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BFG Tech 590 SLI Motherboard Review |
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BFGRAN590S… or Something |
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February 26, 2007 |
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By Josh Walrath |
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Conclusion BFG does not have the engineering staff to design a motherboard from scratch, and as such they have to rely on other partners to do the dirty work. In this case it is NVIDIA and Foxconn. This is not necessarily a bad thing though. While the board does not physically differ from Foxconn’s design, BFG has added software, support, and a value price to make this a unique offering for a reference design.
The ATX backplate has plenty of connections for most users. Of note is the 1394B port between the PS2 ports and the first USB/Firewire tower. The board can be purchased at retailers like Newegg for $159.99 with a $50 mail in rebate. This is a very nice deal, especially considering $40 of software is thrown into the mix. The value is pretty unmistakable, and it currently is unmatched by any other nForce 590 SLI offering for AM2. While AMD might not have the best enthusiast class chips at the moment, the price of the BFGRAN590S combined with a midrange X2 with some overclocking makes for a valuable and nicely performing bundle. I had no real issues with this board, and it works as advertised. It is a revision 2.0 board, so I am guessing Foxconn fixed a few of the shortcomings this board had suffered from initially. It does seem like overclocking has been slightly enhanced, all without a major redesign. BFG is a great little company to deal with, and their support is pretty phenomenal. A 3 year warranty with free 24/7 tech support for those three years is unmatched. Most warranties for motherboards cover 1 year, and tech support can be a nightmare depending on the manufacturer. BFG supports the retail crowd with products, and their tech support reflects that. They are easy to get a hold of, they have knowledgeable techs, and they have no problems issuing RMAs.
Here is the board installed in a larger case with the 7950 GX2. Note that all four of the bottom SATA ports are still accessible. The AM2 socket will be getting a boost this summer from AMD when they release their next generation of CPUs. Something else to consider is that AMD could be looking to open CrossFire support on motherboards not using ATI/AMD chipsets. This means the potential to use the 590 SLI as a basis for CrossFire in the future is there. Nothing is official yet, but it would certainly be a step in the right direction for both ATI/AMD and NVIDIA. Until these things come to pass, the BFG 590 SLI would be a good placeholder for the AMD budget enthusiast, because frankly the performance and features of this board are unmatched at its price point.
Overall Score: 90%
Penstarsys.com Outstanding Value Award
Pros Inexpensive for a 590 SLI Excellent hardware and software bundle Good build quality Excellent support and warranty Some good color and styling Solid overclocker 1394B support
Cons Reference design AM2 not exactly enthusiast’s choice anymore Cooling can be improved Poor 1394B support with Windows XP without fixes and editing
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Copyright 1999-2007 PenStar Systems, LLC. |
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