If you are looking for a customized pre overclocked card, you might want to read HardwareZone's thoughts on the XpertVision GeForce 7600GT Sonic card - the XpertVision is overclocked to 575MHz for the core, a measly gain of 15MHz over the reference design. The memory chips though undergo a more significant boost to 1500MHz DDR compared to the standard 1400MHz. Physically, XpertVision has also changed the default 1.4ns rated chips to 1.2ns for the GeForce 7600GT Sonic.

If the Palit overclocked cards are any indication, XpertVision probably has enough experience with these proprietary designs and the polished GeForce 7600GT Sonic certainly gives us the confidence to recommend it as an excellent product. The noise output has been significantly lowered while the idea of placing heatsinks for the memory chips is simple but effective. The faster and probably more expensive 1.2ns memory chips used also provide for a greater overclocking margin, making it truly a product for the enthusiasts. Most however would not be satisfied with the slight overclock that XpertVision has achieved and would be pushing this card even further. A possible dampener is that despite our 670/1600MHz overclock, we did not notice too much improvement in 3DMark06 benchmark results. You may have better luck for other games and applications.

The only downside to that is the cost cutting that XpertVision had to implement to balance the product and offer it at a competitive price. This means that the GeForce 7600GT Sonic only has one DVI-I output and not two. This is a minor complaint to most who have only one monitor, but the only remaining DVI connector does support dual-link output which is capable of powering very large displays. The bundled accessories and games were rather bland and inferior to some others that we have seen. No doubt enthusiasts would place this at a much lower priority compared to the all-important performance numbers, which were predictably faster than the default but only by a slight margin.

The final clincher is the retail price of the XpertVision GeForce 7600GT Sonic. We were quoted S$369 by its local distributor, but some retail outlets are actually selling as low as S$339, making it one of the cheapest GeForce 7600 GT cards in the market. Throw in the bonus of the slight overclocking, better memory, a solid two-year warranty and we can easily ignore the few flaws of the product. For those who have been waiting impatiently for the special editions catering to enthusiasts, the first contender has shown up and looks just great.