Manufacturer Product Page: BFG NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT
Product Number: BFGE98512GTHE
TechWiki Info: BFG 9800 GT 512MB ThermoIntelligence Passive Cooling
Availability: Now
Warranty: Lifetime
Price: Approx. $200CAD



In our last graphics card review, we promised to ply our contacts with wine, women, hockey sticks and maple syrup (yes, in that order) in a quest to find the products that were left out in the cold over the last few months. We were looking for graphics cards that bucked the reference trend set by what seems like an industry full of copycats. Could Nvidia’s and ATI’s board partners deliver with some exciting products? Hell, they better because they have had the last year in which to tinker with the same designs and then overclock the balls off them by way of slapping on an aftermarket cooler. The more we looked at the market, the more we wanted to see something new, something interesting. Last month, Sapphire came to use with one heck of a passively cooled card and we were hooked like a toddler on chocolate and Tic Tacs.

Today we let BFG have a go at impressing us with their own unique take on a classic with their 9800 GT 512MB ThermoIntelligence passively cooled video card. BFG’s ThermoIntelligence line of products always carries aftermarket heatsinks or water blocks and this one is no different. Yeah, this is the same card at the same speeds as the ever-popular 8800 GT but it has been gussied up with the 9-series moniker and BFG has added a crème de la crème cooling solution from our friends over at Thermalright. To our knowledge, this is one of the first applications we have seen of a retail Thermalright heatsink (in this case an HR-03 Rev.A) on a graphics card from BFG or any other manufacturer for that matter.

While this card has not yet been released to many retailers, you can find it here and there with a retail price of around $180CAD / $140USD after rebates. That puts it slightly in-line with most overclocked 9800 GT 512MB cards out there which we believe is more than fair since in this case higher clocks have been replaced with one of the meanest coolers available.

So what we have here is a card with BFG’s legendary customer support and lifetime warranty which is graced with a Thermalright heatsink. Is this a match made in heaven? Let’s find out.