BFG Technologies GeForce 7600GS Review

Most computer geeks know, or should know by now that Windows Vista, no matter what flavor you choose will most likely mean an upgrade in hardware or some form or fashion.  In my case it was the graphics card; everything else was in place, but my primary desktop computer had an older model analog ATI with 128MB of Video RAM (VRAM) and Windows Vista, demanded, yes I said demanded a change. 

I had been meaning to purchase a video card with a DVI (digital) output for quite some time to marry with my ViewSonic VP930B 19" Flat Panel LCD display, but I was taking my time.  The urge to install Vista Ultimate on my workstation provided the extra push I needed, so I went shopping.  The card I wanted had to have dual analog and digital outputs, and AGP interface, at least 256MB of dedicated VRAM, support Windows Vista, and cost under $150.00.  After doing a lot of comparison shopping and reading quite a few reviews (on and off Epinions) I decided on the BFG Technologies GeForce 7600GS (512MB) AGP Graphics Card based on NVidia's PureVideo technology.

The GeForce 7600GS features the GeForce 7600 Graphic Processor Unit (GPU) by NVidia, at a core clock speed of 420MHz.  The card also features 512GB of DDR2 VRAM, fits in to a 4x/8x AGP slot, and boosts Dual-link DVI-I, VGA and HDTV connectors. 

My Viewpoint

I have been using the GeForce 7600GS for some three months now and I am impressed.  A word to the wise however, under Windows Vista, the cards performance will be hindered until you install the Vista specific drivers; they included on the CD-ROM that ships with the product, but I opted to get the new drivers still in Beta from the manufactures website.

I am not a big fan of gaming so I cannot speak to the card performance under those conditions, though I understand that the GeForce 7600GS is popular with gamers.  Instead I would consider myself a typical computer user insofar as I use internet extensively, create documents with MS Word, Adobe Acrobat, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, MS Publisher, and watch videos, etc.  Aside from the videos there is nothing too demanding. 

I was (somewhat) concerned about cooling the processor on the card, but those worries have proved unfounded; the GeForce 7600GS ships with its own (decent) heat-sink/cooling fan, so over heating has not been an issue.  While shopping for the card, I read quite a few reviews that complained about the quality of ATI's heat-sink/cooling fan setup; i.e. overheating was an issue.  So I am glad I eventually decided against purchasing an ATI card despite the fact that I have used the company's video cards for years.       

I initially installed the card under the Windows XP (SP2) interface and the performed as expected with one exception: at 1280x1024 resolution the drive became very unstable; e.g. more than view times the screen literally went white; the resolution changed on its own; and other strange things happened.  Once I switched to a lower resolution the problems went away, but then my LCD display kept reminding me that the best resolution was 1280x1024!  Again a driver issue and one that did not exactly inspire confidence in the card and the so-called 24-hour tech support was no help; I called at 5:00am; I was on hold for 30 minutes before I had to move on.  I never did speak to a tech support representative.   

Interestingly enough I did not experience the aforementioned problem under Windows Vista.  The Vista drivers are stable and card is now set at the recommended resolution.  And the display is stunning!  The WOW factors of Vista is enhanced by a quality display and video card and in the BFG Technologies GeForce 7600GS (512MB) AGP Graphics Card I think I made the right choice, but Windows XP users should take heed.