BFG 8800GT OCX & 9600GT OCX Video Card Review

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Devil May Cry 4

Devil May Cry 4

Devil May Cry has long been a staple platformer on consoles but has found only moderate success with its PC ports. The 4th iteration of this series aims to buck this trend with stunning visuals and intuitve gameplay

In this benchmark we used the in-game benchmark tool while running FRAPS to measure an average and minimum framerate.

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In Devil May Cry there is a bit of a seesaw effect with the overclocked cards kicking ass and taking names over the stock cards when AA is turned off. However, as resolution increases and the image quality settings are turned up, clock speeds become less of a factor and the playing field evens out somewhat.

 

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Crysis DX9

Crysis DX9

Crysis is one of those games that comes along every now and then and totally humbles every graphics card on the market. While some people have pointed towards shoddy programming, it is undeniable that this game looks ridiculously good when played at higher settings.

For this test we recorded a custom timedemo on the Harbor level equaling about 20 minutes of game time through jungle, over water and in vehicles. All results were recorded with FRAPS over the course of the timedemo.

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Crysis gets about a 10% performance increase over stock speed cards with the OCX overclocked versions but looking at the scores, it really doesn’t seem like their astronomical price is really justified.

 

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Crysis DX10

Crysis DX10

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Once again the performance increases are hovering at the 10% mark for both cards which does not make this game any more playable than it was with the stock cards.

 

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Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

This has quickly become one of the most popular games for the PC and with good reason. This is one of the few times I have experienced actual excitement when looking for a good area to record the timedemo. The graphics are amazing and at the same time quite demanding when you get into the higher resolutions.

For this test we recorded a 15 minute timedemo on the Crash multiplayer level and recorded framerates using FRAPS. The maximum in-game framerate was bumped to 999.


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Even though this may be getting a bit dull, since the scores are once again (yes, yes we know) 10% higher than stock cards but any kind of performance increase is welcome. Due to its fractionally lower overclocks the 9600GT OCX doesn’t quite get to that magical 10% mark sometimes but it is darn close.

 

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Enemy Territory: Quake Wars

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars

Enemy Territory: Quake wars is the latest iteration of the wildly popular Quake franchise from ID Software. While it was met with luke-warm reviews by both the media and the gaming community, it remains an extremely popular online game.

In this test we set up a 15 minute timedemo on the Refinery level while the framerates were recorded in-game.

The one thing that stands out for us in this game is how well the 8800GT OCX performed. It narrowly beat the 9800GTX and acted like the 8800GTS 512MB wasn’t even there. Very impressive.

 

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World in Conflict DX9

World in Conflict DX9

This is one stunning game. World in Conflict has provided us with some of my most memorable gaming experiences since the first Homeworld game was released and it has not stopped wowing me. In its DX9 form it provides eye-popping visuals and pushes most modern GPUs to their limits. However, in DX10 mode this game will cause nearly every graphics card to beg for mercy.

For this test we used the in-game benchmarking tool.


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As we ear the end of the benchmarks, the scores of both cards remain very good and it looks like the high clocks are definitely paying dividends.

 

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World in Conflict DX10

World in Conflict DX10

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We have finally come to the end of the performance benchmarks and we have an interesting turn in these tests. At the highest resolution in WiC DX10, the stock 8800GT and 8800GTS 512MB completely fell onto their collective faces. However, the 9-series cards along with the 8800GT OCX (which not performing too well considering the resolution) were actually able to complete the test. I was scratching my head about this one but after running the tests with each set of cards a number of times, the results stayed the same. Let’s call it a driver issue and call it a day, shall we?

 

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Temperatures & Acoustics / Power Consumption

Temperature Testing

While we saw that the performance of both the 8800GT OCX and the 9600GT OCX was extremely good, the temperature readings were phenomenal. As you can see, BFG made an extremely good choice by choosing this particular cooler for their Thermointelligence cards since it keeps even the rampaging heat of the overclocked cores under control. Gone are the days where we saw 8800GT cards hitting nearly 90°C under load.

Acoustical Properties

Even though the fans on these cards are rated to spin up to 3000RPM, both cards stayed blissfully silent throughout testing. What is even more incredible is the fact that the new Thermointelligence cooler is able to offer excellent cooling performance while emitting next to no noise. Without a doubt, BFG chose well when picking the Zerotherm GX815 for their OCX cards.

All in all, we were extremely happy with the low noise the fans produced on these cards but the 9600GT OCX presented us with an acoustical problem altogether different from anything we have experienced in the past. Many cards these days produce a muted “hiss” when being used in a 3D application which is attributed to either the VRMs or other power management components. Unfortunately, not only did the 9600GT OCX produce a very high-pitched whine when at idle but the noise produced by the components on the card itself when it was under load drowned out every fan on the test rig. I wish I could tell you where this noise was coming from but upon trying to get a bit closer to the card to listen, I nearly lost an ear to the spinning blades of the cooler. However, we were told that this affects only a small percentage of the 9600GT cards and indeed, a friend who just bought the 9600GT OCX does not have this issue.

Power Consumption

For this test we hooked up our power supply to a UPM power meter that will log the power consumption of the whole system twice every second. In order to stress the GPU as much as possible we once again use the Batch Render test in 3DMark06 and let it run for 1 hour to determine the peak power consumption while letting the card sit at a stable Windows desktop for 30 minutes to determine the peak idle power consumption.

Naturally, due to their overclocked cores and memory, both OCX cards consume quite a bit more power than their stock-clocked brethren. Neither of these cards is what you would call frugal when it comes to power consumption but then again if you are going for the best of the best you don’t really care about a few watts more or less now do you?

 

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Conclusion

Conclusion

In the past BFG has only kept the best of the best in terms of overclocked performance for their OCX line and with these two cards reviewed here today we see that tradition continuing into the current generation. Both the 9600GT OCX and the 8800GT OCX offer up some very, very impressive performance numbers which are fully backed up by BFG’s lifetime warranty. Let’s be honest though; these cards are not for those of you who usually overclock your graphics card yourself. Rather, they are geared towards consumers who want the best possible performance straight out of the box without having to worry about voiding their warranty by overclocking or installing an aftermarket heatsink. In this area, the new OCX Thermointelligence cards rack up some serious points in their favor since they perfectly fit into the niche they were meant to be released into.

I can’t remember the last time I was seriously wowed by the performance of an overclocked video card since usually pre-overclocked versions are not pushed far enough to eke out much of a real-world performance increase. However, BFG overclocked their OCX cards far enough that there are some tangible framerate benefits in every game we tested. It was quite amazing to see the 8800GT OCX push past the 9800GTX on a few occasions and completely wipe the floor with the 8800GTS 512MB. The 9600GT OCX didn’t receive the wows that its big brother did but it still put forth some very respectable benchmark numbers.

Unfortunately, performance aside these cards just seem to be too little too late and priced far too high for their own good. For the price of (and in some cases less than) the 9600GT OCX you can buy a mildly overclocked 8800GT which will walk all over the heavily overclocked 9600 in terms of performance. The 8800GT OCX is in the same boat since with a retail price of around $210, it costs the same as the newly-rebated 9800GTX and in many cases can’t match the GTX’s performance numbers. If this was a few months ago we would have been raving about the numbers both OCX cards put up but as it stands now, unless they get a serious price reduction they may end uup being nothing more than also-rans. Hopefully, in the future BFG will release their Thermointelligence products closer to the release date of the cards they are based on.

When you take a step back and look at these two cards it is obvious that they were built for performance but their release is a bit too late in the game to make much of a difference considering their price. However, if their price gets cut by a good 25% it's game on folks. The Thermointelligence cooler does wonders for temperatures and is extremely quiet as well while BFG’s Lifetime Warranty is second to none. So, there really isn’t much not to like about the 8800GT OCX and 9600GT OCX…other than their price.


Pros:

- Very good performance
- Quiet
- Excellent cooling
- Lifetime Warranty
- Trade-Up program


Cons:

- Price versus performance
- Did we mention price?

Thanks to BFG for providing us with these cards

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