Cooling

We won't examine the reference cooler of GTX 280 yet again, so please take a look at this review.

BFG GeForce 8800 GT OCX 512MB, BFG GeForce 9600 GT OCX 512MB
Both graphics cards have the same cooling system. It's manufactured by Zerotherm exclusively for BFG. That is you cannot find this cooler in stores. I liked this cooler very much, because it's practically noiseless. The heatsink is made of nickel-plated copper, its cup resembling popular products from Zalman with the fan in the center. The cooler comes with greenish illumination (probably to match the color of the PCB). The bottom of the cooler that touches the core is polished like a mirror. The cooling system also includes a round heatsink installed on memory chips.

We monitored temperatures using RivaTuner (by A.Nikolaychuk AKA Unwinder). Here are the results (as both cards are copies of the reference design and have the same frequencies, we provide the common result).

BFG GeForce 8800 GT OCX 512MB

BFG GeForce 9600 GT OCX 512MB

BFG GeForce GTX 280 OCX 1024MB

Both 8800 GT and 9600 GT coolers proved their high efficiency. The core temperature stayed below 75°C in 8800 GT (don't forget higher operating frequencies) and 62°C in 9600 GT even after an hour of heavy tests. Increased frequencies of the reference GTX 280 card also do not cause overheating. The core temperature does not exceed 88°C, which is acceptable for a top product. But note that the cooler whirrs louder than in regular GTX 280 cards.

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