Features & Specifications
The BFG 8600 GTS OC has the same exact features in common as the PNY and XFX 8600 GTS cards that I reviewed previously. BFG clocked their 8600 GTS OC at 710 MHz on the core and 2000 MHz on the 256MB of DDR3 memory. Outputs include two dual-link DVI connectors, HDTV and TV Out. The BFG 8600 GTS OC is also HDCP compatible so you can watch HD programming using the new NVIDIA PureVideo HD that totally offloads video rendering in Blu-ray and HD DVD from the CPU to the GPU. Naturally the BFG 8600 GTS OC supports Windows Vista, SLI and DirectX 10. Check out the specifications page for more details on the card. Currently you can buy the BFG 8600 GTS OC at the BFG Store for $279.00.

Test System
Before we get into the performance of the BFG 8600 GTS OC I want to go over the specs of the test machine I am using for this review:

• CPU- Intel QX6700
• OS- Windows XP Pro SP2
• RAM- 2GB PNY XLR8 PC2-8500
• Mainboard- EVGA 680i

Benchmarks

3DMark06
The first test up for the BFG 8600 GTS OC was with 3DMark06. I ran 3DMark06 at default settings and at default settings in the NVIDIA control panel. The results of the 3DMark06 test were as follows:

• Total 3DMarks- 5940
• SM2.0- 2351
• HDR/SM3.0- 2089
• CPU- 3947
• Return to Proxycon- 18.137
• Firefly Forest- 21.045
• Canyon Flight- 18.522
• Deep Freeze- 23.227
• CPU1- 1.322
• CPU2- 1.880

So far the fastest 8600 GTS that I have tested has been the XFX 8600 GTS XXX which scored 6309 3DMarks. The PNY 8600 GTS, which is not overclocked, scored 5831 3DMarks.

FEAR
The next test up was a real gaming test with FEAR which I ran at a screen resolution of 1280 x 1024 with 4x AA, 16x AF, no soft shadows and all settings at max. I used the FEAR in game test loop to record the following frame rate information:

• Min- 19 fps
• Avg- 37 fps
• Max- 90 fps

The percentages who that only 7% of the time did frame rates drop below 25fps, 64% of the time frame rates were 25 – 40 fps and 29% of the time frame rates were greater than 40 fps.

Quake 4
After testing with FEAR we move on to Quake 4 which I ran at a screen resolution of 1280 x 1024, 4x AA high settings and multi-core on. I used Fraps to record frame rate data as follows:

• Min- 24 fps
• Avg- 53
• Max- 62

Battlefield 2142
The final gaming test up for the BFG 8600 GTS OC was Battlefield 2142 which was ran at 1600 x 1200, 4x AA and all settings on high. Frame rate data was recorded via Fraps on the single player map called “Fall of Berlin.” Fraps recorded the following frame rate data:

• Min- 28
• Avg- 33.397
• Max- 45

After all the dust settled the XFX 8600 GTS XXX is still the king of the pack when it comes to the new 8600 GTS graphics cards. The XFX 8600 GTS XXX carries an MSRP of $239 while the BFG 8600 GTS OC carries a price of $279 making the slower BFG card $40 more than the XFX version. In the real world the performance of the XFX and the BFG card are very close, but the $40 price difference will be a big deal to many shoppers. You can find the 8600 GTS online starting at about $219 right now at Tigerdirect making for a cheaper buy and a better comparison to the XFX 8600 GTS XXX.