iXBT Labs - BFG GeForce 8800 GT, 9600 GT, GTX 280 OCX

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BFG products are popular among users. This company is headquartered in the U.S., but all its plants are located in China. BFG is a close partner of NVIDIA, so only makes graphics cards based NVIDIA GPUs.

Today we're going to examine three very interesting graphics cards from BFG.

Graphics cards

BFG GeForce GTX 280 OCX 1024MB
GPU: GeForce GTX 280 (GT200) Interface: PCI-Express x16 GPU frequencies (ROPs/Shaders): 666/1458 MHz (nominal -- 600/1300 MHz) Memory frequencies (physical (effective)): 1190 (2380) MHz (nominal -- 1100 (2200) MHz) Memory bus width: 512bit Vertex processors: - Pixel processors: - Unified processors: 240 Texture processors: 80 (BLF/TLF) ROPs: 32 Dimensions: 270x100x33 mm (the last figure is the maximum thickness). PCB color: black RAMDACs/TDMS: in a separate NVIO chip. Output connectors:2 x DVI (Dual-Link/HDMI), TV-out. VIVO: not available TV-out: integrated into GPU. Multi-GPU operation: SLI (Hardware).
BFG GeForce 9600 GT OCX 512MB
GPU: GeForce 9600 GT (G94) Interface: PCI-Express x16 GPU frequencies (ROPs/Shaders): 725/1850 MHz (nominal -- 650/1625 MHz) Memory frequencies (physical (effective)): 975 (1950) MHz (nominal -- 900 (1800) MHz) Memory bus width: 256bit Vertex processors: - Pixel processors: - Unified processors: 64 Texture processors: 32 (BLF) ROPs: 16 Dimensions:190x100x33 mm (the last figure is the maximum thickness). PCB color: green RAMDACs/TDMS: integrated into GPU. Output connectors:2 x DVI (Dual-Link/HDMI), TV-out VIVO: not available TV-out: integrated into GPU. Multi-GPU operation: SLI (Hardware).
BFG GeForce 8800 GT OCX 512MB
GPU: GeForce 8800 GT (G92) Interface: PCI-Express x16 GPU frequencies (ROPs/Shaders): 700/1728 MHz (nominal -- 600/1512 MHz) Memory frequencies (physical (effective)): 1000 (2000) MHz (nominal -- 900 (1800) MHz) Memory bus width: 256bit Vertex processors: - Pixel processors: - Unified processors: 112 Texture processors: 64 (28) (BLF) ROPs: 16 Dimensions:220x100x33 mm (the last figure is the maximum thickness). PCB color: green RAMDACs/TDMS: integrated into GPU. Output connectors:2 x DVI (Dual-Link/HDMI), TV-Out. VIVO: not available TV-out: integrated into GPU. Multi-GPU operation: SLI (Hardware).

BFG GeForce 9600 GT OCX 512MB, BFG GeForce 8800 GT OCX 512MB
Each graphics card has 512 MB of GDDR3 SDRAM allocated in eight chips on the front side of the PCB. Samsung memory chips (GDDR3). 1.0 ns memory access time, which corresponds to 1000 (2000) MHz.
BFG GeForce GTX 280 OCX 1024MB
The graphics card has 1024 MB of GDDR3 SDRAM allocated in 16 chips (eight chips on each side of the PCB.) Hynix memory chips (GDDR3). These memory chips are designed for the maximum frequency of 1200 (2400) MHz.

Comparison with the reference design, front view
BFG GeForce 8800 GT OCX 512MB	Reference card NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT


BFG GeForce 9600 GT OCX 512MB	Reference card NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT


BFG GeForce GTX 280 OCX 1024MB	Reference card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280

Comparison with the reference design, back view
BFG GeForce 8800 GT OCX 512MB	Reference card NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT

BFG GeForce 9600 GT OCX 512MB	Reference card NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT

BFG GeForce GTX 280 OCX 1024MB	Reference card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280

The photos above show that all the three cards copy the reference design. Products based on 8800 GT and 9600 GT differ from the reference cards only by cooling systems.

The card has TV-Out with an original jack. You will need a special bundled adapter to output video to a TV set via S-Video or RCA.

An analog monitor with a D-Sub (VGA) interface can be connected by means of a special DVI-to-D-Sub adapter. The bundle also includes a DVI-to-HDMI adapter (these graphics cards support video/audio output to HDMI receivers), so there should be no problems with such a monitor.

Maximum resolutions and frequencies:

240 Hz maximum refresh rate
2048 x 1536 x 32bit @ 85Hz Max - analog interface
2560 x 1600 @ 60Hz Max - digital interface (all Dual-Link DVIs)

As of MPEG2 playback (DVD-Video), we analyzed this issue in 2002. Little has changed since that time. CPU load during video playback on modern graphics cards does not exceed 25%.

As of HDTV, a review is available here.

All cards require additional power source, so each is bundled with a molex to 6-pin adapter, even though all modern PSUs have such cables. Also note that the GTX 280 graphics card uses two power connectors -- 8- and 6-pin -- so make sure the bundle includes a proper adapter. The BFG bundle has one.

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