The two cards from ATI and Nvidia are evenly priced, but the performance is anything but even. ATI’s answer to the 6600GT was meant to be the X700 XT, identical to the Pro but with a 475 Mhz core and with 1005 Mhz memory. Even if the X700 XT arrived tomorrow I very much doubt it would be able to perform well enough to give Nvidia anything to worry about, and the overclocking results prove this to a certain degree.

XFX have created one of the very best 6600GT’s out there with the 6600GT Extreme Gamers Edition. Though it is spec’d with Samsung 2.0ns memory, it still allowed an overclock to 1200 Mhz. There really isn’t anything for me to complain about here. It consistently outperformed the Connect3D X700 Pro, in some cases by 40%, and not just in Doom 3. Even results in HL2, normally an ATI strong hold were superseded by the 6600GT. The icing on the cake is the much lower operating temperature at load over the X700 Pro.

The Connect3D X700 Pro would be a good card, and recommended if it were priced well away from the 6600GT. It’s not Connect3D’s fault; this is ATI’s pricing strategy. It simply cannot compete in any form with a 6600GT and is in need of a serious price cut. On another note, the stock cooler did its job, but a better cooler could have helped with overclocking.  So, to sum up, it is a solid card and I have nothing against it, so long as the price is right, and currently it is not.

Looking to the bigger picture, Nvidia have created an astoundingly fast card in the 6600GT and there is nothing in its price range to cause it a problem. ATI are going to suffer if their only defence is the X700 Pro. They have taken there eye off the ball with the X700 Pro. With prices extremely close to the 6600GT cards it becomes very difficult to recommend them at all. On top of all thism two identical 6600GT's can be used in SLi to give a huge performance jump and provides an excellent upgrade path.

With all this said and done, the XFX 6600GT Extreme Gamers Edition deserves the Gold award for not only being a far better performer than the X700 Pro, but for its excellent stock performance and overclocking headroom. Being able to upgrade by adding a second 6600GT in SLi is something you cannot ignore either. 

A special thanks to VGA Store (http://www.vgastore.com) for providing the Connect3D X700 Pro 256MB used here in this review. Please check their online shop for all your ATI needs!