BFG Tech GeForce 8800 GTS OC 512MB

But there's more...

BFG isn't content with just delivering reference design cards to the market and shortly after we received the card we're reviewing today, the company also sent over its GeForce 8800 GTS OC2 512MB Water Cooled Edition card. Now, we haven't had time to fully test this card yet, but we thought that you'd love to see some pictures anyway...

The box and bundle are very similar to the one we've just seen over the page, although there are some slight changes on both counts to reflect the different requirements from the card.

First of all, BFG Tech has obviously changed the box branding to reflect the fact that it's a watercooled card – the evil-looking character now looks like he's wearing a gas mask (and yes, I know it's meant to be a snorkel). This is also part of BFG Tech's ThermoIntelligence brand, with the block being co-developed in conjunction with Danger Den.


On top of the standard bundle outlined over the page, BFG has provided barbs and hose clamps for 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" ID tubing inside the box, which should cover most eventualities. For the 3/8" and 1/2" sets, there is also a stubby barb for use if you're pairing a couple of these cards in an SLI configuration.

Going further on that point, BFG and Danger Den have also enabled users to install their barbs on either side of the block, depending on how the user wants to route their tubing inside their case. It also means that you'll be able to keep the flow of water between a pair of the cards in SLI as easy to manage as possible, because you can use a small piece of tubing in conjunction with a couple of stubby barbs (one supplied with each card).


The card itself looks every bit as good as the company's GeForce 8800 GTX Water Cooled Edition card that we looked at back at the start of last year. The block has been modified given the different PCB design, but the overall aesthetic theme remains very much the same – a black Delrin top (with the BFG Tech branding etched into it) and a full copper block that covers GPU, memory and the power components.

Putting glamour to one side for the moment, the card comes clocked at 700MHz core, 1728MHz shader and 1940MHz memory. Disappointingly, the memory clock has been left at default, but the core and shader clocks have increased by 50MHz and 103MHz respectively. Again, BFG has erred on the side of caution with these clocks and I'm sure that there will be plenty more headroom given the superior cooling solution that BFG Tech claims is up to 30 degrees cooler than standard air-cooled GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB cards.

Now, obviously, there's a price premium demanded for this product, but it doesn't appear to be too badly priced at the moment in the UK at least – BFG expects customers to pay an extra £65 (inc. VAT) over the air-cooled OC edition. That doesn't seem to bad at face value, but we'll reserve our final judgement until we've put it to the test.