Nvidia GeForce 8600 GTS

BFGTech GeForce 8600 GTS OC 256MB

Core Clock: 710MHz
Memory Clock: 2020MHz
Warranty: Lifetime (ten years in Europe)
Price (as reviewed): £152.74 (inc VAT)

BFGTech’s GeForce 8600 GTS OC card came in a similar box design to what we’re used to seeing with the company’s mid-range graphics cards like its GeForce 7600 GT OC card we’ve previously reviewed.

Like Asus, BFGTech has followed Nvidia’s reference design with its early GeForce 8600 GTS hardware, but we expect this may change further down the line. Of course, BFGTech has added its own artwork to the heatsink cover in order to differentiate itself from the other partners that are also launching hardware today too.

While BFGTech has used Nvidia’s reference design, we have to say that the design, especially the cooler is generally pretty good – it’s definitely at least a hundred times better than the puny cooler it used on GeForce 7900 GT and GeForce 7600 GT this time last year. It seems like the company is once again listening to feedback and, more importantly, making the necessary changes to its products. The cooler is primarily manufactured using aluminium, but the centre portion that comes into contact with the core is copper. The memory chips are covered and cooled by the heatsink too.

In order to move away from the reference design a little, BFGTech has increased the core and memory clocks by a few percentage points. The core operates at 710MHz, which is a five percent increase, and the memory clock has had a tiny bump of 20MHz (one percent) from 2000MHz to 2020MHz.

The bundle is typically nothing special, as there are no games or additional software and BFGTech just provides the bare essentials for getting the card up and running. You’ll get a six-pin PCI-Express power adapter, a pair of DVI-to-VGA converters and a component out dongle on the connectivity front. In addition, BFGTech includes a paper version of its quick install guide and a driver/utility CD.

Warranty:

One area where BFGTech excels above most other NVIDIA board partners is with its warranty service and after sales support. The company offers a ten-year warranty with all of its cards in Europe, and a lifetime warranty to its customers on the other side of the Atlantic. The reason for the lower warranty term in Europe is EU legislation, but that shouldn’t worry you.

BFGTech also offers its customers free 24/7 technical support, albeit on an American 1-800 number (it’s free via SkypeOut), although if you don’t have SkypeOut or don’t live in America, BFGTech also offers free 24/7 support via email too. In the past, the downside of BFGTech’s RMA process was the fact that all RMA’s were handled by the company’s US office. Recently though, BFGTech opened an RMA Centre in the UK, meaning that there will be much shorter turnaround times for UK customers.