Inno3D 7800 GTX with Sweet Prices and Promotions!

It's back to our usual SLS Walk About. This week, we continue to see more Geforce 7800 GTX streaming in, and one of them is the Inno3D Geforce 7800 GTX. Spotted at MCP Computers, the distributor for Innovision products, this 7800 GTX packs a great punch in terms of value. This week, there will be a promotion jointly held by DAT Computers, a shop on the 5th floor of SLS supported by VR-Zone. Though being simple in terms of bundle and the card outlook itself, it has no lack of functionality. Along with the promotion, MCP Computers will be giving out a Razer Viper 1000dpi gaming mouse FREE along with the graphics card! For more information on this please click here and here.

A picture of the card. Like all other cards available in the market out there, the card follows the Nvidia Reference Design.

 

The only thing that tells this as an Inno3D card, the Inno3D sticker on the fan.

 

One of the included item, the HDTV and S-Video out component box included in the package. This box conveniently connects to the S-Video output on the card.

 

The promotion VR-Zone and DAT Computers are running now. Top of the line card, with top of the line mouse. What else could you ask for?

 

A closer look at the Inno3D 7800 GTX box.

MSI NX 7800 GTX

The other late comer to the 7800 GTX scene is the MSI NX 7800 GTX. Spotted at Fuwell and priced at $ 999, it comes with a very pretty MSI packaging, and, a nice emblem on the heatsink of the card. The only game included in the bundle of the card is the Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butchers Bay, unlike it's predecessors, which comes bundled with a whole plethora of games and applications.

 

The card from top down. The large MSI sticker with the NX7800GTX, is part of MSI's "personalization"

 

A closer look at the MSI sticker on the card.

 

The connector outputs, standard Dual DVI and that S-Video out.

 

The back of the card. In this view, it's totally impossible to tell apart which brand the card is, unless you could memorize serial numbers.

 

The pretty MSI packaging.

Dual Core Intel Pentium D in town!

Over at SLS this week, we uncover a couple of new processors that just started retailing at SLS. One of them is the Intel Pentium D, Intel's latest Dual Core Processor featuring 2Mb of L2 cache. Spotted at DAT for the Intel Pentium D 820 (2.8Ghz) and at Cybermind for the Intel Pentium D 830 (3.0Ghz). The Pentium D 820 is priced at $ 464 at DAT.

The Pentium D 820 at DAT. A new refreshing design of the packaging for this new processor. EM64T is clearly support, as per written on the box.

 

The chip markings of this 820.

 

The Pentium D 830 spotted at Cybermind.

 

A closer look at the label on the Pentium D box.

 

The chip markings on the Pentium D 830.

Budget 64 bit Celeron, and San Diego 3700+

While the performance savvy mainstream users would go for the Pentium D, Intel had not forgotten the budget users. Spotted at Fuwell, the Intel Celeron D 336 (2.8Ghz) is one of the budget CPUs that would support EM64T, which gives 64 bit support. Priced at $ 179 alone, it's the cheapest 64 bit ready CPU available today!

 

A picture of the Celeron D 336 box.

 

A closer look at the Celeron D 336's label.

 

The S-Spec code on the side of the box of this Celeron D.

 

The Celeron D chip markings.

 

Of course, on the AMD side of things, we found the brand new AMD Athlon 64 3700+, based on the San Diego core. Similar to Venice cores, these San Diego cores comes with SSE3 support, improved memory controller for better performance, and also, said to have better overclockability then the older Clawhammer series. Spotted at Cybermind, this gem is priced at $ 649.

 

The chip markings on the 3700+ San Diego.

 

The box of the 3700+.

DFI Lanparty nF3 Ultra-D

DFI, a name familiar to the overclocking community, had shown up in SLS again, with it's latest product, the DFI Lanparty nF3 Ultra-D, based on the Nvidia Nforce 3 Ultra chipset. Specially catered for the AGP graphics market, this Socket 939 based motherboard is said to be an overclocker from hell, just like it's nF2 & nF4 Lanparty series. Also, as per DFI's tradition on the Lanparty family of products, UV reactive components on the board is sure a looker. Spotted at DAT Computers, this board goes for $ 205.

The DFI Lanparty nF3 Ultra-D.

 

This is quite a sight, the yellow UV reactive bracket and PCI slots, together with the 939 socket and the AGP slot.

 

The Physical Hardware laYer on the nF3 Ultra-D, to provide Gigabit LAN straight from the main Nforce 3 chipset.

 

The SATA controller from Marvell, to provide additional 2 more SATA ports onto the existing 2 from the Nforce 3 chipset.

 

20 pin power connectors are required instead of the 24 pin ones found on newer Nforce 4 based board.

 

Of course, DFI uses great quality capacitors all around the board, like these pictured near the CPU socket area, high quality United Chemi-Con capacitors.

 

Unlike the nF4 series, this nF3 Ultra-D comes with a smaller, simpler looking fan.

 

The I/O ports on the board. Firewire included!

Intel Desktop Board D945GNT, built for stability.

For those who want Intel based Dual Core setups, you would need at least an Intel 945P or a 955X based chipset motherboard before it would work. Over at DAT, we spotted the Intel Desktop Board D945GNT. Based on the 945P chipset, this Intel board would give the best value for stability. Priced at $ 202, this is also one of the cheapest Intel Dual Core board that's currently available in the market.

The Intel D945GNT from the top view.

 

The northbridge heatsink. From this size, we'll know it would run extremely hot without a fan..

 

The southbridge from the board, the Intel ICH7.

 

Intel Gigabit LAN on this board, via the Intel 82562GZ chipset.

 

Unlike other boards, this board comes with a Sigmatel STAC9220 Audio codec, featuring HD audio by Intel's Azalia present in the ICH7 chipset.

 

The I/O connectors present on this board. Only 3 audio jacks are on the board, with the remaining on a PCI bracket provided.