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Geforce 6600 cooling

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First post, by Baoran

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Couple weeks ago I bought a cheap Athlon PC because it had a nice looking case. It came with an AGP Geforce 6600 that works but was in bit rough shape. It had original fan missing and just something that loos like a case fan strapped on top the heatsink. Also the fan header plastic part seems to be missing and just pins stick out from the board.

Would a case fan be good enough to cool one of these cards? I am also wondering if the card is good for any retro builds and if it is worth keeping and trying to find fan that would be better for the card or try to fix the fan header.

Reply 1 of 12, by The Serpent Rider

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Not really. Not as compatible as GeForce FX for win9x and not fast enough to be a good choice for win2k games.

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Reply 2 of 12, by Falcosoft

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You have written 'cheap Athlon PC ' so I do not think it's a higher clocked Barton or similar. For typical Athlon XPs (I have Athlon XP 2200+ 1800 Mhz) a Geforce 6600 is more than enough for 1024x768 gaming. In case of later WinXP games I always meet CPU limits instead of GPU limits. That's why I use Geforce 6600 instead of my 6600GT. This way I have cooler and more silent VGA. At 350 MHz core and 550 MHz memory clock 6600 does not require robust cooling solution. Even the mini original stock cooler is more than enough:
http://www.3dvelocity.com/reviews/inno6600/in … es/image009.jpg
Just make sure you have 500/550 MHz memory clock (that is the standard for 6600) since some cheaper AGP versions used 400MHz and memory bandwidth limit can cause problems even in 1024x768. Win9x compatibility is not so bad, but it's true that you have a limited number of possible drivers in case of compatibility problems. (I use 71.84 and 61.76 and swapping relevant files without re-installing drivers. And with these 2 driver sets I can use all the games I want).

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Reply 3 of 12, by Baoran

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I meant cheap as I only paid 20 euros for the whole pc. It was basically a blind purchase since I just wanted the case. When I got home and took it apart there was MSI K7N2G motherboard and Athlong XP 1800+, that Geforce 6600 and AWA ATX 380WF-CL psu.
Basically I am thinking about if there are any parts worth saving. I could not find out anything about the psu brand online, but at least it claims to have 35A 5V rail.
The geforce 6600 might be one of those cheap ones because at least rivatuner thinks it has 300Mhz core clock and 400Mhz memory.

Reply 4 of 12, by SW-SSG

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Baoran wrote:

Would a case fan be good enough to cool one of these cards? ...

Yes. Might even run cooler than the stock fan that way, but you may not be able to use the adjacent PCI slot(s).

Most likely the original fan died, and the previous owner while yanking the fan wires inadvertently removed them together with the plastic around the fan header, which is very easy to do with most GPUs with those plastic headers. The plastic provides keying and additional stiffness but you don't really need to replace it, as long as you pay attention to the position of +5V and GND while plugging in a replacement fan.

Reply 5 of 12, by Baoran

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The fan wasn't connected to those 2 pins so I am not sure if it would work in those 2 pins, it was connected to the psu directly.

The attachment gf6600.jpg is no longer available

Reply 6 of 12, by The Serpent Rider

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Palit card? I would skip that.

I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.

Reply 7 of 12, by Baoran

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The Serpent Rider wrote:

Palit card? I would skip that.

I can't tell the manufacturer. I went through pictures of 6600 in google and it seemed like many manufacturers used exactly same board layout.

Reply 8 of 12, by The Serpent Rider

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I can't tell the manufacturer

I can tell. That's Palit/Gainward board without external power connector.

I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.

Reply 9 of 12, by Falcosoft

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The Serpent Rider wrote:

I can tell. That's Palit/Gainward board without external power connector.

AFAIK none of the 6600 has/requires external power connector. External power connector is a 6600GT thing.

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Reply 10 of 12, by The Serpent Rider

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AFAIK none of the 6600 has/requires external power connector.

No.

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Reply 11 of 12, by Almoststew1990

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If it is of interest I have an Inno3D 6600 (le) that doesn't need a power connector. As you can see it doesn't need much cooling; I'd imagine the case fan cools it much better than the stock fan.

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It is a bit lacking at 1024 *768 when paired with a P4 2.8Ghz for early 98/xp crossover games.

Reply 12 of 12, by candle_86

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you want to pay for shipping ive got a PNY 6600 AGP card you can have the heatsink is good the card is dead