BFG 9600GT OC2: ships with a lifetime warranty

The OC range for BFG has grown over the last few years, expanding beyond the usual “OC” models. The 9600GT has an OC2 variation which carries with it even higher clockspeeds. Then there are the models above these which include the 9800GTX; BFG has decided to take things a notch higher with the OCX.

The OC2 is the highest clocked 9600GT card in the BFG range with a reference clock model also being available alongside a slightly overclocked OC variant. While the standard 9600GT clocks are 650MHz on the core, 1,625MHz on the shader clock and 1,800MHz DDR on the 512MB of GDDR3 memory, the OC2 improves upon this by giving us 690MHz on the core, 1,750MHz on the shader clock and 1,880MHz DDR on the memory. What this increase in speed gives us is a nice little performance jump when compared to a card that carries with it the standard clocks.

If you want to get some extra performance out of the card, firing up an overclocking tool like RivaTuner will help you achieve some even higher clock speeds. The reference cooler which has no problems handling the slightly more powerful 8800GT gives no issues when overclocking to 700MHz on the core and 2,000MHz DDR on the memory. These are speeds that we generally see only reserved for cards using dual-slot cooling. If the airflow in your case is good enough, you may quickly find yourself going a little higher on both core and memory than the speeds mentioned above.

Where the card does become a bit light is in the package department; with the standard assortment of TV-out cables and DVI to VGA connectors there isn’t anything in the bundle that would make it stand out from the pack. However, the general feeling you get from BFG buyers is that the lifetime warranty is more important and is something they value more over an outdated game which is so commonly seen in bundles.

Connectivity wise is very standard as well; there are two Dual Link DVI ports that are capable of driving a pair of 30in monitors alongside a single TV-Out connector. The good news is that BFG has been able to attain these clocks and offer the lifetime warranty whilst still keeping to the reference cooler. Though the reference cooler sometimes runs a little warmer and a little noisier then some of the aftermarket ones, it does manage to keep the card in its stock single slot status; this means that if case room is tight then you don’t have to worry about your graphics card taking up any more space than it needs to.

While companies like ASUS and Palit offer cards with slightly higher clocks, the push to take up two slots in a case is sometimes just too much for people. While the BFG Tech 9600GT OC2 doesn’t come with all the connectivity that we’ve seen on other brands, or a bigger bundle for that matter, it does offer a good overclock while still managing to use the very capable single slot reference cooler.

Apart from the light bundle, the only other real issue with the BFG Tech card is that it comes in a little bit more expensive compared to some of the other brands out there. However, depending on how important the warranty is to you, this may or may not affect your overall thoughts on the value of the card.