GeForce 7950 GX2 Retail Round-up

BFG Tech GeForce 7950 GX2

Core Clock: 500MHz
Memory Clock: 1200MHz
Warranty: True Lifetime
Price: £429.99 inc VAT & Del. - Play.com

BFG Tech's GeForce 7950 GX2 comes in the same box that its GeForce 7900 GTX OC came in. The clock speeds are clearly marked on the box, as are the pair of dual link DVI-I ports and HDTV-Out port. Again though, there is no mention of HDCP compliancy or PureVideo HD on either the front or back of the box. This is surprising, because GeForce 7950 GX2 is the first video card to ship with the HDCP crypto-ROM on the card as standard.

The bundle includes a free BFG Tech T-Shirt and a set of BFG Tech Teflon Slick Pads to reduce friction on the bottom of your mouse. There are no games included - the only software in the bundle is the drivers and utility CD. Along with the numerous installation guides, there are a pair of DVI-to-VGA converters, a HDTV-Out to YPbPr Component break-out box and a six-pin PCI-Express power adapter.

The card comes in an anti-static bag and is packed underneath the bundled items in a padded plastic sleeve to ensure that the video card isn't damaged during shipping.

Again, BFG Tech's card is a reference card with a sticker on the cooler. Although, BFG Tech has gone one step further than ASUS, as there is custom BFG Tech art work on the main body of the cooler. This is not strictly a bad thing, as you can guarantee that the quality of the build is every bit as good as the reference design. The fact that BFG Tech hasn't changed the cooler means that it inherits the pair of whisper quiet fans on the reference card.

Warranty: One area where BFG Tech excels above all other NVIDIA video card partners is with its warranty service. BFG Tech is the only partner to offer a true lifetime warranty, along with free 24/7 technical support. XFX offers a limited double lifetime warranty to its customers in the USA. However, all other regions are limited to a two-year warranty.

We had heard many good things about BFG Tech's warranty service, so we gave it a try for ourselves last year - we didn't come away disappointed. The only downside to the RMA process was the time that it took to send the faulty video card to the USA and back. However, we have been informed that BFG Tech now has an RMA centre in the UK - this will dramatically reduce the time it takes to turn RMA's around.