Honestly I am not surprised, when they closed their doors to the GPU line I was like WTF, why would you keep a PSU line that is well descent but not top of the line? I saw it coming awhile ago when it took them 2 months to get me an RMA'ed GTX280... I highly doubt that other companies will go this way. Honestly I think BFG ran out of products, they stopped making motherboards and competed in a high competitive market. Lets be honest if someone has two choices and BFG is $20 more and warranty is the same, they are going to save the $20.
As for the Killer NIC, I seriously don't know how the heck they are still in business? WHO BUYS THEIR CARDS?!
Like Thrax (and a point I made in the article) said: I think one of the problems that the extreme OEMs are having is that the stock-clocked chips on standard reference boards with reference coolers are putting out enough performance to make their updates irrelevant.
Why would I spend an extra $200 on a super-clocked card that gives me a 10% (or even 20%) performance gain, when I can probably do that myself using RivaTuner or CCC on a stock card with reference parts?
Why would I spend an extra $200 on a super-clocked card that gives me a 10% (or even 20%) performance gain, when I can probably do that myself using RivaTuner or CCC on a stock card with reference parts?
Their market was certainly wider before the advent of "easy" overclocking, but I'd be surprised if there still weren't plenty of people who would take a premium to not have to do it themselves. After all, Alienware is still around (though the benefit you get from an Alienware is highly suspect).
Their market was certainly wider before the advent of "easy" overclocking, but I'd be surprised if there still weren't plenty of people who would take a premium to not have to do it themselves. After all, Alienware is still around (though the benefit you get from an Alienware is highly suspect).
I agree, but I think their market has shrunk enough that it's really starting to affect even the biggest names.
Group 1: People who originally liked the idea of OverClocking, but found it too difficult/dangerous to do themselves. Software tools have made it a lot easier and safer. Additionally, thermal sensors and cutoffs/throttling on-die make it almost impossible to detonate your GPU anymore.
Group 2: Liked the idea of the performance gain, but don't see enough benefit any longer to justify the price.
Both were good customers of BFG and the like, but now don't really have a reason for such cards.
Their market was certainly wider before the advent of "easy" overclocking, but I'd be surprised if there still weren't plenty of people who would take a premium to not have to do it themselves. After all, Alienware is still around (though the benefit you get from an Alienware is highly suspect).
Dell bought alienware. Otherwise, they wouldn't be around. HP bought Voodoo, same case. Falcon-NW seems to still be hangin in there, but they have their custom painting niche.
Bfg is going out of business.I got a letter from them stating this and the are not covering any warrenty on there cards.Save your money without the warrenty theses cards are useless
BFG's troubles were not purely the highly competitive nature of the area. NVIDIA has too many AIB partners as is. Just off the top of my head, only the ones doing lifetime warranties, you have: BFG with Lifetime, EVGA with Lifetime, and XFX with Double Lifetime.
Total AIB partners? Well: BFG, EVGA, XFX, MSI, Asus, PNY, Gigabyte, Jaton, Palit, Zotac, ECS, and Biostar. Just off the top of my head. All of these companies have to compete with each other for part supply, especially on 480 and 470's.
That's why only a tiny subset made 480's or 470's at release, and BFG would have had to fight them very hard for supply. Without a 480, BFG couldn't compete at all. It's likely that BFG was told they would not be getting enough GPUs to make 480's when they announced they were exiting the graphics card business.
And once they exited graphics, that was probably that.
So, the letter says in a nice way, Nvidia screwed us all, have a nice life!!
To be honest though, who can really take a company called BFG seriously? When it came time to dole out the dozen or so working Fermi chips they had, no wonder they were at the bottom of the list.
Now, if they would have wised up like XFX, maybe they would still be around.
AlexDeGruven
Wut?Meechigan Icrontian
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As for the Killer NIC, I seriously don't know how the heck they are still in business? WHO BUYS THEIR CARDS?!
It'll be a sad day if they actually go under
Just like every other GeForce, and therein lies the rub.
Good write up though!
Why would I spend an extra $200 on a super-clocked card that gives me a 10% (or even 20%) performance gain, when I can probably do that myself using RivaTuner or CCC on a stock card with reference parts?
Their market was certainly wider before the advent of "easy" overclocking, but I'd be surprised if there still weren't plenty of people who would take a premium to not have to do it themselves. After all, Alienware is still around (though the benefit you get from an Alienware is highly suspect).
I agree, but I think their market has shrunk enough that it's really starting to affect even the biggest names.
Group 1: People who originally liked the idea of OverClocking, but found it too difficult/dangerous to do themselves. Software tools have made it a lot easier and safer. Additionally, thermal sensors and cutoffs/throttling on-die make it almost impossible to detonate your GPU anymore.
Group 2: Liked the idea of the performance gain, but don't see enough benefit any longer to justify the price.
Both were good customers of BFG and the like, but now don't really have a reason for such cards.
Dell bought alienware. Otherwise, they wouldn't be around. HP bought Voodoo, same case. Falcon-NW seems to still be hangin in there, but they have their custom painting niche.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6921
Total AIB partners? Well: BFG, EVGA, XFX, MSI, Asus, PNY, Gigabyte, Jaton, Palit, Zotac, ECS, and Biostar. Just off the top of my head. All of these companies have to compete with each other for part supply, especially on 480 and 470's.
That's why only a tiny subset made 480's or 470's at release, and BFG would have had to fight them very hard for supply. Without a 480, BFG couldn't compete at all. It's likely that BFG was told they would not be getting enough GPUs to make 480's when they announced they were exiting the graphics card business.
And once they exited graphics, that was probably that.
To be honest though, who can really take a company called BFG seriously? When it came time to dole out the dozen or so working Fermi chips they had, no wonder they were at the bottom of the list.
Now, if they would have wised up like XFX, maybe they would still be around.