NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti Review
Our Summary and Conclusion
Performance Summary: The GeForce GTX 560 Ti, whether in its stock or overclocked configurations, performed very well throughout out testing. In comparison to its closely related cousin, the GeForce GTX 460, it’s no contest—the GeForce GTX 560 Ti smokes the GeForce GTX 460 across the board. It’s harder to summarize the 560 Ti’s performance versus competing cards from AMD, however. In some circumstances, the GeForce GTX 560 Ti is actually faster than the more expensive Radeon HD 6970 (Far Cry 2, Lost Planet 2). Other times the GTX 560 Ti hangs right alongside the new Radeon HD 6950 1GB (Unigine, Just Cause 2). In the rest of the games and apps we tested, the Radeons came out on top. Suffice it to say, the new GeForce GTX 560 Ti is a strong competitor to similarly positioned graphics cards from AMD.
When the GeForce GTX 460 was first introduced back in July of last year, our conclusion included these statements, “We won't beat around the bush; we really like the new GeForce GTX 460. In just about every regard, the cards are appealing… In the end, we have to commend NVIDIA for this one. The GeForce GTX 460 is simply one of the most appealing DirectX 11-class graphics cards out there. They're affordably priced, perform very well, and they're relatively small and quiet, not to mention they fully support all of NVIDIA's proprietary technologies like PhysX and CUDA.”
All of this rings true for the new GeForce GTX 560 Ti as well, with the added benefit of significantly higher performance.
NVIDIA Reference GeForce GTX 560 Ti
Suggested retail pricing for the GeForce GTX 560 Ti will be $249, which is a notch above the GeForce GTX 460’s introductory price. Overclocked models will be priced somewhat higher, but should peak around the $269 mark. Reference cards and moderately overclocked models like the MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II we looked at here should hit e-Tail today, with more aggressively clocked models arriving in a couple of weeks (some clocked at high as 1GHz). In its price range, the new GeForce GTX 560 Ti is a bit more expensive than most Radeon HD 6870 cards due to AMD's strategic price cuts this past week, but the 560 is prices right in line with the new 1GB Radeon HD 6950 at $259. As the benchmark numbers have shown, the GTX 560 Ti is typically faster than the 6870 and right about on par with the 1GB 6950; it’s faster in some games and slower in others.
NVIDIA’s latest salvo of updated Fermi-based GPUs is very strong products at their respective price points. The GeForce GTX 580 is the fastest single-GPU available, the GTX 570 is very strong in its segment, and the new GeForce GTX 560 Ti represents a great value at its price point. Competition is fierce at the moment, but that’s a great thing. Consumers now have a number of excellent options in the sub-$300 space and we suspect the GeForce GTX 560 Ti will be quite popular with budget conscious gamers. For about 250 bucks, the GeForce GTX 560 Ti has a ton of game.
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