Written: 12/24/99
Written by: John
"Moto" Chow
Price: $225
Manufactured by:
ASUSTek
So you love the new Asus V6600 Deluxe but you
don't need all those extra bells and whistles? You're in luck. For those of you
who want a lean mean video machine, Asus presents the V6600 PURE. Pure is right.
This video card is just that. There are no TV out, video in, DVD decoder, TV
tuner, 3D glasses or any other stuff. This card is meant to do just one thing,
run your 3D games at mind numbing speed. And it does that really well.
Powered by the nVidia GeForce 256 chipset and
32 megs of SGRAM, the Asus V6600 is one of the fastest video cards you can buy.
Even though this is the PURE version, Asus still pack one fantastic software
bundle. You get full versions of Drakan and Rollcage plus 12 other game demos.
In addition to the games, there is also an AsusDVD software player and a copy of
Ulead Video Studio. It's the same software package you get with the V6600
Deluxe.
The V6600 PURE that we received for testing
came with 5ns SGRAM. However, not all V6600 PURE will come like that. We got
another card from a local supplier and found that it had normal 5.5ns SDRAM and
a different software bundle. If you're looking at getting a PURE, make sure you
get the one with the 5ns RAM. The use of faster SGRAM gives the V6600 a
performance head ups on the competition. Even though 5ns RAM is rated to run at
200Mhz, Asus followed nVidia's recommendation and runs it at 166Mhz. The GeForce
256 chip itself runs at 120Mhz and is cooled by a small heatsink fan which is
held in place by a spring clip. The cooler is easy enough to remove if you want
to do some serious overclocking with the card.
With a street price of around $225, the Asus
V6600 PURE offer a nice saving over the Deluxe model. Considering the nice
software bundle you get the price is really reasonable. Just make sure your unit
has the faster RAM if you want the very best value.
Next page: How to tell if your V6600 has SGRAM
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