Leadtek Duo PX6600GT TDH Extreme

Game Play Summary:

In some cases, we found that Leadtek's Duo PX6600GT TDH Extreme was faster than both the GeForce 6800 GT and Radeon X800 XL. We found that both Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Far Cry delivered a much better gaming experience than either of what we'd consider to be its single card competitors. However, there weren't any other games that we've tested that showed a definite advantage for purchasing a GeForce 6600 GT SLI over either GeForce 6800 GT or Radeon X800 XL.

Battlefield 2 performed best on NVIDIA's GeForce 6800 GT, as we were able to apply 2xAA at 1280x960 with a medium-high in game detail setting. We found that Far Cry was not a huge advantage to Leadtek's Duo PX6600GT TDH Extreme, as we were able to play the game at the same settings with all three video card configurations tested.

Both Need For Speed: Underground 2 and Half-Life 2 were a close competition between the Radeon X800 XL and the GeForce 6800 GT. If those two games are your preference, we'd probably say that the Radeon X800 XL has the slight edge here. In Half-Life 2, we had to reduce both the resolution and the Anisotropic Filtering samples on Leadtek's dual GeForce 6600 GT card in order to attain a smooth frame rate.

Our final game test, F.E.A.R., shows that the GeForce 6800 GT is a strong performer and was clearly faster than both the Leadtek Duo PX6600GT TDH Extreme and the Radeon X800 XL. The Leadtek card was found to be the slowest of the group.

Final Thoughts...

When you are contemplating a 6600GT, you have to consider whether you are thinking about upgrading down the line with a second video card to make use of NVIDIA's SLI technology, or will you just buy a brand new next-generation card when your current solution is not fast enough.

Let's go back to our thoughts from part three of our coverage of NVIDIA's SLI technology regarding the 6600GT in SLI versus the 6800GT:

"The GeForce 6600 GT SLI is a slightly less attractive proposition, in a number of ways. The performance differences between the GeForce 6600 GT SLI and a single GeForce 6800 GT are more in the favour of the GeForce 6800 GT than 6600 GT SLI, as you are guaranteed that performance, even if the title does not support SLI.

However, there are some instances where the GeForce 6600 GT SLI does shine, competing at the same resolutions as a single GeForce 6800 GT, while often delivering smoother game play."

This still holds true, but the problem is that this incarnation of the GeForce 6600 GT SLI is only available as a single purchase. The advantage is of SLI is that you can split the cost by buying one card now and one later - here, you've got to buy it all at once and there's no upgrade path available for you a little later down the line. That is not to say that Leadtek's Duo PX6600GT TDH Extreme is not a solid dual GeForce 6600 GT implementation.

It's not available in the UK at the moment, but we did find it available in France to give an idea of the price you're likely to pay for it in comparison to a GeForce 6800 GT. At 360 Euros, it's 40 Euros dearer than Leadtek's own GeForce 6800 GT. In our opinion, it's a bit over-priced, as it isn't any where near fast enough to warrant the increase.

We feel that you can spend your money a little more efficiently elsewhere - Leadtek's GeForce 6800 GT might be a good place to start. The choice between Radeon X800 XL and GeForce 6800 GT is a tough one and it will depend on which games you play more. If you're looking towards the future - F.E.A.R. currently runs better on the GeForce 6800 GT, so that might sway you in that direction a bit.

The imminent arrival, however of ATI's CrossFire architecture, which looks absolutely fantastic on paper, might tempt you to choose the Radeon X800 XL.

Right now, it would make absolute sense to wait to see what CrossFire brings to dual graphics. If all of its promise is fulfilled, it's going to kick ass. That's not to say that NVIDIA aren't working hard to improve SLI, though. We are also expecting improvements for NVIDIA's SLI technology to come in the Release 80 drivers, but we can't say an awful lot about what that involves at this time.

In short, Leadtek's Duo PX6600GT TDH Extreme is a good product - but at its pricepoint and form factor, the market that it will cater for is a very small niche of customers that have been wowed by SLI technology and the idea of two GPU's on the same PCB.