This weekend marks the second weekend of the new NVIDIA 7600 and 7900 series. Launched on the 9th of March 2006, these new cards first debuted at the IT SHOW 2006. However, low initial shipments for a few major brands caused these cards to be quickly snapped up probably due to pre-order fulfillments on the distributor/retailer's side. This week, we have seen more of these cards appearing on retail shelves. One such card to hit the retail stores is the Leadtek Winfast PX7600GT. The card we've spotted happens to be the vanilla version, with the standard 560MHz core and 700MHz memory (1400MHz DDR). We've found this card at Fuwell going for a reasonable price tag of just $349. Not too bad for a mid range 12 pipeline card.

The packaging of the Leadtek Winfast PX7600GT. As stated on the large round sticker, this card comes with a 2 year distributor's warranty.

The bare card itself. If you were to take a look at other brands, you'll understand that all of these retail 7600GTs out there are all based on NVIDIA's reference design. Thus, except for that sticker on the heatsink, everything else on the card will be exactly identical.

These new 7600GTs comes with dual DVI outputs on top of the standard TV output.

The heatsink is made up of folded copper fins as you can see from this picture. These 7600GTs are made using the smaller 90nm process, resulting in cooler operating temperatures.

The Leadtek 7600GT comes with 256MB Samsung 1.4ns GDDR3 memory, rated at 714MHz (1428Mhz DDR).

A back view of the Leadtek 7600GT. No major components are placed here though.

Another of such mid-range 7600GT card to hit our sunny Singapore shores would be the XFX Geforce 7600GT XXX Edition (PV-T73G-UDD) . This is not your usual 7600GT as it sports higher-then-normal clock speeds. It comes in a very sleek and eye catching 'X' shaped packaging. Instead of the standard 560MHz/700MHz clocks, this XXX Edition comes with pre-overclocked speed of 590MHz core and 800MHz (1600MHz DDR) memory. Of course, such a premium product like this commands a premium price tag - Cybermind carries it and it goes for a whopping $519.

Instead of the usual rectangular packaging, XFX chooses to be bold, and distinguishes itself from the rest by their 'X' shaped packaging.

The back of the packaging is equally appealing as well. I reckon only XFX has packaging with a clear window showing the actual card itself.

Here it is, XFX's Geforce 7600GT XXX Edition. The XFX's emblem on the heatsink happens to be one of the prettiest we've seen so far and this happens to be XFX's tradition all along.

Like the rest of the 7600GTs we've found, this XFX card comes with dual DVI outputs and the standard TV Out.

Like wise, copper folded fins for the heatsink on this XFX card.

Although the XFX 7600GT XXX Edition features a higher 800MHz (1600MHz) memory clock, it's still using the usual Samsung 1.4ns GDDR3 memory as we can see here.

Although the XFX 7600GT XXX Edition bears exact resemblance to all other 7600GTs in the market, the sleek XFX emblem on the heatsink is worth that 2nd look.

This is how the XFX card looks like when flipped over. No difference from the rest of the crowd still.

If you're looking for a rock bottom deal on the new 7600GT, here's another card. The Inno3D Geforce 7600GT is yet another card that hit Singapore this week, but the way it distinguishes itself the the rest is simple - it's the cheapest of the lot. We've spotted this card at Inno3D's distributor, MCP Computers, located in Sim Lim Square itself. This card doesn't come with anything fanciful due to it's low price. Some enthusiasts won't mind if there isn't a top notch game included - this card is made for you. There's a Mass Order going on in our forums, with the price listed at just $338. Drop a post there if you're interested in this new cheap card.

The Inno3D Geforce 7600GT in their standard generic packaging. As said, nothing fanciful should be expected.

This is how the Inno3D Geforce 7600GT looks like. Like the rest of the card we've seen, this is yet another NVIDIA reference designed card.

Likewise, the cooling department is no difference from the rest. Similar copper folded fins makes up the heatsink on the card.

Being no different from the rest of the crowd, this card comes with Samsung 1.4ns GDDR3 memory as well.

The outputs on the card still the usual dual DVI plus standard TV Out.

The back of the card looks no different from the rest. If not for the sticker identifying it's make, there's no way to differentiate which brand this card is.

Being launched alongside with the mid range 7600GT is the higher end Geforce 7900 family of cards. This family comes with 2 variants, the lower clocked GT, and the flagship GTX model. We've found both variants, but first we'll take a look at the ASUS EN7900GT. Spotted at Fuwell, this card comes in ASUS's traditional huge packaging. Perhaps with such a large box, it might grab more attention from people sourcing for a new kickass video card. This card comes with standard clock speeds of 450MHz/660MHz (1320MHz DDR) and does not feature any pre-overclocking out of the box. It comes with 3 years distributor's warranty and is selling at $599.

We're not joking when we say the packaging of this EN7900GT is as large (if not larger) then most motherboard boxes.

This is how the ASUS EN7900GT looks like. Like the 7600GT, you'll soon find out that all 7900GTs would be identical to each other, save for the extra sticker on the heatsink.

As stated in our launch article, the reference 7900GTs comes with cooling solutions similar to those 7600GT. This comes as a surprise as the 7900GT can be considered as a high end product, but yet it could run cool enough like it's mid range card? ASUS follows what the NVIDIA reference card used, popping a cooler similar to the 7600GTs we've seen on the card.

Like the 7600GTs we've seen, the ASUS EN7900GT comes with dual DVI output on top of the standard TV Out on the left of this picture.

Being a high end card, the ASUS EN7900GT requires a 6 pin PCI-E power connector to drive the card.

As said in the previous page, the Geforce 7900GTX is NVIDIA's current flagship graphics card, offering the fastest performance from NVIDIA's family of gaming graphics card. One of the first retail 7900GTX to reach the shelves of Sim Lim Square would be Gigabyte's Geforce 7900GTX. This card doesn't feature any factory pre-overclocking and operates at the standard clock speed of 650MHz core and 800MHz memory (1600MHz DDR). Spotted at Bell Systems, this card goes for just $955 - way under the $1000 mark when the previous flagship card was launched!

This is how the packaging of the Gigabyte Geforce 7900GTX looks like. Nothing exceptionally eye catching though.

The Gigabyte Geforce 7900GTX card itself. From this view, it looks exactly identical to the previous top end 7800GTX 512, especially when this 7900GTX comes with a similar cooling unit.

Another view of the Gigabyte 7900GTX, showing off it's 4 thick heatpipes that would conduct heat from the core to the surrounding fins. The large 80mm fan at the center will suck in cool air and force the heat out in both directions - from the front and the rear of the card.

Gigabyte appears to be the only manufacturer that would actually provide a cap to protect the SLi connector when not in used. Such a cap will prevent dust or tarnish to the connector when the card is not running in SLi mode.

Just like the 7800GTX 512, this Gigabyte 7900GTX comes with a dual slot cooling solution that require an extra PCI bracket/slot on your casing. The rear I/O ports are still similar to the rest of the newly launched cards - dual DVI output together with the TV Out.

The back of the card have some slight differences from the older 7800GTX series. This new 7900GTX only has memory chips on the front side like the 7800GTX 512 and thus, there is no extra heatspreader on the back side of the card.

After looking at a bunch of newly launched graphics cards, we popped over to DAT Computers and found a top end NVIDIA nForce 4 SLI board to go with the top end NVIDIA cards. The DFI Lanparty nF4 SLI-DR Venus is one board that promises to send hardcore enthusiasts drooling. The difference between this board from DFI's predecessors is that the Venus board is actually a 1000-pieces-only limited edition board that features aluminum cased capacitors - said to be of a higher quality then the normal capacitors on other motherboards. Being a limited edition board, the SLI-DR Venus comes with a very unique drawer styled packaging for that added style and class. This board goes at $549, but if you're a Club VR member, you're entitled to purchased it at a discounted price of $509! More info on this over here.

The packaging of the DFI Lanparty nF4 SLI-DR Expert Venus. This is not just a normal paper type packaging, but a solid case that houses your limited edition board inside.

When the case is opened up, the board could be found on the upper compartment, while the other bunch of accessories is found at the lower drawer as pictured here.

This is how the board looks like. The layout of the components are kept the same like it's non-Venus SLI-DR Expert board.

The difference between this board from the rest would be the use of aluminum canned capacitors through out the whole board. Every single capacitor used would be like the ones pictured here. Top end high quality stuff here!

The nForce 4 SLI chipset comes with in-built Gigabit LAN, with the Physical Hardware Layer is provided by this Vitesse VSC8201RX chip.

Since this board comes with dual Gigabit LAN connectors, the other LAN port is powered by this Marvell 88E8001 controller.

The audio department on the SLI-DR Venus is fully separated on a daughter board, which DFI calls the Karajan Audio port. This daughter card is already pre-fitted on the board, and is powered by the Realtek ALC850 sound chip, providing 8 channel audio.

The Venus provides 8 SATA ports, with 4 SATA 3.0GBps from the NVIDIA nForce 4 SLI chipset. The other 4 ports is controlled by the Silicon Image Si3114 controller, providing another 4 SATA 1.5GBps connectors.

The rear I/O connectors on this DFI Venus board. Apart from the usual USB/PS2/Firewire/Dual LAN/Audio ports, this board does not come with any legacy ports at all.

We must highlight that the UV IDE rounded cables from the bunch of accessories given are different from what's given on the older DFI boards. The UV cables bundled with the Venus are of a higher quality, and probably provides a better glow under UV lightings.

On the Intel side, we've found a new VIIV certified motherboard for it. The Intel VIIV platform is Intel's latest platform made for Home Entertainment purposes. The VIIV certification would require some Intel components, especially on the LAN, audio and chipset. A VIIV technology based system must have: a dual core Pentium D/ Core Duo/ Pentium Extreme Edition CPU, an Intel Gigabit LAN controller (Intel PRO/1000 PM) and also the latest Intel chipsets like the new Intel 945 family and the top end 975X. Also, VIIV PCs must support at least 7.1 audio and have connectivity options like Firewire and/or USB2.0. The Gigabyte 8i945GMH fulfills all these criteria and is thus being marketed as a VIIV technology based motherboard. We found this motherboard at Bell Systems, but we could not get an alone pricing of this item at press time.

The Gigabyte 8i945GMH motherboard is being marketed strongly as a VIIV ready motherboard.

Here is the label found on the packaging, with a brief summary on the key features found on the board.

This is how the Gigabyte 8i945GMH looks like from top down. Being a mATX board, this board doesn't come with any PCIe x1 slots at all.

As said, the Intel Gigabit PRO/1000 PM (i82573L) chip would controll the LAN operations on this board.

Also, as part of the VIIV certification, this board features 7.1 Channel HD Audio, powered by Realtek ALC882 sound chip.

Here's a view of the I/O connectors found on this board. VGA and Firewire connectors are among the bunch of connectors found on this board.

On Thursday, 16th March 2006, it happened to be the local launch date for Microsoft's newest gaming console - the Xbox 360. Being a console of the next generation, this new machine offers state of the art technologies from ATi (500MHz Xenon + unified shader technology for graphics), and IBM (triple PowerPC 3.2GHz processors). Of course, these new consoles are on sale right on the launch day. We've found the console at Gamers Hub (located at #05-76 in SLS for those of you who don't know) and it comes in 2 different configurations of Standard and Core packages. The Standard package goes for $660, and includes the Console itself, a Wireless Controller, a 20GB Hard Drive, a Head Set, 1 month trial Xbox Live Gold online gaming subscription, an Ethernet cable, and finally the Component out HDTV cable. The Core set goes for $535 (Not Available Yet!), and you'll get the console itself, a wired Controller, and a Composite TV out cable.

The Xbox 360 Standard comes in a rather heavy package. Maybe that's what the plastic handle is for...

On the side of the packaging, it states the included peripherals that's included in the package. The standard set is being pictured here.

The back of the package shows more about the launch titles that goes together with the Xbox 360 set.

Together with the console launch, a rather impressive set of games are being sold as well. All Xbox 360 games goes at a flat price of just $69.90, except for Perfect Dark Zero, which goes for $75.90 since it's a limited edition title.

Also at Gamers Hub, we happen to spot a rather interesting set of stickers to protect your Playstation Portable (PSP) hand helds. These PSP Skins are actually stickers that you add to your PSP, to give that extra personalization to your device. These skins are easy to apply and also provides a scratch proof protection to your scratch vulnerable device. These skins comes in over 50 designs, and goes for just $19.90.

Here's a demo PSP unit with the PSP Skins applied. Looks cool, doesn't it?

Here are just some of the unique designs on sale.

In conjunction of the Xbox 360 launch, we happen to spot a sweet looking lady in Sim Lim Square promoting this newly launched console:

Alright, that's all for this week's SLS walkabout. See you next week!