BFG Tech 8800 GT OCX & 9600 GT OCX

BFG Tech GeForce 9600 GT OCX 512MB

Manufacturer: BFG Tech
UK Price (as reviewed): TBC
US Price (as reviewed): TBC

Core Clock: 725MHz
Shader Clock: 1,850 MHz
Memory Clock: 1,950MHz (effective)
Warranty: Ten years (Europe), Lifetime (North America)

The ThermoIntelligence cooler on the GeForce 9600 GT OCX is nearly identical to the one found on the 8800 GT OCX - it's the same dual slot, single heatpipe based cooler handling the core, and the same heavy duty ram sink for the memory modules. The only difference to the cooling setup is a simpler, lower surface area heatsink for the PWMs. This is because of the 9600 GT’s lower power demands and operating temperatures.

The improved cooler has again allowed BFG to push the stock speeds of the card to pretty high levels, although they're not the highest we've seen. The core clock is set at 725MHz, while shader and memory clocks are set to 1,850MHz and 1,950MHz respectively. These compare pretty well to the 650/1,625/1,800MHz clocks of the reference design.

Hopefully we'll be able to push these clocks considerably higher with some overclocking, further improving on BFG's already fairly impressive factory overclocks! Like the GeForce 8800 GT OCX's cooler, the fan does not speed up and down to match the load placed on the GPU, and so it is louder at idle but quiter under load than the reference cooler.


Again, the cooler is the only physical difference between this 9600 GT, and the reference boards we looked at in our launch review back in February. This is still a 65nm G94 core with 64 stream processors, a 256-bit memory interface and 512MB of GDDR3, just like our original test batch, so it can safely assumed that it will perform fairly similarly in software testing, even with the 11 percent standard overclock.

Warranty

The 9600 GT OCX benefits from the exact same after-sales support package as the 8800 GT OCX, with the company offering a ten year warranty on its products in Europe and a lifetime warranty across the Atlantic in the USA and Canada. BFG Tech does require the purchaser to activate the extended warranty directly within the first 30 days of purchase, otherwise you'll be limited to just a one year standard warranty with the retailer.

The same free 24/7 technical support services are available as well, although the number is US-based, so you'll need to use an appropriate VoIP service to get it for free. Alternatively, you can email BFG directly and a member of the support team will get back to you to help solve the problems you're having with the hardware.