Gigabyte's GA660Plus TNT2 Ultra

The Gigabyte GA660Plus - TNT2-A

What a difference a "rev." makes!

First things first, we were finally able to run this version of the GA660Plus in our motherboard with a 124MHz. Front Side Bus and an 82MHz. AGP bus. The original "non-Plus" version of the card could not handle this speed. The GA660Plus had no issue here whatsoever. Here are the rest of the system specs, just for the record.

We are now officially no longer using Quake2 benchmark numbers here at Hot Hardware. We feel Quake 3 Arena's Timedemo benchmark gives good repeatable figures that are highly reliable metrics for evaluation of performance. Quake3 also really stresses even the latest of 3D Graphics Accelerators and puts them through their paces.

Let's see how the GA660Plus faired...

In every resolution, with the exception of 1600X1200, the GA660Plus is one of the fastest cards we have tested at Hot Hardware. Only the G400MAX can outpace this new TNT2-A based card at the highest resolution. A very interesting coincidence is the fact that the G400MAX actually scored the exact same number at 1024X768/32bit color! Yes, we checked our figures three times! Talk about "neck and neck"! However, the TNT2-A pulls away from the pack at the lower resolutions.

Although Forsaken is a somewhat older game, it provides a very level playing field as a Direct 3D Performance measurement. We use the "Ship Demo" playback test.

These are very strong numbers as well. They show the GA660Plus to be about 5 -10% faster in the Forsaken demo vrs. the last TNT2 we ran through this suite.

In our opinions 3DMark99 MAX is the best D3D Benchmark in town. Here's the REAL juice!

This number show the GA660Plus to be THE fastest of all TNT2s we have tested in a Direct 3D benchmark, falling ever so slightly behind the G400MAX in this test. Great stuff Gigabyte!!

 The Verdict...

Our opinion is that the Gigabyte GA660Plus is the best TNT2 based video card your money can buy at this point in time. The 2D desktop image quality is superb and the 3D Graphics numbers are best in the TNT2 space. The NVidia GeForce chipset based cards are just starting to hit the shelves now so you may be able to pick one of these little gems up for cheap money. We have to commend the folks at Gigabyte for really squeezing out every bit of performance from the TNT2! You can't go wrong with this card.

We're giving the Gigabyte GA660Plus a Hot Hardware Temp-O-Meter rating of...

  94 !!! - Dats a spicey meat-a-ball!

(Temp-O-Meter scores are rated on a number of key metrics including performance, stability, ease of installation, compatibility, feature set, "overclockability" and component quality. A perfect score is 100 )

-Davo