iFargle: Like Ste said, not too much negative is heard about BFG. They've got lifetime guarantees, 24/7/365 support, etc. But you can always find someone to say something negative about them.........like me.
I had a somewhat sour experience with BFG Tech. For man, many years, I had ATI/ Radeon graphics cards. And then, about two years ago, I wanted to try an nVidia-based graphics card. Maybe I was swayed by all those adverts that said, "nVidia: The Way It's Meant To Be Played"
Anyway....about two years ago I got the nVidia-based graphics card of the 9800 GX2. Many companies put out this nVidia card (like also EVGA, XFX, etc.), but I decided to go with BFG Tech.
I made sure the other components in my system met the requirements of the video card (CPU, RAM, PSU). But, after assembling the system, I was experiencing poor performance in video games with very low FPS, but, with this
MONSTER of a card, the 9800 GX2 should have been shredding through these games.
I started e-mailing BFG Tech back-and-forth, and to be quite frank, I felt as though they were being resistant, almost antagonistic. I'm sure companies deal with all sorts of customers, but with something like upgrading your own graphics card, well, your "average Joe" is not going to do that himself. Usually you have to have some "techy-ness" about you, some "geek" factor. I may not be some kind of tech guru, but, I know my way around a mainboard.
I was giving them all the tech info and proof that they needed. I even showed them the results of a 3DMark06 Test that I ran with horrendous results.
My contention at the time was that it was a PSU problem. The PSU that I had at the time also just happened to be from their company, a BFG 650 watt. Supposedly the 650 was enough to power the card. But, I did some investigating, and this particular 650 watt put out by BFG did not exactly get stellar reviews.
For one thing, it did not have an 8 pin plug for the PCI-e card, but rather, an adapter that turns a 6 pin into an 8 pin. From what I've found out, that is not the preferred method. Plus, this particular 650 from BFG did not have strong 12V rails.
Eventually we worked something out and I upgraded to their 800 watt.......but it was their "older" version of the 800, not the newer, recent version (their newer ones are from the ES Series).
On a positive note, when I put the 800 watt in, performance of the graphics card improved, better FPS in games, etc.
But still not
quite what I thought it should be.
I grew tired and frustrated "battling" with them, so I went out and got a Corsair PSU. This one was actually 50 watts less than the BFG 800; it's a Corsair 750 watt, but, it's got great 12V rails.
After installing the Corsair, my performance increased even more with the graphics card. I ran another 3DMark06 Test with excellent results.
And then.............yes, there's more..........the GX2 card was running just a little too hot for my tastes. It runs quite warm, as a rule, because the GX2 is two graphics cards "sandwiched" into one big brick. But things were getting too toasty too fast. And I've got great cooling, too, with a CoolerMaster 932 HAF case.
So after more
haranguing with BFG Tech (I'm just so evil), they replaced my GX2 with another.
Whew.
I know there's plenty of people who have had nothing but a spectacular experience with BFG Tech. I'm just not one of them. I always felt like we were banging heads, that I was always at odds with them, like they were being deliberately antagonistic.
To me, it's like they didn't want to admit they were wrong (originally with their 650 PSU being "inferior").
If I decide to get another nVidia-based graphics card again, it won't be with BFG. I've heard good word about EVGA
Pez
I keep everything.
