Date:
Monday , June 09, 2008
Author:
Paul Johnson
Editor:
Kyle Bennett
Google +1

BFG LS Series Power Supplies

BFG has recently proven its worthiness in the high end computer power supply market by providing extremely stable and innovative products. Can BFG pull off another win as it wades again into the middle of the wattage war with many competitors?

Introduction

BFG Technologies is a well known graphics card supplier whose products have been a premium choice of computer gamers and hardware enthusiasts for several years. Today, however, a quick check of BFG’s website shows that the days of simply supplying high end video solutions are a thing of the past and BFG is spreading out into a number of areas including branding computer power supply units, or “PSUs.” BFG’s power supplies have to date typically been built by the Taiwanese company Topower or more distantly in the past ATNG but with the acquisition of some new talent BFG has seriously revamped their power supply business. In addition to launching a new power supply website, BFG has also stepped up to the plate with a serious enthusiast level power supply in the recently reviewed ES-800. However, today we have the opportunity to look at a different class of power products from BFG that is meant to target the more mainstream user. Today’s power supply product from BFG comes from a new OEM for BFG, and to most users in North America, as the new LS series members (BFGR550WLSPSU and BFGR680WLSPSU) are built by Fortrex/Forepoint.

Fortrex Electronic Co., Ltd. / ForePoint Industrial LTD. is a power supply OEM that while not well known in the US has been producing power supplies since 1985 and has ties with a few more well known power supply OEMs that sell into the US market. In addition to their power supply production, Fortrex produces computer cases followed by mice, keyboards, and other accessories since their acquisition of Focus Electronics. Today though, we look forward to seeing our first major retail branded power supply OEM’d by Fortrex/ForePoint in the BFG LS series.

Article Image

A Double Shot of Love from the BFG?

Recently, we reviewed the first of BFG’s power supply overhaul when we looked at their top of the line ES-800 but that is not the extent of their overhaul. BFG is launching their new midrange power supplies to replace its older midrange in an effort to continue to revamp, renew, and improve the BFG brand. This step is almost assuredly more important than their ES-800 launch from some aspects as the majority of users are not going to be buying into the top rung of any product category. As such, a solid midrange PSU that will attract more users to the BFG brand is something that BFG would certainly be interested in producing with the LS series. So it is of great interest to see if BFG can deliver on bringing the same level of dedication to the mid range LS that it has brought to the enthusiast class ES.

No longer does upgrading a power supply mean having to break the bank, nor does a limited budget require you to have to "settle" for a second rate unit. Upgrade to a whole new level with a BFG LS Series power supply. The BFG LS Series feature a typical efficiency of up to 85% so more power is converted to DC than many other power supplies on the market. BFG Thermal Control Technology ensures that the unit runs as quietly as possible by varying the speed of the 135MM fan in response to load and temperature. Quad +12V rails, over-volt, over-current and short circuit protection provides rock solid reliability and safety.

From the product page BFG seems to be aiming do exactly what we would expect it to do by providing a solution that is going to target a more price sensitive market segment while including most of the features users would hope for in a power supply. So let’s move on and see what else has changed as we look at what we get when we purchase the LS series from BFG in terms of documentation, accessories, cable count, rail layout, output characteristics, and general build quality.