Posted 10/12/09 at 03:41:00 PM by Paul Lilly

One thing's for sure - no one can accuse BFG of jumping into the gaming notebook market half-assed. On the contrary, BFG, best known for it's lineup of GPUs, today announced the Deimos X-10 SLI gaming laptop that looks as sexy as its spec sheet.

"The Deimos X-10 SLI notebook is perfect for gamers and media enthusiasts who demand desktop performance but prefer the portability of a notebook," said John Malley, senior director of marketing for BFG Technologies. "Deimos X-10 comes fully locked and loaded to deliver the ultimate HD mobile gaming and multimedia experience."

The Deimos X-10 sports a spacious 18.4-inch full HD widescreen display, and underneath the hood, users can choose between an Intel Core 2 Duo, Quad, or Extreme processor. Up to two NVidia GTX 280M graphics cards come configurable to get your mobile SLI groove on. Other specs include an optional Blu-ray drive, full size keyboard with 8 touch sensor instant keys, up to 1.5TB of storage space (SSD or HDD), up to 8GB of DDR3 memory, 8 macro gaming keys, 2MP webcam, HDMI output, four USB ports, and more.

BFG says its new notebook will start shipping on October 30, but those who preorder before then will receive 10 percent off their order. Pricing starts at $1,860.

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Posted 08/12/09 at 03:15:09 PM by Paul Lilly

Adding to its EX power supply line, BFG this week launched its new EX-1000, a 1000 watt modular power supply that you will only be able to purchase at Best Buy stores or through BestBuy.com.

The modular unit boasts 80 Plus Bronze certification, which calls for PSUs to retain 85 percent power at a 50 percent load, and never drop below 82 percent at any load level. According to BFG, out of the 1,627 power supplies certified to be 80 Plus efficient, only 175, or less than 10 percent, are 1000W or greater.

Connectors consist of 12x SATA, 2x 4-pin floppy, 9x 4-pin Molex, 3x 8-pin (6+2) PCI-E, 3x 6-pin PCI-E, 1x 8-pin CPU 12V, 1x 4-pin CPU 12V, and 1x 24-pin (20+4-pin) motherboard. Other features include quad +12V rails, a "silent" 135mm intake fan, a handful of Velcro straps, and a lifetime warranty (when registered within 30 days of purchase date).

The EX-1000 is available now from Best Buy / BestBuy.com for $200.

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Posted 08/04/09 at 02:45:03 PM by Paul Lilly

Setting up and maintaining a liquid-cooling setup isn't for everyone, and it's this crowd BFG is targeting with a pair of maintenance-free, self-contained liquid-cooled GeForce graphics cards, the GTX 285 H2O+ and the GTX 295 H2OC.

Both new cards sport BFG's new ThermoIntelligence Advanced Cooling Solution, which when you take away the fancy title means you can enjoy the benefits of water cooling your videocard(s) without all the fuss. According to BFG, the cards are easy to install right out of the box and never need refilling or additional components. The benefit, says BFG, is up to 30C cooler temps under load when pitted against standard air cooled models.

"We're very excited to be the first company to bring this type of professional grade advanced cooling solution to PC enthusiasts," said John Malley, senior director of marketing for BFG.

BFG's GTX 295 H2OC will sport a 675MHz core clockspeed, 2214MHz memory data rate, and 1458MHz shader clockspeed. The GTX 285 H2O+ will run at 691MHz, 2592MHz, and 1566MHz core, memory, and shader clockspeeds, respectively.

The GTX 295 H2OC will be available in limited quantities starting August 5th, while the GTX 285 H2O+ will also be available in limited quantities, starting August 12th. No word on price.

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Posted 06/02/09 at 10:04:21 AM by Paul Lilly

For those of you not familiar with BFG's Trade Up program, registered owners of qualified videocards have 100 calendar days from the date of purchase to trade their card in for a faster, more expensive model and pay the price difference. Now you'll be able to do the same with BFG-brand power supplies, assuming you meet the criteria.

"This program only applies to BFG power supplies purchased after June 1, 2009," BFG states. "This program may not be available to all customers, and rules/restrictions may apply. The Program is currently only available in the U.S. and Canada."

For a limited time, BFG is extending the offer to include PSUs purchased as far back as January 1, 2009. The company doesn't say how long the offer will remain valid.

More terms and conditions here.

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Posted 01/22/09 at 02:34:46 PM by Paul Lilly

Earlier this month BFG announced it would become a boutique system builder, a bold move considering the market sector has seen the departure of big name boutiques like Alienware, Voodoo, and HyperSonic as standalone entities (now owned by Dell, HP, and OCZ respectively). Even bolder was the announcement of its $8,000 flagship Elite model in the new Phobos line, which comes standard with dual BFG GeForce GTX 295 videocards, Intel's Core i7 965 Extreme processor, 6GB of RAM, and other high end treats.

Now that www.bfgsystems.com has gone live and is taking orders, we have more information on the Performance and Advanced models, which start at $3,000 and $8,000 respectively. For three grand, the Performance configuration comes standard with a water-cooled Core i7 920 (2.66GHz) processor, 6GB of DDR3-1333 RAM, GeForce GTX 285 videocard, two 640GB WD hard drives, DVD burner, and a 1KW PSU. The Advanced configuration bumps the processor up to Intel's Core i7 940 (2.93GHz), adds a second GTX 285 videocard, trades the 640GB hard drives for a pair of 300GB Velociraptors instead, and forgoes onboard sound in favor of Creative's X-Fi Titanium.

All three configurations come with free in-home setup.

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Posted 11/28/08 at 11:39:39 AM by Paul Lilly

Staving off the upgrade bug while waiting for the inevitable next best thing that's always just around the corner can cause you to be in a perpetual state of limbo. But if you've been suffering from this phenomenon since the AGP days, now might be the perfect time to pull the trigger. Not only has Intel released it's Core i7 platform, but if your aging AGP videocard is a qualified BFG-branded unit, you might be able to score a free or low-cost ($50) PCI-E upgrade.

"Now, for a limited time, if you send us your BFG AGP card in good, working condition, we'll send you the PCI Express equivalent at no cost to you," BFG wrote on its AGP-to-PCI-E promotional page. "If you want to upgrade to an even better performing card, there is a nominal fee to do so. Offer good for U.S. customers only."

Furthermore, BFG's claim that the free PCI-E upgrade is equivalent to its AGP counterpart might be a bit modest in certain circumstances. For example, BFG will upgrade owners of GeForce 6800OC AGP videocards with just a 128MB frame buffer to a 9600GT OC PCI-E card with 512MB of memory. The same 9600GT OC is used for all but one of the free upgrades and the performance levels out as you move up the AGP food chain, but for $50, users can instead opt for a 9800GT OC.

The offer is available for a limited time, though BFG has not specified a more specific time frame. Current AGP owners will need to register their cards with BFG if they haven't already done so. But don't fret if you've lost the receipt - BFG says no proof of purchase will be required.

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Posted 11/20/08 at 03:10:37 PM by Paul Lilly

Last week we reported that Continental Promotions Group (CPG), one of the largest and oldest rebate entities in the business, managed to put itself in a rather sticky situation by not having enough funds to pay off its obligations. To quickly recap, manufacturers have a pretty good idea of how many rebates on any given product will be processed and cut a check to CPG based on that amount. CPG then doles out the funds as rebate forms come trickling in, but a large chunk of money has gone inexplicably missing. According to HardOCP, CPG owes anywhere between $9 million to $12 million, but only has $3 million in cash. Oops!

No laughing matter, it's the consumers who ultimately get the raw end of the deal, but at least one company has stepped up where CPG has fallen down.  In a letter to its customers, John Malley, BFG's senior director of marketing said that it has "corrected the situation" so that U.S.-based customers are clear to cash their rebate checks.

"One of our third-party rebate processing companies recently informed us that they are experiencing financial difficulties, and that the funds provided to them by BFG Technologies to pay rebate checks for certain BFG products were no longer available," Malley writes. We are happy to inform our rebate customers in the U.S. that BFG has corrected the situation, and you CAN cash your check to receive your rebate payment. This applies to all rebate checks for BFG Technologies. For Canadian customers, please hold on to your check and do not attempt to cash it. We are actively working on a solution for you and will update this message or contact you directly before the end of this week."

Malley asks that anyone who has already tried to cash a rebate check only to have it bounce or be refused by the bank to contact sales@bfgtech.com so that BFG can issue a new check, one which should clear the bank.

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Posted 11/11/08 at 02:00:53 PM by The Maximum PC Staff

I built my computer about a month ago—it’s nothing special. I’m running an Intel Pentium D 820 on an Asus P5W DH Deluxe motherboard. For a videocard, I’m rocking a BFG 9800 GTX.

I stumbled upon the System Information at the bottom-left corner of the Nvidia Control Panel recently. When I clicked it, I took note of the plethora of information on the 9800 GTX. What caught my eye was the very last line: BUS: PCI Express x4. That seems off, given that my card uses an x16 interface. What gives?

—Juan Campos

Check out Juan's answer, after the jump!

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