NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti performance overview

Posted on Tuesday, January 25 2011 @ 20:39 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 560 is back with the Ti(tanium)! Lets take a look at a couple of reviews to see if this new card lives up to its name. First we head over to AnandTech, they conclude it's a stalemate with the new Radeon HD 6950 1GB but that NVIDIA is only one price cut away from winning this match.
AMD’s scramble to launch the Radeon HD 6950 1GB has produced a card with similar levels of performance and pricing as the GTX 560 Ti, making it impossible to just blindly recommend the GTX 560 Ti. With sufficient case cooling both the GTX 560 and the Radeon HD 6950 1GB are good cards for the price, and represent a meaningful step up from where we were just 2 weeks ago. Ultimately I think the situation is very similar to December’s launch of the 6900 series, and the match-up between the GTX 570 and the Radeon HD 6970: we have two very similar cards in almost all respects. The GTX 560 Ti ultimately has the edge: it’s a bit faster and it’s quieter than the 6950, and if that’s all you care about then there’s the answer you seek. But you could grab the 6950 1GB and you’d be doing no worse. The deciding factor seems to come down to just how much to value noise and cooling (560) versus power consumption (6950), what games you play, and whether you’re currently invested in the NVIDIA (CUDA, 3D Vision) or AMD (Eyefinity) ecosystem.
Legit Reviews also compared NVIDIA's latest with the Radeon HD 6950 1GB and concludes the $249.99 to $279.99 price segment just got much more interesting but that it's a though call to pick one of these cards. According to the author, the GeForce GTX 560 Ti destroys the Radeon HD 6800 series but AMD came out with a Radeon HD 6950 1GB to head them off.
If we had to pick one of these video cards today it is a tough call as the performance benchmarks were split for the most part. If you don't look at performance numbers, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti has the usual NVIDIA features like PhysX, CUDA, 3D Vision and great SLI scaling for those wanting to run multi-GPU setups. It also runs cooler at idle and load. It uses slightly less power at an idle state and, let's face it, our PCs sit at idle most of the time. The GTX 560 Ti is a small card at just 9-inches in length. This makes it 1.5-inches shorter than the Radeon HD 6950 1GB, meaning it will easily fit in your case and not block air flow. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti can also overclock really well and the price tag is lower. AMD isn't dead in the water, though, as they have Eyefinity, which is a must for those looking to run a triple-monitor setup and want to buy just one video card. The AMD Radeon HD 6950 1GB was also more energy efficient at load.
Bit Tech writes they're impressed by the GeForce GTX 560 Ti, they didn't have the opportunity to compare it to a Radeon HD 6950 1GB but write that the card is either as fast as the Radeon HD 6950 2GB or faster.
The launch price of £199 is fair too, even if you only consider stock-speed performance. With factory overclocked cards set to extend beyond this price by £20 or so, and Nvidia giving board partners free rein to produce cut-down versions too, it’s possible that the GTX 560 Ti 1GB will dominate the £175-£250 graphics market. Nothing in that price range can convincingly compete. The only realistic alternative to the GTX 560 Ti 1GB is to mod a Radeon HD 6950 2GB into an HD 6970 2GB. This would normally be a warranty-voided procedure, but PowerColor has a card that does this out of the box – the PCS++ HD6950 2GB.


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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