BFG Tech’s GeForce 8600 GTS OC2 graphics card

If you’re in the market for an 8600 GTS, there are plenty to choose from, including BFG Tech’s new OC2 model. As one might expect, this card comes factory “overclocked,” boasting respective core and memory speeds of 720MHz and 1110MHz. Those clock speeds are higher than any other 8600-series card we’ve tested, which is an achievement in itself. The OC2 has another ace up its sleeve, though: BFG’s new ThermoIntelligence cooler.

Designed new from the ground up, this single-slot cooler aims to strike a nice balance between superior cooling and acceptable noise levels. Nvidia’s mid-range reference coolers have generally been pretty marginal, so there’s certainly room for improvement. But other manufacturers have their own cooling solutions, too, and ThermoIntelligence already has plenty of competition. Read on to see how the GeForce 8600 GTS OC2 fares against that competition and whether ThermoIntelligence is a smart choice for your next mid-range graphics card.

The card
At its core, BFG’s GeForce 8600 GTS OC2 is not unlike any other 8600 GTS card; it uses the same G84 GPU with 32 stream processors and has the same 128-bit path to 256MB of GDDR3 memory. We’ve already covered the 8600 series in depth, so I won’t rehash the finer points of its features and architecture here. If you’re unfamiliar with the graphics tech behind the 8600 family, I suggest you read our initial review of the line.

Today we’re narrowing our focus on the unique attributes of BFG Tech’s OC2 spin on the 8600 GTS. It takes a discerning eye to spot those attributes, though, because the OC2 looks rather like a standard reference design.

Under the hood, it’s another story.

Nvidia’s reference design for the 8600 GTS calls for respective core and memory clocks of 675MHz and 1000MHz, but BFG has cranked those up to 720MHz and 1110MHz. That puts the OC2 ahead of most of the GeForce 8600 GTS field, although XFX and Asus offer versions with slightly higher speeds. However, those cards come standard with Nvidia’s reference cooler for the GeForce 8600 GTS, and the OC2 does not. Instead, it sports a custom cooling solution of BFG’s own design that the company reckons is far superior to what Nvidia offers.

BFG calls its new cooler ThermoIntelligence, and they’ve whipped up a whole website extolling its virtues. Custom graphics coolers are nothing new, of course, but BFG’s approach is unique in both its simplicity and its single-slot footprint. In fact, this ThermoIntelligence design is so subtle that you might not give it a second glance just sitting there on the card. To put it into context, let’s see how it compares side-by-side with Nvidia’s reference cooler.

Source: BFG Tech

As you can see, the two cooler are roughly the same size. However, BFG has moved the fan from the middle of the card, where it sits almost directly above the GPU, to the upper left-hand corner. Popping the plastic ThermoIntelligence shroud reveals why.

Moving the fan away from the middle of the card allows BFG to put more cooling fins directly over the GPU, where they’re needed most. That makes a lot of sense, and BFG says it’s good for a five-degree drop in GPU temperatures when compared with the reference cooler. What’s more, BFG claims the design bestows even greater benefits upon the second card in SLI configurations, which can run up to 11 degrees cooler with ThermoIntelligence than with Nvidia’s standard heatsink.

GPU temperatures aren’t the only consideration for graphics coolers, though. Silence is golden, and BFG says the ThermoIntelligence cooler is a little quieter than Nvidia’s stock offering. The BFG cooler also includes a variable speed fan that intelligently ramps RPMs when the card heats up and spins the fan down when the GPU isn’t being taxed.

In addition to its trick cooler, the OC2 comes with a standard array of cables, including VGA adapters for its two DVI outputs and a component video output dongle. HDCP is supported, as well, just in case you feel the need to be protected from high-definition content.

There isn’t much to see on the software front. A driver CD is included in the box, and although it contains some BFG desktop wallpapers for fanboys, that’s about it for extras. We’re not particularly fond of needlessly bundled software, so the lack of outdated games and otherwise free-to-download demos isn’t a worry. However, it might’ve been nice to see some DVD playback software in the box or perhaps a full version of a game we’d actually like to play, especially since the OC2 is among the pricier 8600 GTS cards on the market.

BFG’s never been big on bundling, instead deferring to the allure of its lifetime warranty and 24/7 telephone tech support that’s toll-free in the U.S. and Canada. Both are nice perks, although the BFG is no longer the only graphics card manufacturer offering lifetime warranty coverage.

Our testing methods
Since we’re focused on a single 8600 GTS card today, we won’t spend too much time testing 3D gaming performance. For a more in-depth look at how the performance of the GeForce 8600 series compares to that of a wide range of competitors in a slew of different games, check out our initial review of the cards or our more recent Radeon HD 2400 and 2600 series review..

We recently compared a handful of GeForce 8600 series graphics cards, and today we’re adding the OC2 to that mix. Here’s how the cards stack up in terms of GPUs and clock speeds:

The BFG card has the highest core and memory clocks of the lot, which should give it an advantage in our gaming tests. Interestingly, none of these cards rely on Nvidia’s reference cooler, so ThermoIntelligence will be facing off against other attempts to improve on the stock GeForce 8600 GTS heatsink.

All tests were run at least twice, and their results were averaged, using the following test systems.

Thanks to Corsair for providing us with memory for our testing. 2GB of RAM seems to be the new standard for most folks, and Corsair hooked us up with some of its 1GB DIMMs for testing.

Also, all of our test systems were powered by OCZ GameXStream 700W power supply units. Thanks to OCZ for providing these units for our use in testing.

We used the following versions of our test applications:

• Futuremark 3DMark06 Build 1.02
• F.E.A.R. 1.08
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion 1.1

The test systems’ Windows desktop was set at 1280×1024 in 32-bit color at an 85Hz screen refresh rate. Vertical refresh sync (vsync) was disabled for all tests.

All the tests and methods we employed are publicly available and reproducible. If you have questions about our methods, hit our forums to talk with us about them.

Graphics performance

With higher core and memory clock speeds, it’s no surprise to see the OC2 turn in better 3D performances than the other cards. You’re unlikely to notice a difference of three frames per second in a game like F.E.A.R., though.

Overclocking
The handy automatic overclocking utility built into Nvidia’s graphics drivers and then relocated to its nTune system utility doesn’t seem to be working properly with the GeForce 8600 or 8500 series, so we had to kick it old-school with manual slider manipulation and loads of trial-and-error testing. In order to qualify as stable, each of our overclocked configurations had to loop successfully through three iterations of 3DMark’s Shader Model 3.0 tests at 1280×1024 with 4X antialiasing and 16X aniso, and then endure ten minutes of Oblivion at maximum detail levels.

We managed to hit 796MHz core and 1151MHz memory clock speeds with the BFG GeForce 8600 GTS OC2, which is higher than we’ve been able to overclock any other GTS card. However, as is always the case with overclocking, it’s hard to draw definitive conclusions based on the stable clock speeds of a single sample. Your mileage may vary.

Here’s how the overclocked OC2 stacks up against the other cards pushed to their limits.

Again, the OC2 comes out ahead, but by narrower margins, as expected. The gap in clock speed between the OC2 and other cards is actually smaller when they’re all overclocked than when at stock speeds.

Noise levels
Noise levels were measured using an Extech 407727 Digital Sound Level meter placed along the edge of the motherboard, 1″ from the graphics card and out of the direct path of airflow. We recorded noise levels after 10 minutes idling at the Windows desktop, and again after 10 minutes rendering this stunning scene from Oblivion at 1280×1024 with all the in-game eye candy cranked. Cards were tested at both their default and overclocked speeds.

Our sound level meter doesn’t have the sensitivity to pick up noise levels below 40 decibels, and the OC2 is quieter than that at idle, even when overclocked. That’s an impressive result for an active single-slot cooler, and a feat only matched by the passively-cooled Gigabyte 8600 GTS.

Under load, the OC2’s fan starts to spin loudly enough for our sound level meter to get a reading. The BFG card is still the quietest of the lot when running at stock speeds—by more than a decibel and a half. It’s not the quietest when overclocked, but it only trails the Asus card, which is running at lower clock speeds, by a smidgen.

Power consumption
System power consumption was tested, sans monitor and speakers, at the wall outlet using a Watts Up power meter. We used the same idle and load conditions as our noise level tests.

With higher clock speeds than the rest of the pack, it’s no surprise to see the OC2 pulling more watts at idle. Only the Gigabyte card’s conspicuously high power draw keeps the OC2 from drawing the most power under load, as well.

GPU temperature
We tracked GPU temperatures using Nvidia’s nTune system utility, which can log temperatures to a text file. Again, we used the same idle and load conditions as our noise level tests.

BFG makes much of the ThermoIntelligence heatsink’s superior cooling performance, but it’s hard to see what they’re on about based solely on these results. Note, however, that the BFG card is running at higher clock speeds than the others and drawing more power in the process. The OC2 is also competing with louder dual-slot coolers on the Asus and MSI cards.

Conclusions
In an era where elaborate heatpipe arrays and dual-slot heatsinks have almost become the norm, BFG’s ThermoIntelligence cooler could easily blend into the background. ThermoIntelligence is really little more than an, er, intelligent repositioning of fan and radiator elements, but it works very well for what is ultimately a subtle design. What’s impressive here isn’t so much how cool ThermoIntelligence is able to keep the GPU on BFG’s GeForce 8600 GTS OC2, but how quietly it does so while consuming only a single slot.

The GeForce 8600 GTS OC2 is no slouch, either. BFG has pushed what’s arguably the best mid-range GPU on the market to even greater heights with a little dose of factory “overclocking,” making the OC2 one of the fastest 8600 GTS cards you can buy. The card also packs component output, HDCP support, a lifetime warranty, and 24/7 tech support.

All this sounds good until you get to the price tag. The GeForce 8600 GTS OC2 currently sells for $240 and up online, giving it the undesirable distinction of being by far the most expensive 8600 GTS in our price search engine. What’s more, the majority of GTS cards—including some with comparable clock speeds and warranty coverage to the OC2—can be had for much less than $200. Those cards don’t have ThermoIntelligence, of course, but the cooler would have to be a revelation to be worth a $40-60 premium on a mid-range card. It’s good, but I don’t think it’s that good.