Date:
Tuesday , February 05, 2008
Author:
Matthew Krysiak
Editor:
Brent Justice
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BFGTech 8800 GTS 512MB OC2 WC Edition

How far can a watercooled GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB be overclocked? Today we have our evaluation of the BFGTech 8800 GTS 512MB OC2 WC Edition. We compare it to a stock 8800 GTS 512MB in CoD 4, Crysis, and UT3 with overclocking performance results.

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System Test Setup

For our test system platform we are using a Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 motherboard with an Intel Core 2 Duo X6800 processor at 2.93 GHz, and 2 GB of XMS2 Dominator CM2X1024-9136C5D at 5-5-5-15 1T. We are using the latest chipset drivers available and the latest BIOS at time of evaluation.

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Video Card Comparison Setup

Both the BFGTech 8800 GTS 512MB OC2 WC Edition and the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB video cards were evaluated at their default frequencies. The BFGTech 8800 GTS 512MB OC2 WC Edition Max OC was determined by finding the highest possible stable overclock on the BFGTech 8800 GTS 512MB OC2 WC Edition.

Watercooling Setup

For our watercooling we used 1/2” tubing and a simple T-line. We used an old but still powerful Swiftech MCP600 pump with 185 GPH and a head of 10.5 feet. The radiator we chose was a high performance Thermochill PA120.1 that was designed for low CFM fans but does just as well with high CFM fans. We also used two different fans for temperature testing. We did this to see just how good temperatures could get if noise was not a factor. The quiet fan used was the Vantec Stealth 120mm with 52 CFM of airflow at soft 28 dBA. The powerful but loud fan was the Panaflo H1 120mm with 103 CFM of airflow at a noisy 41 dBA.

Evaluation Setup

Please be aware we test our video cards a bit differently from what is the norm. We concentrate on examining the real-world gameplay that each video card provides. The Highest Playable section shows the best Image Quality delivered at a playable frame rate. We use a high performance system, with a very fast CPU in order to remove CPU bottlenecking.

In our graphs we use some abbreviations to indicate the method of AA or AF being used.

TR MS = Transparency Multisampling Antialiasing – Indicates the use of NVIDIA’s Transparency Multisampling quality setting on GeForce 8 series video cards.

TR SS = Transparency Supersampling Antialiasing – Indicates the use of NVIDIA’s Transparency Supersampling quality setting on GeForce 8 series video cards.