i just bought a BFG 6600gt cause i cant wait on the x800 xl's anymore.
(sorry ati, i really wanted your product, but you took too long to get it in stores. mabey if i can get one in the next couple weeks best buy will take this back)

anyhow, this card is replacing my 9800pro, not because i wanted to replace it, but because my new mobo has pci-e.

i was running my 9800pro completely passive with the zalman zm80c-hp. the one with only 1 heatpipe.

now i've heard ppl say you cant, or rather your not supposed to, do this. but i have very good case ventalation, and i dont OC, so i never had any problems with it ever. always rock solid stable in a system running 24/7.

so my question: can i run this new card with the new zalman zm80D-hp, with the dual heatpipe configuration, completely passive. or is the power consumption of this card higher than the 9800pro's?

i guess thats my real question. is the 6600gt pci-e cards consuming more power than the 9800pro agp cards? if its lower or about the same i think i'll be fine, specially with the new 2x heatpipe design. if not however, i'll have to get the NV Silencer 6 instead.

It's about the same power consumption according to X-bit Labs... There's a good article about the 6600GT at X-bit Labs called "Extreme Acceleration of NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT". According to them, the 6600GT reference board doesn't come with the 6pin connector...

yeah, my 6600gt doesnt have an additional power connecter on it.

cool, thx for the info. i feel comfortable running it completely passive now



i have another question. ive inspected my new card very intensly. and idunno, mabey im paranoid, but i swear to god my ramsinks that are epoxied on my ram modules are plastic!

it looks like copper, but it doesnt tarnish when i touch it, and when i run my fingernails across them they dont give me that signiture "metal" sound, instead they sound like plastic.

the heatsink/fan for the GPU also doesnt feel like copper, mabey anodized aluminum to look like copper, either that or its also plastic.


first: can anyone confirm what these ramsings and gpu heatsink/fan are made of?

and second: how do i safely remove the stock ramsinks to put on the ones from zalman?

the gpu heatsink/fan wont be a problem. i can easily move it around on the chip while its attatched to the board. not alot, but enough to tell its not epoxied on.

Why didn't you buy a Gigabyte 6600GT Turbo Edition(GV-NX66T128VP)? It would be the logical choice, since it comes with a heatpipe from the factory. I know you already bought something, but it seems as not everyone is aware of the existence of this card. It's not as available as the normal version, but i think a stock heatpipe is the better solution.

honestly. i dont ever leave anything stock. i feel wrong if i dont change somthing with everything in my computer.

all fans in psu's are always changed out. holes always cut in my cases. cables always wrapped for clenliness, case fans replaced and holes expanded to accept 120mm fans, etc etc.

i guess im just a modder at heart

also i had to buy a card at bestbuy, i had a $50 gift card from christmas for their, and also.. if the x800 XL's come out in the next few weeks i wanted the option to return my card to get it. and id rather not pay to ship it back to an online retailer.

That's probably what I'd get, if I could find a seller in the U.S.

Madman2003, if this is your system, please post some temperature results (the card is slightly overclocked from factory, I think).
Especially if you have a 120 mm case fan above the 6600GT and it's spinning at 1200-1500 rpm...

No it's not, i don't even have my own system yet. (i've been on the lookout for months and will be for another few) That picture is from a review, because i wanted to show what kind of heatpipe it was.