IN A MOVE that reeks of common sense (at least for consumers), memory merchant Mushkin has told us that today (14th) it’ll be shipping off its first graphics cards to retailers and integrators everywhere.

Back on December 21st Mushkin announced its intention to join the VGA parade, we now have the details on the kit.

The card will be a tricked-out 8800GT (so we’re assuming Mushkin set up shop in the Nvidia camp), called the “8800GT Mushkin XP Overclocked Edition bulk”, clocking in at 700MHz core/1750MHz shader/975MHz memory - and instead of shipping with a driver CD, it’ll include a pendrive with the necessary drivers, a polo shirt, plastic pen and necklace.

It does say “bulk” edition, but we’ll go out on a limb here and assume there will be a retail card somewhere available through specialist shops that cater to the enthusiast market (ie: the same people who sell their memory kit).

This reminds us: Crucial tried to make it in the graphics market for some time, but nothing solid came of it, so a bit of caution is in order. On the other hand, Mushkin claims to have “secured a solid partner in Taiwan” to source the cards, and all things considered, Mushkin’s memory (and power) expertise compounded with the excising of the middleman could bring about a couple of good things in the pricing and performance departments.

Mushkin will be likely looking to bolster the retail end of its. If you’re a retailer you should go get the door, ‘cos it’s likely to be a Mushkin salesbeing. We hear they’ll be on overdrive in Barcelona and Hannover. µ