BFG Quietly Slips in a Passively Cooled 9800GT

alexp999 · Feb 17, 2009

First reported to Fudzilla, US online retailers, Newegg.com and Directron.com, have listed a passively cooled 9800GT based graphics card from BFG. Although there has been no official announcement, it has now also appeared on the companies own website named as the 9800 GT 512MB PCIe 2.0 with ThermoIntelligence Passive Cooling Solution. With a part number of BFGE98512GTHE, the card sports a quad heatpipe cooler mounted on the back of the card, as is usually found with most passive cooling solutions, though BFG seems to have done away with any memory and voltage regulator cooling. The card has no factory overclock so runs at the reference clocks of 600 MHz on the core, 1500 MHz on the shaders and a memory clock of 1800 MHz. Despite the card being sold as passively cooled, it is interesting to note that BFG has stated in the card's system requirements, "System chassis intake airflow greater than or equal to 25 CFM being directed towards the graphics card." Current pricing puts the card in at around $160 (US) with what would appear to be immediate availability.

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Icewind31 · Feb 17, 2009

Looks exactly like the older Thermalright HR-03... the newer revisions of the HR has 6pipes... looks like someone just got rid of their excess stock :laugh:

ShadowFold · Feb 17, 2009

Pun intended

I wonder if you can strap a fan on that cooler? I know I would.

alexp999 · Feb 17, 2009

ShadowFold said:
Pun intended I wonder if you can strap a fan on that cooler? I know I would.

Most probably, couple of zip ties or elastic bands.
What gets me is that it is passively cooled, so long as you have good case flow pointing at the card :wtf:

lol

nafets · Feb 18, 2009

Icewind31 said:
Looks exactly like the older Thermalright HR-03... the newer revisions of the HR has 6pipes... looks like someone just got rid of their excess stock

No memory or VRM heatsinks = Fail

You better have some kind of airflow on or near that card...

alexp999 · Feb 18, 2009

nafets said:
No memory or VRM heatsinks = Fail

You better have some kind of airflow on or near that card...

Like I said in the article, BFG have actually said in the system requirements:

"System chassis intake airflow greater than or equal to 25 CFM being directed towards the graphics card."

BrooksyX · Feb 18, 2009

Looks like they forgot to finish the design. They should have put heatsinks on the ram and vregs.

ShadowFold · Feb 18, 2009

Wow it's 160$ on newegg. You can get a 4850 or 9800GTX+ for less.

nafets · Feb 18, 2009

alexp999 said:
Like I said in the article, BFG have actually said in the system requirements:

"System chassis intake airflow greater than or equal to 25 CFM being directed towards the graphics card."

Yes, I saw what BFG specifies. The only problem is that buyers in the market for this card (silent PC users) most likely won't be using a setup with an intake fan. I know that most any fan putting out 25 CFM should be quiet enough for most silent users. But as a purely passive product this 9800GT is ill equipped for low or no air flow. BFG might as well have just strapped on the quietest 80/92mm fan they could find and installed memory/VRM heatsinks, and avoid the hassle (or future hassle) of making the end user worry about keeping a supposedly passive video card properly cooled.

hat · Feb 18, 2009

BFG = fail. If they specificly state that you need 25CFM blowing on the card, then thier new card is just an unfinished HSF.

KainXS · Feb 18, 2009

so u litteraly need a fan on the card as bfg says so its not passive, wow what a lie

25cfm lol

mlee49 · Feb 18, 2009

hat said:
BFG = fail. If they specificly state that you need 25CFM blowing on the card, then thier new card is just an unfinished HSF.

BFG does not equal Fail. They did slip on this card with no HS's on the ram modules, but the passive cooling that requires a 25 cfm airflow is already accommodated by most case fans. The cooling offering here certainly exceeds other's "Diamond Crusted Technology" that lowers temps by 8%.

BFG has some quality vga's and PSU's. I'm curious to see how it actually holds up in a decent case vs some idiot newegg reviewer that says it overheated in their HTPC case within ten minutes of first use.

hat · Feb 18, 2009

Well that's your opinion against mine. Anyway, I meant that BFG failed on this particular card, not that they fail as a whole. BFG is overall a pretty good company.

Mussels · Feb 18, 2009

"its passive, as long as you have a fan right next to it"

oh yay. just like my 8800GTX with thermalright HR-03. Good to see progress is being made.

DrPepper · Feb 18, 2009

My 8800GT ran passively rather well about 40-50 degrees in my cosmos which had no airflow.

LittleLizard · Feb 18, 2009

mmm, to put it simple, dont like the idea of a hot card run fanless

spearman914 · Feb 18, 2009

ShadowFold said:
Wow it's 160$ on newegg. You can get a 4850 or 9800GTX+ for less.

This is only for people who game at night so price seems right. 0.o nocturnal gamers.

btarunr · Feb 18, 2009

Goodbye SLI.

hat · Feb 18, 2009

spearman914 said:
This is only for people who game at night so price seems right. 0.o nocturnal gamers.

I often stay up until I have light shining through my window, and even later than that. The noise coming from my pc doesn't bother me. My fans really aren't that loud.

Supreme0verlord · Feb 18, 2009

Man that heatsink looks retarded! And no heatsinks on the memory chips or vregs?! lol

Loke · Feb 18, 2009

btarunr said:
Goodbye SLI.

Who needs that SLI on 9800GT anyway :laugh:

? How many people use SLI on that GPU? :laugh:

btarunr · Feb 18, 2009

Loke said:
Who needs that SLI on 9800GT anyway ? How many people use SLI on that GPU?

Let's say I need it.

Loke · Feb 18, 2009

btarunr said:
Let's say I need it.

Don't You think that it'll be better to use more powerfull single GPU card?

alexp999 · Feb 18, 2009

btarunr said:
Goodbye SLI.

You could link to a non passive 9800GT below it, but that is probably why they did it anyway. Having a card directly above the passive heatsink would most likely likely caose the GPU to overheat.

Nice idea, but I dont think BFG put enough thought into this one.

btarunr · Feb 18, 2009

Loke said:
Don't You think that it'll be better to use more powerfull single GPU card?

No, I'll want another of these cards if I do SLI at a fraction of the hassle of selling the card and buying another more powerful card.

alexp999 said:
You could link to a non passive 9800GT below it, but that is probably why they did it anyway. Having a card directly above the passive heatsink would most likely likely caose the GPU to overheat.

No SLI with two of these cards, my point.

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System Name	Gaming Rig \| Uni Laptop
Processor	Intel Q6600 G0 (2007) @ 3.6Ghz @ 1.45625v (LLC) / 4 GHz Bench @ 1.63v \| AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-62 2 GHz
Motherboard	ASUS P5Q Deluxe (Intel P45) \| HP 6715b
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Software	Windows 7 Ultimate Build 7100 x64 \| Windows 7 Ultimate Build 7100 x64
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System Name	Gaming Rig \| Uni Laptop
Processor	Intel Q6600 G0 (2007) @ 3.6Ghz @ 1.45625v (LLC) / 4 GHz Bench @ 1.63v \| AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-62 2 GHz
Motherboard	ASUS P5Q Deluxe (Intel P45) \| HP 6715b
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Video Card(s)	XFX GTX 285 1GB, Modded FTW BIOS @ 725/1512/1350 w/Accelero Xtreme GTX 280 + Scythe sinks\| ATI X1250
Storage	2x WD6400AAKS 1 TB Raid 0, 140GB Raid 1 & 80GB Maxtor Basics External HDD (storage) \| 160GB 2.5"
Display(s)	Samsung SyncMaster SM2433BW @ 1920 x 1200 via DVI-D \| 15.4" WSXGA+ (1680 x 1050 resolution)
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Audio Device(s)	Soundmax AD2000BX Onboard Sound, via Logitech X-230 2.1 \| ADI SoundMAX HD Audio
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Software	Windows 7 Ultimate Build 7100 x64 \| Windows 7 Ultimate Build 7100 x64
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BFG Quietly Slips in a Passively Cooled 9800GT

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