   |
|||
|
|||
|
:
News
:
Archives
|
|
The BFG 7800 Series Cooler |
|
|
Pretty, pretty, pretty… and useful |
|||
|
|
|||
|
by Josh Walrath |
|||
|
Conclusion BFG has designed a very effective cooler that is not only aesthetically pleasing, but quite easy to install and manipulate. So far BFG has no plans on selling this cooler as an aftermarket part, so if a user wants one of these, they will have to buy a BFG videocard. The same cooler is being used for both the 7800 GT and GTX SKU’s (of course the 7800 GTX 512 uses the NVIDIA designed dual slot cooler). The big copper cooler performs quite well, and the overall design and implementation is very sharp looking. The blue LED lights add a bit of pizzazz to cases with windows. I do not know if the copper has a special coating on it to keep from oxidizing over time, but unless the user exposes it to sea air, it probably won’t be turning green anytime soon.
The final product looks very sharp, and cools very well. It would be nice if BFG were to offer this cooler as a standalone upgrade product, much as what EVGA does with their cooling tech. As such quite a few users would find this a valuable upgrade. One very positive aspect of this exercise was that I was able to improve the 498 MHz core overclock to a very respectable 516 MHz with the BFG cooler in place. While the temperature deltas were only around 8 C, it gave the G70 core enough legs to improve the overclock by about 20 MHz. This is actually a very impressive feat. Even when overclocked to that level the temperature at load was around 82 C for the BFG cooler. Something to remember is that I was using a Leadtek GeForce 7800 GTX, and the BIOS and components that are used on that board will be different from BFG’s. Overclocking and other performance aspects may be quite a bit different than the BFG branded boards. Still, the overall improvements in temperature and overclocking performance are impressive. The only real issue I have with this card is that the fan speed is not variable at this time. It would have been nice to wind the fan down a bit to keep things quiet.
Overall Score: 90%
Pros Cools very well Sharp looking cooler LED’s to light up the case Achieves higher overclocks
Cons Very heavy Much louder than a stock fan Not available as an aftermarket product
If you have found this article interesting or a great help, please donate to this site.
Copyright 1999-2005 PenStar Systems, LLC. |
|||
