The Card

So far, all three cards that we've tested (including this one) look exactly the same except for the sticker on the heat sink. Here's a shot of the card.

BFG simply has the name of the card over a silver and greenish background. Strictly going by looks alone, of the three 7800 cards that we've reviewed, we prefer the clean black look of EVGA's card, with MSI's angel at a close second. For many people, of course, looks are about the least important factor when choosing a graphics card. Performance, noise, and heat levels are all more important concerns unless you use a case with a window.

As you can see, the box looks similar to the heat sink. No games come bundled with the BFG 7800GTX OC, but it does come with a BFG promotional shirt for those who like to provide free advertising for their graphics card manufacturer.

As we said earlier, this card comes factory- overclocked. The core clock is set at 460MHz, which doesn't give it an advantage over EVGA's 450MHz factory overclock, given NVIDIA's clock speed indication issues. What does give it an advantage is that BFG's memory clock is set at 1.3GHz, out of the box. This is worth noting because it should mean higher performance in certain games and settings. We'll see how much higher in the performance section.

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  • Spacecomber - Thursday, August 4, 2005 - link

    Hey Derek, this is a bit tangential, but in the comments to the MSI 7800GTX review you provided a link to the demo you used for running the BF2 benchmarks. I gave it a quick try and it wouldn't run for me (game exits to desktop). I was wondering what verion of the game were these made for, the original unpatched game, perhaps? I was trying the demo with a game patched to v1.02.

    Thanks,

    Space
  • DerekWilson - Thursday, August 4, 2005 - link

    Only works on 1.0

    We may consider looking at demos for the 1.02 (or later) version.

    Thanks,
    Derek Wilson
  • Spacecomber - Friday, August 5, 2005 - link

    Ok, that's what I thought. Thanks. It's no big deal, of course; I just like fooling around with this kind of stuff. (But not enough to reinstall the game without the patch. ;-) )

    Space
  • allnighter - Thursday, August 4, 2005 - link

    I think it was unfairly downplayed to factory OC on the memory being the only advantage. So not true. The fact that you can get a hold of a support rep in the middle of the night, seven days a week, is a pretty big deal. Than the fact that the card comes bundled with othe stuff, like free utilities and a pack of teflon slick pads was omitted. Those present a value to the gamer as well. The t-shit, although oversized (XL) is actually a nice touch, free advertising or not. Another thing - the card I purchased did come bundled with a game. Granted, it was Far Cry, fairly old compared to BF2 and even Riddick, never the less, it was in the box.
  • allnighter - Thursday, August 4, 2005 - link

    OMG, I really need to use the spell check before I post. Would you kindly help me out with that?
  • BaronVonAwesome - Thursday, August 4, 2005 - link

    I don't have enough time to read this as thoroughly as I would like, but did the article happen to mention BFG's lifetime warranty (which I personally think is worth more than any game bundle)? I would go with the BFG myself.
  • JarredWalton - Thursday, August 4, 2005 - link

    It's mentioned on the last page, along with the fact that EVGA now offers the same lifetime warranty. I can't personally vouch for the quality of either, having never used their tech support, but I've heard they're both good.
  • Son of a N00b - Thursday, August 4, 2005 - link

    there is a small typo on the OC'ing page... ge t should be get...lol


    Nice article...very complete

    Good Job...I myself have had awesome experiences with BFG, not to mention their tech support, RMA support, and life time warrenty...

    So when I get my 7800's I will be going BFG.
  • DVad3r - Thursday, August 4, 2005 - link

    I would really love to see a Leadtek 7800 GTX review...and an Asus one for that matter...I am going to be buying a new system soon and I am hard pressed to choose between Asus/Leadtek/BFG?

  • CtK - Thursday, August 4, 2005 - link

    Its about time :)

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