2004 - link

    I would also like to know why the 6800nu is not included. The message may not be so clear if the 6800nu was included.
  • 9700prolover - Tuesday, November 16, 2004 - link

    I love the last sentense. Even the writer of anandtech loves the "the message is clear, xxx wins/fails" style of conclusion.
  • Avalon - Tuesday, November 16, 2004 - link

    Where was the vanilla 6800? You can get a BFG 6800 OC at Outpost for $249.99, and it's in stock at this moment. I recall the 6800 beating the 6600GT in 60% of benchmarks, while losing out in 40% of benchmarks. If the 6600GT is going to cost $225, that won't be much fun. I'd rather take the BFG 6800 and unlock the pipes and vertex shaders, artifact permitting.
  • Decoder - Tuesday, November 16, 2004 - link

    What about the video decoding issues on the NVidia chips? Has that been resolved?

    http://techreport.com/ja.zz?comments=7535


Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now