Product Listing

ASUS EN7600GT Silent (GeForce 7600 GT 256MB)

By Vincent Chang - 12 May 2006

Conclusion

Conclusion

Appealing to those desiring some peace and quiet for their PCs has become a tried and true approach these days. Gone are the days of hot and noisy PCs and with leading companies like Intel opting for low power consumption in their newer generation of chips, hopefully those times will really be gone for good. After all, the prevailing mindset has shifted from power hungry towards energy efficient components. NVIDIA's latest generation of graphics cards continues this trend of cooler processors, thanks to its 90nm semi-conductor process and a streamlined, more efficient core. Hence, it is relatively easy for ASUS to extend this approach to its passively cooled GeForce 7600 GT.

Here's the plan: Take an ordinary GeForce 7600 GT, add unique, custom heatsink, charge competitive price. Profit!

Some slight tweaks and improvements distinguish the newer SilentCool on the ASUS EN7600GT Silent from its older version. While copper would arguably have been a better choice for the radiator, the aluminum is much lighter and improvements to the design include making the adjustment of the radiator more straightforward and obvious. We are also pleased to report that the expected higher temperatures for the core of the EN7600GT Silent were still very acceptable as an average increase of around 10 degrees over the competing fan-cooled reference cards was fairly good. And of course this being a silent card, it will surely attract enough users willing to compromise heat for noise.

A mirror of the reference design in terms of its specifications like clock speeds and memory chips used, the performance you'll find on the ASUS EN7600GT will not be anything special for this chipset. The miserable overclocking is probably also the consequence of its passive cooling though getting a couple of frames more is unlikely to make too much of a difference to the GeForce 7600 GT's mid-range standing. Besides, you wouldn't be too concerned about overclocking if the ASUS EN7600GT Silent is your choice. In short, this is a card that provides decent performance for a GeForce 7600 GT with its silent cooler its star attraction. A surprisingly and rather competitive price of US$208 (S$349) ensures that the ASUS EN7600GT Silent should find quite an audience. Usually, one would expect to have to pay a premium price for these custom designs, but ASUS probably saved a bit by using aluminum instead of copper. At its present recommended retail price, the ASUS EN7600GT Silent is a good alternative for those who need a silent and capable mid-range graphics card.


** Updated on 15th May 2006 **
Our sources have informed us that instead of the S$349 quoted, the actual retail price is S$430, which is a considerable premium over a reference model. This price is more in line with the generally more expensive image associated with ASUS and given the customization found on the ASUS EN7600GT Silent, not entirely unexpected.

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