Board analysis

Dual-slot cooling on the GeForce 7900 GTX

Simple board design for the 7900 GT OC

In order to bring their cards to market as quickly as possible, board manufacturers like BFG usually stick with NVIDIA’s reference board design for their retail products. If a change is made, it’s usually limited to something minor, like incorporating (or removing) dual DVI connectors, or perhaps throwing in VIVO (video-in/video-out) support. More drastic changes to the board design or cooling are usually limited to follow-up 2nd-generation boards, if at all. Most card manufacturers just don’t want to risk the lost sales that would occur from being late to market.

Other than the sticker on the fan, can you spot the difference between the two boards?

BFG GeForce 7900 GTX OC (top) and NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX reference board

Instead of differentiating themselves on their board design, one tactic board manufacturers have turned to instead is clock speeds, running their boards at higher speeds than NVIDIA’s specifications call for from the factory. Once the end user boots up his card, he’ll find that it’s overclocked out-of-the-box, backed with the full manufacturer’s warranty. BFG’s factory overclocked line of “OC” boards quickly became legendary among gamers and enthusiasts because of this free performance. (BFG’s true lifetime warranty was also a big hit among consumers who were tired of dealing confusing warranty policies.)

BFG’s GeForce 7900 GTX OC and GeForce 7900 GT OC cards continue this tradition, as BFG clocks both boards at speeds higher than the NVIDIA reference boards we previewed last week. In the case of the BFG GeForce 7900 GTX OC card, BFG elects to clock the card’s graphics core at 670MHz, that’s 20MHz higher than NVIDIA’s stock core clock speed (it’s also important to note that this means that the geometry engine on the GeForce 7900 GTX OC runs at 720MHz). BFG runs the memory on their GeForce 7900 GTX OC board at 820MHz, that’s also 20MHz faster than default. Meanwhile, BFG’s GeForce 7900 GT OC is pushed slightly further than NVIDIA’s reference specifications, running at 475MHz core/680MHz memory. These are improvements of 25MHz and 20MHz respectively on the graphics core and memory.

The BFG GeForce 7900 GTX OC sitting next to Radeon X1900 XTX

X1800 XL and the GeForce 7900 GT OC

The best part about both OC cards is that they officially retail for the same price as other manufacturers stock GeForce 7900 GTX and GeForce 7900 GT cards, so you’re essentially getting “free” performance. Some of the other factory overclocked cards from other manufacturers sell at a price premium, depending on how high they’re clocked.

Top of the BFG GeForce 7900 GTX OC

Bottom of the card

Top of the BFG GeForce 7900 GT OC

Bottom of the card

Other than the difference in clock speeds, the rest of the board design for BFG’s GeForce 7900 GTX OC and GeForce 7900 GT is pretty stock as far as boards go. In fact, as far as we can tell, BFG’s cards are manufactured on the exact same production line as NVIDIA’s reference board. All BFG does is slap their sticker on the card’s cooling unit and call it a day -- other than the sticker on the fan the BFG card is indistinguishable from NVIDIA’s reference board. All the board-level components are identical, including the copper cooling on the GeForce 7900 GT OC and the massive dual-slot cooler on the GeForce 7900 GTX OC. Like NVIDIA, BFG also provides two dual-link DVI connectors on both boards.

BFG GeForce 7900 GTX OC back plate

BFG GeForce 7900 GT OC back plate

Nice bundle with the BFG GeForce 7900 GTX OC

Accessories

In addition to the card itself, BFG ships both the GeForce 7900 GT OC and GeForce 7900 GTX OC with a component video breakout box for hooking the cards up to an HDTV, a dual 4-pin to single 6-pin PCI-E power adapter, as well as two DVI adapters. Also included with both cards is a copy of GameDrive, which allows you to play games without the CD, and a driver CD.

Considering its higher pricetag, BFG goes one step further for the GeForce 7900 GTX OC’s bundle. Also included in the card’s packaging is a black XL BFG Up All Nite T-shirt, 24 teflon stick pads (these pads can be placed on the underside of your mouse, giving it better traction), and a collection of stickers you can attach to your BFG GeForce 7900 GTX OC board. The stickers are hilarious, with lines such as “OMGWTFBFGSAUCE”, “My big f’n gun”, or “Mine Goes to 512”.