In general terms, the HD 2600 XT is a diminutive card. It is the smallest card of the five we will be benching today. The printed circuit board is about an inch shorter than this Asus 8600 GTS.

Of the first things you may notice about this card is that it has no external power connector. We'll look at the power consumption numbers later, but for now, it's safe to say that it is not in the same power-class of a hog as its older brother, the HD 2900 XT. This probably has a lot to do with its 65 nanometer fabrication process. The other cards were made with 80(+) nanometer die process. As you probably know, the smaller the chip, the less power it needs, and the more cooling is required.