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- Date:
- Tuesday , July 01, 2008
- Author:
- Matthew Krysiak
- Editor:
- Brent Justice
- Google +1
BFGTech GeForce 9800 GTX H2OC WC Edition
BFG has come out with a new branding: H20C. As the name suggests the video card comes preinstalled with a waterblock and on top of that is clocked even higher than their top tier OCX line. We see how it compares to a reference 9800 GTX and an 8800 GT.
BFGTech
BFGTech has made quite name for them self by offering high-quality products, good support, and lifetime warranties. Their "by gamers, for gamers" philosophy and close relationship with NVIDIA has established BFG Technologies as a premium video card brand in the USA. Their own website states:
Many of our employees are gamers and PC enthusiasts, and we provide hardware and marketing that reflects our passion and excitement for the latest technology.
Today we are taking a look at BFGTech’s latest video card with a preinstalled waterblock: the BFGTech GeForce 9800 GTX H2OC WC Edition
The GeForce 9800 GTX
The GeForce 9800 GTX GPU was launched the 1st of April 2008. It has a GPU frequency of 675MHz and a shader frequency of 1688MHz. The 9800 GTX has 512MB of GDDR3 at 2.2GHz on a 256-bit memory-bus. This was a step back from its predecessor, the GeForce 8800 GTX, which boasted 768MB of GDDR3 at 1.8GHz on a 384-bit memory-bus.
That is not to say the GeForce 9800 GTX doesn’t have its bright spots. It has a 100MHz higher GPU frequency and 338MHz higher shader frequency then the GeForce 8800 GTX. This proved to make up for its memory deficiencies and it slightly outperformed 8800 GTX in some applications. The 9800 GTX also brought with it two new features: With compatible motherboards, Hybrid SLI enables it to shut itself down to save power when not in use. Also PureVideo HD was brought up from the GeForce 8600 and 8500 series and allows for hardware HD video decoding.
BFGTech GeForce 9800 GTX H2OC WC Edition
The BFGTech GeForce 9800 GTX H2OC WC Edition is the fastest 9800 GTX we have tested to date. It has a GPU frequency of 780MHz, a shader frequency of 1944MHz, and a memory frequency of 2.32GHz. That is 25MHz on GPU over BFGTech’s own previous top tier line the GeForce 9800 GTX OCX. This also means the GPU has a higher frequency from the builder then even our own overclocks (770MHz and 775MHz) of previous 9800 GTXs. The frequencies aren’t the only thing that sets this video card apart. The waterblock was co-developed by BFGTech and Danger Den and their website states the following:
Each card will be hand-built by a trained BFG technician with Arctic Silver® thermal compound and includes 1/2” and 3/8” fittings (barbs) allowing for seamless integration into most water cooling system loops. Micro fittings are also included to support 2-way or 3-way NVIDIA SLI™ configurations.
With the highest builder overclock we have seen, a preinstalled waterblock, a lifetime warrantee, and easy integration into most watercooling loops the downside is it doesn’t come cheap. At $350 a reference 9800 GTX is $150 less at $200.
The box has a jaw-dropping amount of information on the front. It has everything from the GPU frequency to the memory bandwidth specifications. Dumbfoundingly though, this is the e-tailer box and the retail box you will see on store shelves won’t have this wonderful and informative sticker on the front.
The video card uses the standard reference design but has an unattractive brown PCB. On the top right of the video card are the dual 6-pin power connectors and the white fan power connector in case you ever want to go back to aircooling. The card also has the standard two DVI ports and a S-video port.
The two piece waterblock has a copper base and high gloss black top. It is a full video card waterblock that covers the GPU, the memory, and the power regulators. On the top part of waterblock you can see the threads for the barbs and hex plugs. This barb and hex combination allows for a great amount flexibility when incorporating the waterblock into your loop.
The video card comes with a Driver CD, a “Quick Install Guide”, a DVI to D-sub adapter, a DVI to HDMI adapter, and a HDTV cable. The bundle also includes an internal audio cable for outputting sound through a HDMI connection. Finally, the kit comes with one molex to 6-pin power connector. This means you need to have at least one 6-pin PCI-e connector from your PSU already or else you need to buy another molex to 6-pin power connecter.
In the second image are the watercooling accessories that come with the video card. It comes with two ½” barbs, two 3/8” inch barbs, four hose clamps, and a 2½” piece of ½” tubing for SLI. It also comes with two ½” micro barbs for SLI but we found it impossible to securely clamp tubing onto the barb due to the unrealistically small neck.
In the final two pictures the card is setup in our watercooling loop. Notice how we are able to use one barb on the front and one barb on the back. If it was advantageous our loop we could have put both barbs on the front or back. We will go into details about the components we used in our loop in the Test Setup page.
Focus
We will be comparing the BFGTech GeForce 9800 GTX H2OC WC Edition against a reference NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX to see how much the builder overclock improves our gameplay experience. We will also throw in a reference NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT since they have proven to be an amazing performer for the price. Currently you can find the BFGTech GeForce 9800 GTX H2OC WC Edition for $350. For $200 you can find a NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX. A NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT is currently the least expensive at only $130 after mail-in-rebate
We will begin by evaluating the gameplay experience in Crysis, Age of Conan, and CoD 4. We will then do apples-to-apples graph for each game using the highest playable settings of the BFGTech GeForce 9800 GTX H2OC WC Edition. Finally we end with overclocking and comparing the temperatures with a NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX reference card.