BFGTech & XFX GeForce 7800 GT

The first of our two SLI bundles that we are evaluating is BFGTech's GeForce 7800 GT OC bundle. As you will have seen on the presentation slides on the previous page, the reference clocks for a GeForce 7800 GT are 400/1000MHz - it'll be interesting to see how many of NVIDIA's board partners actually stick to those clocks though. BFG Tech's cards come factory overclocked and guaranteed to 425/1050MHz - a 25MHz core increase and a 50MHz memory speed improvement.

Not surprisingly with early hardware, the heatsink is exactly the same as the reference design cooler. This cooler is actually a similar design to the one that ATI implemented on to its reference 512MB Radeon X800 XL. The fan is a little smaller, but it still has the same centrifugal design. The blades are not shaped like more conventional fan blades that resemble something more like an aerofoil - the blades are actually flat. That doesn't make a great deal of difference though - it probably helps a little because there is more surface area on the fan blade pushing air in the right direction, rather than pushing it down in to the base of the heatsink.

The heatsink is designed to pull air in through the fan, over the GPU and memory and then spit it out over the power circuitry. There are no heat pipes in this heatsink design, unlike the heatsink used on the GeForce 7800 GTX's. However, there is a copper base underneath the mass of fins, allowing for effective heat transfer from the GPU.

BFG Tech have added their own branding to the heatsink - the logo is a familiar sight to anyone who has owned a BFG Tech video card in the past. Interestingly, the GeForce 7800 GT doesn't require any additional cooling on the power circuitry.

This is a welcomed change, as it's one less heatsink to worry about for those who are wanting to add a third party cooler to their new video card purchase. Having said that, the fan isn't that loud once the drivers have been installed. During gaming, we didn't experience any increase in pitch, just a nice and relatively quiet hum. We don't believe it is as quiet as the faster GeForce 7800 GTX, though.

The back plate has two DVI connectors, which can be used to power two digital monitors, or they can be used together in dual link mode for high resolution panels like Apple's 30" Cinema Display. It also has a VIVO port that features support for High-Definition TV up to a 1080p resolution too. The cables and connectors included in the bundle complement the connections on the back of the video card. There's a HDTV break out box, composite in, composite out, S-Video in and S-Video out connectors for the VIVO port, two DVI to VGA converters and a supplementary power adapter for those who don't have a 6-pin PCI-Express power connector on their power supply unit.

They also include Video Studio 9 SE - a piece of video editing software and a full version of FarStone's GameDrive 9.0, which allows you to play games without the requirement for the CD in your CD/DVD drive at the time. Unfortunately, there are no games included in the bundle, though.

BFGTech are well know for their excellent technical support service - we've experienced it first hand ourselves and we were really, really impressed with the way that they handled our RMA. This card is no different from any other BFGTech video card - it comes with their highly praised true lifetime warranty and free 24/7 technical support 365 days of the year. That's right, you can call them at whatever time you like on whatever day of the year you want - they'll be happy to help you solve your problems.