Many enthusiasts now consider a lifetime warranty a prerequisite for purchasing a video card, and for those of you who fall into that category, you have BFG to thank for pioneering the concept. The company didn't invent lifetime backings, but it was the first to port the concept over to discrete graphics cards, and it has been doing so since the company's inception. Even today, you can count on one hand how many graphics card manufacturers have followed suit, and still have fingers left. Today we put BFG's GeForce GTX 285 OCX under the microscope. We already know what NVIDIA's new flagship single GPU solution brings to the table, and BFG looks to up the ante by overclocking its card. - HardwareLogic

BFG GeForce GTX 285 1GB OCX Edition Card Review

And not only that, but BFG's OCX model currently ranks as the fastest GeForce GTX 285 board on the market. Combined with the company's lifetime warranty, this would appear to be a slam dunk right from the tip off, but even the favorites have a tendency to just falter. The newest GPU lineup from NVIDIA has some difference which relate to the die shrink from 65nm to 55nm technology. The trickle down effect of this die shrink starts with the lower power consumption, which in turn leads to real lower temps and the end result is more frequency headroom to play with. And that's exactly what video card makers have done.

Right from the get go, NVIDIA partners have been taking advantage of the new manufacturing process with factory overclocked video cards, and it's here where BFG puts some distance between itself and the competition, at least for the time being. Like other overclocked GeForce GTX 285 cards, BFG clocks the GPU at 702MHz, but the memory clock speed of 2664MHz effective is enough to give BFG the overall speed crown. High-end graphics cards don't often stray from the reference cooling apparatus. BFG sticks with the two slot cooling shroud found on every GeForce GTX 285 in existence, adding its own custom graphics.

This wasn't our first rodeo with NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 285 and we knew what to expect from the outset, but the question is what does BFG bring to the table? In this case, BFG brings the fastest clocked GeForce GTX 285 yet available, and even though it's not by a wide margin, it was enough to win the majority of our benchmarking tests. But more important than the extra frames the OCX model affords you, we place a bigger emphasis on the BFG brand. Specifically, two key elements. We're talking about the lifetime warranty and the hunderd calendar day trade-up program. Too often enthusiasts get caught playing the waiting game.

Having a +3 month trade-up program alleviates that concern and makes it easier to pull the trigger. Our few complaints are essentially the same as before. At $420 street, the factory overclock doesn't come cheap, checking in at up to $70 more expensive than other slower GeForce GTX 285 video cards. And while we're reluctant to complain about a lifetime backing, we'd like to see BFG offer a more liberal policy that allows users to overclock and modify the cooling solution without voiding the warranty. Gamers looking for a GeForce GTX 285 have a lot of choices, and it doesn't get any more expensive than BFG's OCX model.