Testing

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Socket 939 Winchester
Motherboard: DFI LanParty UT nF4 Ultra-D
Memory: 1x512MB Mushkin 3700 
Hard Drive: Maxtor 120GB 8MB
Power Supply: Enermax Noisetaker
OS: Windows XP Pro SP2

Driver Version
ATI: CATALYST 5.3 Windows XP
nVidia: 71.84

The installation with each video card went smoothly. They were each installed with a fresh set of drivers after the previous ones had been cleaned off the system. They were tested under the same circumstances in all tests. We ran:

Synthetic:
3dMark01
3dMark03
3dMark05

Gaming:
Comanche 4 Demo: 1024x768x32, FSAA 4x, Vsync off, Audio On
X2 Rolling Demo: 1024x768, no AA
Far Cry: 1024x768x32, no AA, Regulator Demo
Halo: 1024x768, Pixel Shader 2.0
Doom 3: 1024x768, TimeDemo 1
The Project: 1024x768x32, AA 4x, Vsync Off
Gunmetal Demo: 1024x768

In the synthetic benchmark portion of the test we can get a pretty clear idea of the cards comparable ability. These tests tell us that the performance of the X700 and 6600 GT OC are close to one another but it looks like the 6600 has the edge. This would lead us to believe that, putting other factors aside, the extra memory of the X700 is not as important as the extra speed of the 6600 GT OC (at least for this type of testing). We also ran Aquamark with each card. The reason it is not listed in the chart is because the X700 would not run this test, no matter what drivers we used or what settings we tried. The BFG card scored 53,626.

In actual gaming the 6600's advantage over the X700 was a bit more pronounced in certain tests but this was not always the case. The X700 managed to do better in the Doom 3 test than the 6600, which was a surprise to us. The fact that the X700 can handle OpenGL 2.0 seems to be giving it help with certain games. So even though the 6600 GT OC is usually touted as being the better gaming card this is not always the case. After our testing, it would seem that overall the 6600 GT OC is the more powerful card but the X700 is not far behind.

For the next part of the test we loaded up Doom 3 at 1600x1200 (high quality) with each card. The X700 scored 22.4 fps and the 6600 came in at 19.3 fps. This is below the playable range, so you are better off either playing at a smaller resolution, upgrading to SLI, or picking up a higher end card if this is your goal.

The final part of the comparative testing was price/performance rating. This is a very simple test in which we will compare the scores of each card versus its price. To do this we added up the fps of each game and then divided by the price. Synthetics were not included due to the size of their results, which would throw off the test. At a price of $270 the GT OC was rated at 1.61 fps/dollar and the X700, at $199, was rated at 2.16. This test is a bit flawed as is weighed towards older games, because of their higher fps, but it gives you a pretty solid grasp on each cards bang-for-the-buck.