BFG GeForce 8600 GTS OC2 w/ThermoIntelligence

When it comes to graphics, BFG is one of the most recognized names among enthusiasts despite the fact that they’ve only been around for nearly five years now. Why has BFG grown so quickly? Two reasons: their lifetime warranty program, and factory overclocking.

BFG was the first graphics card manufacturer to provide a lifetime warranty on their products. BFG’s lifetime warranty program is a true lifetime warranty – there are no strings attached: if something happens to your BFG card and it stops working, BFG will provide you with a new card provided you didn’t modify the card in any way, nor is the card physically damaged. BFG’s customer support/service is also very highly regarded. BFG provides 24/7 toll-free phone support for end users in North America.

When it comes to overclocking, BFG certainly wasn’t the first graphics card manufacturer to clock their cards higher than default speeds, but they were the first to implement top-to-bottom overclocking on their entire line of cards, including the 1st generation boards that are produced when a new GPU is introduced. Previously when a new GeForce GPU was released the first wave of cards would stick very strictly to NVIDIA’s reference specifications, including clock speeds. Then, a few months later, 2nd generation cards would be released that offered higher speeds, better cooling, superior game bundle, or some combination of the three. With their “OC” line of cards, BFG was the first manufacturer to overclock their cards right from the beginning of a new GPU’s lifespan. This gave their cards a performance advantage over their competitors.



Of course in more recent years, many other manufacturers have begun overclocking their boards from the factory also, and as a result, BFG’s tamer OC boards were beginning to fall behind in performance benchmarks. This is where the “OC2” line comes in.

OC2 boards are BFG’s second generation cards and are designed to deliver even better performance than the OC line. Basically, these cards are built for gamers and hardware enthusiasts who want the very fastest card based on any given GPU. On top of this though, BFG has added one new wrinkle to their GeForce 8600 GTS OC2: ThermoIntelligence.


ThermoIntelligence is the brand BFG has come up with for a series of cards that are designed to deliver improved cooling performance that goes beyond what stock cards can offer. In the words of BFG, “ThermoIntelligence series provides exceptional thermal performance without the draw backs of traditional custom and after market solutions. From our single-slot water cooled 8800 Ultra to the new 8600 GTS OC2, our new ThermoIntelligence enhanced products are “The Gamers’ Choice™”!”

BFG has setup a special website for the cards at http://www.thermointelligence.com where end users can learn more about the ThermalIntelligence line, as well as how their custom cooling solutions stack up against the reference (stock) coolers, and why better cooling is so important.

BFG has developed a new air-based heatsink/fan cooler for the GeForce 8600 GTS OC2 ThermoIntelligence. Unlike the stock NVIDIA cooler, which uses a combination of copper and aluminum to cool the graphics core and memory, BFG’s ThermoIntelligence cooler on the 8600 GTS OC2 is all-aluminum. Sitting directly atop the GPU is a heatsink composed of multiple rolled fins. Heat is further dispersed by an aluminum plate which surrounds this heatsink.


Supplying the cooler with fresh, cool air is a small fan. As you can see, BFG has placed the fan offset of the graphics core for enhanced cooling. In the words of BFG, the fan was placed offset “to eliminate a dead air zone”. We’ve been big fans of offset coolers in the past ourselves, we’ve found that by placing the fan offset of the graphics core, the fan has more room to duct more air across the GPU. In addition, by moving the fan from directly above the GPU, BFG has more room to incorporate a larger, more effective heatsink directly above the GPU. This area is where most of the heat on the graphics card is generated.

The real beauty of ThermoIntelligence is that it performs so effectively, yet it’s still single-slot. Many manufacturers that have chosen to develop their own custom coolers for the GeForce 8600 GTS use dual-slot coolers. By keeping their cooling design down to just one slot, the GeForce 8600 GTS OC2 ThermoIntelligence can still be used in cramped cases.

But a better cooler isn’t the only feature found on the card, as an OC2 board, BFG’s GeForce 8600 GTS OC2 is clocked to run with the best of them. The GPU on the board runs at 720MHz, an improvement of 45MHz over stock, while the stream processors run at 1566MHz, that’s an improvement of 116MHz. For added performance at high resolutions, the memory subsystem is also factory overclocked, running at 1110MHz.

Software and accessories

BFG ships the GeForce 8600 GTS OC2 card with the usual assortment of hardware accessories. Inside the box you’ll find two DVI adapters, a component video output cable, and power cable. As usual, BFG doesn’t ship the card with a game bundle or even DVD playback software. After all, with BFG cards, it’s the hardware you’re getting inside the box that counts, not the software.