BFG 8800GT OCX & 9600GT OCX Video Card Review

A Closer Look at the OCX Cards

The first distinguishing feature you will all see first is BFG’s inclusion of their new “Thermointelligence” heatsink installed on these cards in the place of the stock cooler. Both the 8800GT and the 9600GT keep their usual green PCBs and basic backplate layout.


Taking a bit closer look at each of these cards, it is obvious that even though they have quite high clocks, there have been no changes made to their PCBs in any way. Indeed, other than the dual-slot heatsink and increased clock speeds there is nothing to distinguish them from the reference Nvidia designs.


As wit hall 9600GT cards, the BFG 9600GT OCX has an SPDIF connector included which can be used to pass audio signals through the card. If you were so inclined to get the optional DVI to HDMI dongle, you would be able to use a HDMI cable to pass both audio and video signals from the card to your receiver. Unfortunately, BFG did not include either the SPDIF cable or the DVI to HDMI adaptor.


The back portions of each card are dominated the VRM heatsinks which are used to disperse the excess heat these hot-running components produce. Other than that, there are the usual 6-pin PCI-E power connectors and an otherwise stock power distribution section. We are guessing BFG figures it wasn’t needed but we were a bit surprised to discover that despite the increased clock speeds of these cards, no effort was made to take advantage of the solder points for additional capacitors and VRMs.


Both backplates are identical to one another with the usual two DVI connectors and single TV-out port. What is interesting is that even though the heatsink is a dual-slot solution, the backplate uses a single slot. We would have liked to have seen the backplate extend upwards to include an exhaust grille to rid the case of some of the heat these coolers let go inside the confines of the enclosure but that wasn’t mean to be.