Graphics Cards Guide

Compare This

MSI NX6600 Ares

17 Mar 2006

Just when you thought that most graphics card vendors have all moved to the newer GeForce 7 series, MSI launches a spanking new GeForce 6600 DDR2 card which looks like a million dollars, with its golden trimmings on a black PCB.

Tags: (none)

Filter by Manufacturers

HWZ's Overall Rating: 8.0

<div id="product-review" class="article">
			<h2 class="header-green">MSI NX6600 Ares (GeForce 6600 DDR2 256MB, PCIe)</h2>
		<span class="byline">Reviewed by Vincent Chang on Friday, 17 Mar 2006</span>
		<div class="share">
	<div
		id="addthis_div_57edc3e9951f5" 
		class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style"
		addthis:url="http://www.hardwarezone.com/review-msi-nx6600-ares-geforce-6600-ddr2-256mb-pcie"		addthis:title="MSI NX6600 Ares (GeForce 6600 DDR2 256MB, PCIe)"	>
		<a class="addthis_button_google_plusone" g:plusone:count="false"></a>
		<a class="addthis_button_facebook"></a>
		<a class="addthis_button_twitter"></a>
		
		<a class="addthis_button_email"></a>
	</div>
</div>
<script type="text/javascript">
//<![CDATA[
	window.addEvent ('domready', function ()
	{
 		//AddThis thing
		addthis_share = window.addthis_share || {};
		addthis_share.url_transforms = {
			add: {
				utm_source: 'addthis',
				utm_medium: 'referral',
				utm_campaign: 'addthis',
				utm_content: 'MSI%2BNX6600%2BAres%2B%28GeForce%2B6600%2BDDR2%2B256MB%2C%2BPCIe%29'
			}
		}
		
		addthis_config = window.addthis_config || {};
		addthis_config.data_track_clickback = true;
		addthis_config.data_ga_property = 'UA-166763-1';
		//window.addthis && addthis.toolbox (".addthis_toolbox");
		 
	});
//]]>
</script>		<div class="content resizeable">
						<div id="page-1" class="page">
		 		<h2 class="page-title">The Luxury Low-End</h2>
		 		<h3 class="page_title">The Luxury Low-End</h3>
<p>In a discrete graphics market awash with attention grabbing names and short-lived brands/models, it can be a thankless task trying to stand out from the rest of the middling crowd. Those who have fought this battle and lived know all about the various methods used to drum up attention for their products. One effective way is to make consumers feel obliged to pay more by associating the product with a classy and upmarket vibe. MSI has had some success with this marketing strategy in recent times. Witness its <a target="_blank" href="/features/view/71539">Diamond edition GeForce 6600 cards</a> , which came in stylish packaging extorting the excellent Chronicles of Riddick game bundled with it.</p>
<p>For the case of the MSI Diamond, it was not merely its appearance or packaging that got the five-star treatment. There was substance beneath the style as the card utilized better memory chips to achieve a clock speed of 800MHz DDR. Coincidentally or not, this was the exact same speed NVIDIA set for its own refresh of the GeForce 6600 many months later, which used DDR2 memory instead of DDR1. Therefore, the performance of the forward-looking Diamond was easily ahead of its peers (and NVIDIA) then and deservedly belonged to a premium class. Now, with the latest GeForce 6600 DDR2 cards taking away some of the limelight, MSI hopes to replicate this formula, but with the newer GeForce 6600. Looking to impress us again with this series, MSI has sent us two of its newest NX6600 Ares GeForce 6600 DDR2 256MB cards. Before we proceed to the technical details, let's all take a moment to admire MSI's chic packaging, with its sophisticated blend of black and gold.</p>
<p class="rtecenter"><img src="http://images.hardwarezone.com/upload/files/2010/06/63419a8451.jpg" title="GeForce 6600 SLI? That's possible with the MSI NX6600 Ares." alt="" /></p>			</div>
		</div>
			<div class="pagination" >
		<span class="desc">Page 1 of 13</span>
		<ul>
			<li class="prevnext prev"><a href="/review-msi-nx6600-ares-geforce-6600-ddr2-256mb-pcie" class="disabled">&lsaquo; Prev</a></li>
			<li class="skip">
				<form id="PageAddForm" method="post" action="/go"><fieldset style="display:none;"><input type="hidden" name="_method" value="POST" /></fieldset>					<select name="data[Page][url]" class="page-selector" id="PageUrl">
<option value="/review-msi-nx6600-ares-geforce-6600-ddr2-256mb-pcie" selected="selected">The Luxury Low-End</option>
<option value="/review-msi-nx6600-ares-geforce-6600-ddr2-256mb-pcie/msi-nx6600-ares">The MSI NX6600 Ares</option>
<option value="/review-msi-nx6600-ares-geforce-6600-ddr2-256mb-pcie/dot-ii">D.O.T II</option>
<option value="/review-msi-nx6600-ares-geforce-6600-ddr2-256mb-pcie/test-setup-125">Test Setup</option>
<option value="/review-msi-nx6600-ares-geforce-6600-ddr2-256mb-pcie/results-3dmark03-pro-ver-360-2">Results - 3DMark03 Pro (ver .360)</option>
<option value="/review-msi-nx6600-ares-geforce-6600-ddr2-256mb-pcie/results-3dmark05-pro-ver-120-20">Results - 3DMark05 Pro (ver .120)</option>
<option value="/review-msi-nx6600-ares-geforce-6600-ddr2-256mb-pcie/results-unreal-tournament-2004-and-halo-combat-evolved">Results - Unreal Tournament 2004 and Halo: Combat Evolved</option>
<option value="/review-msi-nx6600-ares-geforce-6600-ddr2-256mb-pcie/results-chronicles-riddick-and-splinter-cell-chaos-theory-dx9-benchmarks">Results - Chronicles of Riddick and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (DX9 Benchmarks)</option>
<option value="/review-msi-nx6600-ares-geforce-6600-ddr2-256mb-pcie/results-quake-4-1">Results - Quake 4</option>
<option value="/review-msi-nx6600-ares-geforce-6600-ddr2-256mb-pcie/results-sli-performance">Results - SLI Performance</option>
<option value="/review-msi-nx6600-ares-geforce-6600-ddr2-256mb-pcie/temperature-testing-54">Temperature Testing</option>
<option value="/review-msi-nx6600-ares-geforce-6600-ddr2-256mb-pcie/overclocking-69">Overclocking</option>
<option value="/review-msi-nx6600-ares-geforce-6600-ddr2-256mb-pcie/conclusion-270">Conclusion</option>
</select>					<input type="submit" class="submit" value="Go" />				</form>			</li>
			<li class="prevnext next"><a href="/review-msi-nx6600-ares-geforce-6600-ddr2-256mb-pcie/msi-nx6600-ares" class="">Next &rsaquo;</a></li>
		</ul>
	</div>
<script type="text/javascript">
//<![CDATA[
	window.addEvent ('domready', function ()
	{
 
		var container = document.getElement ('#product-review'),
			content = container && container.getElement ('.content'),
			pagination = container && container.getElement ('.pagination'),
			form = pagination && pagination.getElement ('form'),
			menu = form && form.getElement ('.page-selector'),
			links = {
				prev: pagination && pagination.getElement ('.prev a'),
				next: pagination && pagination.getElement ('.next a')
			},
			page = -1,
			desc = 'Page {curPage} of {lastPage}'
		;

// Tag as Javascript-enabled
		pagination.addClass ('js');

menu.addEvent ('change', function (e)
		{
			var curPage = this.selectedIndex + 1,
				lastPage = this.length,
				url = this.get ('value'),
				pageContent = container && container.getElement ('.page')
			;

// Disable controls
			menu.set ('disabled', 'disabled').blur ();
			if (pageContent) pageContent.setStyle ('opacity', .5);

new Request.HTML ({
				'url': url,
				'method': 'get',
				'link': 'cancel',
				'update': content,
				'onSuccess': function ()
				{
					// Update controls
					menu.erase ('disabled');
					links.prev
						.set ('href', menu.getChildren ('option')[(curPage > 1)? curPage - 2: curPage - 1].get ('value'))
						[(curPage > 1)? 'removeClass': 'addClass'] ('disabled')
					;
					links.next
						.set ('href', menu.getChildren ('option')[(curPage < lastPage)? curPage: curPage - 1].get ('value'))
						[(curPage < lastPage)? 'removeClass': 'addClass'] ('disabled')
					;
					pagination.getElement ('.desc').set ('text', desc.substitute ({ curPage: curPage, lastPage: lastPage}));

captureIntraLinks ();
					new Fx.Scroll (window).toElement (container);
				},
				'onFailure': function ()
				{
					// Restore controls
					menu.erase ('disabled');
					if (pageContent) pageContent.setStyle ('opacity', 1);
				}
			}).send ();
		});
		$$([links.prev, links.next]).addEvent ('click', function (e)
		{
			e.stop (); this.blur ();
			if (!this.hasClass ('disabled'))
				menu.set ('value', this.get ('href')).fireEvent ('change');
		});
		form.addEvent ('submit', function (e)
		{
			e.stop (); this.blur ();
			menu.fireEvent ('change');
		})

// Capture all intra-page links and hook to js
		function captureIntraLinks ()
		{
			content.getElements ('a[href^="#"]').flatten().each (function (link)
			{
				var target = link.get ('href').substr (6).trim ();
				if (target && target.match (/^\d+$/) && target <= menu.length)
					link.addEvent ('click', function (e)
					{
						e.stop (); this.blur ();
						menu.selectedIndex = target - 1;
						menu.fireEvent ('change');
					});
			});
		}
		captureIntraLinks ();

// Trigger initial pagination state
		var target = location.hash && location.hash.substr (6).trim ();
		if (target && target.match (/^\d+$/) && target <= menu.length && target != page)
		{
			menu.selectedIndex = target - 1;
			menu.fireEvent ('change');
		}
 
	});
//]]>
</script>
				</div>

<script type="text/javascript">
//<![CDATA[
	window.addEvent ('domready', function ()
	{
 
		var section = $('tab-product-content-review'),
			dropdown = section.getElement ('#reviews-list'),
			tId = 0
		;

if (section && dropdown)
		{
			var list = dropdown.getElement ('ul'),
				links = list.getElements ('li a')
			;

dropdown.addClass ('js');
			list.set ('morph', { 'link': 'cancel' });

$$(dropdown, list).addEvents ({
				'mousemove': function ()
				{
					$clear (tId);
				},
				'mouseenter': function ()
				{
					list.set ('morph', {'duration': 'short'}).morph ({ 'opacity': 1 });
				},
				'mouseleave': function ()
				{
					tId = function () { list.set ('morph', {'duration': 'short'}).morph ({ 'opacity': 0}); }.delay (1000);
				}
			}).fireEvent ('mouseleave');

links.addEvent ('click', function (e)
			{
				e.stop ();
				//unescape the 'alt' prooperty
				var o = new Element('i', { 'html': this.get ('alt')});
				new Request.HTML ({
					'url': o.get('text') + '&as=ajax',
					'method': 'get',
					'link': 'cancel',
					'update': section.empty().grab(new Element('div')
						.addClass ('waiter')
						.grab (new Element ('span', {
							text: 'Please wait while we load your article ...'
						}))
					)
				}).send ();
			})

section.getElements ('.footer .comments a').addEvent ('click', function (e)
			{
				e.stop ();
				new Fx.Scroll (window).toElement ($('tab-product-details'));

var href = this.get ('href').match (/#.+$/), target = href && href[0];
				if (target)
					(function () { new Fx.Scroll (window).toElement ($(target.substr (1))); })
						.delay (3000);

$('tab-product-comments').getChildren ('a')[0].fireEvent ('click');
			})
		}
		if( $$('.image-caption-container').length < 1 )
		{	
			$$('.article .content img[title]').each (function (img)
			{
				// skip if title is empty
				if (!img.get ('title')) return;
			
				new Element ('span', {'class': 'image-caption-container'})
					.addClass (['left', 'right'].contains (img.get ('align'))? img.get ('align'): '')
					.set ('width', img.get ('width'))
					.replaces (img)
					.grab (img)
					.grab (new Element ('div', {
						'class': 'image-caption',
						'html': img.get ('title').trim ()
					}))
				;
				img.erase ('align');
			
				var link = img.getParents ('a');
				if (link) link.addClass ('captioned');
			});
		}
 
	});
//]]>
</script>

Graphics Cards Guide

MSI NX6600 Ares

Filter by Manufacturers

You may also be interested in...