Inno3D GTX560 Ti 1GB OC Review

👤by Sahil Mannick Comments 📅27-03-11
Conclusion
Nvidia aimed for the GTX560Ti to compete with AMD’s HD6870 after their GTX460 failed to do so convincingly. However based on the launch price, it seemed that Nvidia were targeting a market between AMD’s HD6870 and their higher end Cayman based HD6950. At £200 or less, this is a very interesting prospect and one that will appeal to a lot of consumers seeking a mid-range card. It has come to a point where mid-range cards can provide a substantial fraction of their higher end brethren’s performance. This is certainly the case for Inno3D’s GTX560Ti which even comes close to a stock clocked GTX480. Concluding the performance of the GTX560Ti, there are lots to consider, especially given the dynamism of the market lately.

The reference GTX560Ti is a very competitive card at around £200. Based on the overall performance, it is on par with the HD6950. The difference wasn’t even 1% making both very good buys. However, it is important to note that most games either favour Nvidia cards or AMD cards so basing the performance on the overall outcome isn’t the best way of comparing the two cards. Crysis Warhead, Metro2033 and Alien VS Predator appear to favour the AMD cards whereas Far Cry 2, Street Fighter IV, Resident Evil 5, DIRT 2 and HawX show Nvidia cards to have the upper hand. Battlefield Bad Company 2 is one of the few games that is optimised very well for both and is more representative of the overall performance. Using that as a reference there are some notable differences between the GTX560Ti and the HD6950. Going from 1680x1050 to 1920x1200, the larger 2GB framebuffer on the latter card starts to come in useful and increases the performance gap between itself and the GTX560Ti. Even in games dominated by the Nvidia card, the 2GB framebuffer on the HD6950 helps close the performance gap at higher settings. While the GTX560Ti may have more raw performance to give a better overall result, the larger memory on the HD6950 is highly beneficial when it comes to increasing in-game settings or using multi-monitor setups such as Eyefinity or Nvidia surround technology.


So far we’ve mostly talked about the reference card but what about Inno3D’s pre-overclocked GTX560Ti. The card can only be classed as impressive. For those not looking to overclock, we compared the card against others at their defaults speeds to see how it would fare. The results were very favourable, outclassing even the HD6970 by a marginal amount, and coming close to matching the GTX480. For a £200 card, that’s no mean feat. However, the pre-overclock is as far as the card would go when trying to overclock further. As such, when it is compared to other overclocked cards, it proved to be more in tune with what we expected. The card still did a stellar job at outperforming the overclocked HD6950 and coming close to matching even the HD6970. Even if we take into account that the HD6950 can be unlocked and overclocked to the same speeds as that of the HD6970 on test here, it is impressive that a mere clock increase on the GTX560 can result in similar gains. Again though, the 2GB framebuffer is the main attraction of the AMD card and shouldn’t be overlooked.

The GTX560Ti is a very capable card and its overclocking headroom, as demonstrated by Inno3D, is excellent. Inno3D have taken the hard work away from potential buyers just as they did with their GTX570 although it does mean that some of the fun is always taken away. The package is rich in little extras such as 3DMark11 and a StarCraft II trial key and that immediately gives it an advantage over other brands. It’s strange that they stuck to the reference Nvidia design when everyone else has opted for custom coolers but it works effectively and reduces the costs. The only real downside is the 1GB framebuffer which is fast becoming a minimum requirement for high resolution gaming. Seeing as how AMD have opted to put 2GB on their HD6950, Nvidia will have to learn from them in order to attract buyers who in many cases don’t know better. The reality is that the GTX560Ti still copes very well in today’s games but to appease the growing popularity of multi-monitor gaming, the 1GB framebuffer is a limitation. So between the GTX560Ti and the HD6950, which would I choose? I’d get whichever performed best on the games I played.

Pros
+Very good performance
+Substantial Pre-overclocked
+Excellent tessellation performance
+Efficient and cool operation
+CUDA and PhysX support
+Well packaged
+Good bundle
+Small

Cons
-Slight instability at default voltage
-Lower framebuffer than competitors
-No further overclocking headroom


The Inno3D GTX560Ti deserves the Vortez Hardware Silver Award and commendation for Value for Money.




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