Albatron Technology has released the PC6600U graphics card on the heels of Nvidia?s GeForce 6600 graphics chipsets. The PC6600U is a PCI-Express (x16)-based card that utilizes a heatpipe thermal solution.
Albatron chose to employ the standard version GeForce 6600 chipset on the PC6600U over the high-performing, luxury GeForce 6600GT chipset. The strategy was to take the low-cost road and then boost performance, providing customers with a powerful VGA card at a reasonable price tag. The result is a 6600-based card whose performance is almost comparable to that of 6600GT-based cards and significantly more powerful than that of other standard 6600 cards on the market. The PC6600U PCIe card is also SLI (Scalable Link Interface)-enabled.
The heatpipe cooling technology that is used with the card improves on traditional cooling strategies by providing more efficient thermal dissipation. The heat-conductive copper heatpipes absorb heat from the GPU and dissipate the heat through attached aluminum heat sinks. Within the heatpipe itself is a liquid that is vaporized at the end closest to the GPU (the hot end). The vapor moves to the cool end of the pipe where it is condensed back into a liquid and wicked back to the front of the pipe to start the process again.
Albatron chose to match its 350MHz chipset with 128MB of high-speed BGA packaged, 2.8ns memory. This memory provides much higher overclocking potential than the more traditional TSOP (Thin Small Outline Package) packaged memory.
The PC6600U uses the PCI-Express x16 interface and supports Microsoft DirectX 9.0c and Shader Model 3.0. The accessories include an HDTV cable that supports S-video and AV interfaces as well as HDTV. The software bundle includes WinDVD creator and the Arx Fatalis 3D game, as well as a 5-in-1 game pack.
Albatron started mass production of the PC6600U this week and is now shipping the card to the channel. This card will have an ASP of between US$170 and US$190.
From DigiTimes