Selling like Hotcakes

It seems a bit unusual to use the phrase, "selling like hotcakes" to describe a newly launched, high-end graphics card because most of the time, the prices slapped on these powerful cards are an effective deterrent to many. It is easy to pin product shortages on insufficient supply but sometimes, it may just be that the demand is outstripping supply. This seems to be the 'problem' facing NVIDIA at the moment for its attractively priced GeForce 7900 GT.

According to this article , the high-end GeForce 7900 GTX and GT chips were quickly sold out at many major retailers within hours of release. If the anecdotes that we noticed in hardware forums are any indication, this isn't a unique situation. Many other retailers have reported shortages for these popular cards as well.

Priced at US$299, the GeForce 7900 GT is definitely one of the more popular cards as it hits the sweet spot between performance and price. Its performance, based on our previous review of the ASUS EN7900GT, makes it the second fastest card from NVIDIA and at this price, obsoletes the older but more costly GeForce 7800 GTX. With the limited stock available, we were therefore lucky to get a review unit of the MSI NX7900GT-T2D256E. Although it is likely to be a reference card replica right down to its clock speeds, MSI has its own input in terms of its bundle, pricing and of course its Dynamic Overclocking Technology (D.O.T) to distinguish it from the rest. Before we find out if these extras do make the MSI a better product, here are its specifications:

A moderately sized box, along with the carry handle makes the MSI NX7900GT-T2D256E a very handy package. Of course, the card inside is also very attractive.