WinFast PX6200 NVidia 6200 16X PCI-E LeadTek $119.99 Click Here Sean Gibson - email

Introduction

If you've broken your bank buying all the components necessary for a PCI-Express system, then you might have some problems when it comes to a video card solution. Most of the "killer" PCI-E video cards will run inexcess of $500, well out of the price range of most gamers and business professionals. Let's say you're not really a gamer, but more of a PC power user that uses their rig for Photoshop, developing web applications - you know, a real job. Then you need a nice basic video card solution that doesn't have all the bells and whistles so you can throw more money into more important parts of your PC - such as your CPU and RAM.

The WinFast PX6200 video card is a low-range priced card with the entry level NVIDIA GeForce 6200 chipset. The card features 8 vertex pipelines, a core GPU clock-speed of 350Mhz, and offers up 350 MHz rated memory. A breakdown of the LeadTek PX6200 along with some other recently review cards here at NextGen Electronics.

The card is definitely an entry level card from the mid-range cards released in the beginning of 2004 compared to other nVidia boards. Compared to cards well above it in price, the Winfast A6600GT offers some serious "performance for your money" value. Of course, you're talking about a card that retails for about $120 compared to cards that retail two to four times that amount.

Features

The LeadTek Winfast A6600GT TDH 128MB AGP offers the following features:

• NVIDIA® TurboCacheT technology
• PCI Express support
• Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 Shader Model 3.0 support
• NVIDIA® CineFXT 3.0 engine
• NVIDIA® UltraShadowT II technology
• NVIDIA® IntellisampleT 3.0 technology
• NVIDIA® PureVideoT technology
• NVIDIA® ForceWareT Unified Driver Architecture (UDA)
• NVIDIA® nViewT multi-display technology
• NVIDIA® Digital Vibrance ControlT 3.0 technology
• OpenGL® 1.5 optimizations and support

With the latest in nVidia technologies, the card is primed to actually perform and not just be something that you discard after six months.

Retail Bundle

Retail package include...

• LeadTek WinFast PX6200 PCI-E Graphics Board
• Installation CD
• Y-Power Splitter Cable
• Video-editing software bundle (WinDVD 5.0,WinFox II, Muvee)
• DVI to VGA Adapter
• Manuals

The bundle is pretty straight forward and nothing too exciting.

card benchmark & testing

We used the same system we tested other video cards on for this review...

Test System Specifications:
- Intel 3.0 GHz "630" processor
- GigaByte Motherboard
- 1024 MB 533MHz Dual Channel DDR RAM
- Windows XP Professional
- DirectX 9.0c

For the benchmarks we used the default 1024x768 setting, no AA, but all on very high detail. For a "real world" gaming experience, we used Blizzard's enormously popular Battle for Middle Earth game, while capturing the FPS (frames per second) using the popular FRAPS Utility which allows you to grab the framerate for any game you play. Battle for Middle Earth was universally tested at 1280x1024 @ 70Hz, with absolutely everything turned to high, all shaders checked, and all miscellaneous video options enabled (excluding subtitles).

Benchmarks Used:

- 3DMark01
- AquaMark 3 (FPS, GFX score)
- World of Warcraft
- 3DMark05

3D Mark 2001

3DMark 01 is the old standby, and is always interesting to take a look at when benching video cards...

LeadTek WinFast PX6200 PCI-E SCORE: 9501 Marks

It's not that surprising that the card got this score since our edition only had 64MB, and the processor for this card is nothing special.

For our recent reviews, all these cards are AGP cards utilizing an AMD XP 2500+ processor (so it's not equal in the hardware):

Aquamark 3

Aquamark 3 is a popular benchmarking utility, and we broke up the testing for both FPS (Frames Per Second) and for the GFX score...

GFX Score (higher is better)
LeadTek WinFast PX6200 PCI-E SCORE: 2,613

In this test the LeadTek Winfast PX6200 performed pretty well.

For our recent reviews, all these cards are AGP cards utilizing an AMD XP 2500+ processor (so it's not equal in the hardware) (GFX score only):

battle for middle earth

We decided to use the popular RTS game from EA, with the resolution at 1280x1024 @ 70Hz, with all detail levels put on high, and all shaders and miscellaneous turned on. Using FRAPS, we captured a walk through the Mines of Moria ...

LeadTek WinFast PX6200 PCI-E SCORE: 21.06 FPS

In the best "real world" gaming test, the LeadTek PX6200 performed well "enough" I suppose - but in all honesty, we think in upcoming reviews that this will show a 30FPS max out.

3dmark 2005

The latest FutureMark program to benchmark video game systems has some of the most remarkable testing features to date...

LeadTek WinFast PX6200 PCI-E SCORE: 1245 Marks

As a reference, the LeadTek nVidia 6600GT card brought home a score of 2,909 and retails for just under $200.

installation

The video card is quite easily the easiest thing to install in your computer. Simply uninstall the OLD drivers first (some people forget this step), turn off your computer, take out the old card, and put in the new card. Don't forget to insert a power plug to make sure the card gets the juice it needs (otherwise it won't work).

Turn on the system, insert the CD or simply download latest nVidia drivers (Version: 71.89 now right here for XP) and install them. After that - you're ready to go!

impressions of performance

Let's keep in mind that this card is about saving your butt some money rather than spending $200 to $500 on a performance video card. This little guy will get the job done and if you are simply looking for fast CPU and RAM speeds (web developers, office people, etc) and don't need a big time video card, then you can use this reliable card to fill in the gap.

LeadTek has put together a decent little card here, but if you're looking for performance, you're just going to have to pay more. This card doesn't get good scores for "coolness" (it's not flashy), nor does it score high in performance (it's not a performance card). The card does score nicely in value and reliability. There's an obvious market for entry level PCI-E video cards, and this card fits the bill nicely.

Conclusions

The LeadTek WinFast PX 6200 PCI-E is a decent entry level video card that will get the job done for the average non-gamer. Although it will not quench the thirst for the gamer that wants to play the new high-requirement games, this will allow you to enjoy the rest of your expensive hardware without breaking the bank at first for a video card solution.

The price point of the card (shop around and you should find it around $90 to $110) is very low compared to the rest of the market, and when compared to other cards on the market right now, this looks like the one that PC novices and basic computer users should be using.

The longevity factor of any video card takes a hit automatically because the industry moves so quickly, but this card should last you as long as you don't care about doing anything video intensive (games, video editing, etc). All things considered, this video card is a decent "value" for basic PC users.

6 / 10 OVERALL SCORE 74% 6 / 10 9 / 10 9 / 10 7 / 10 7.4 / 10