
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1 GB Review
The Card »GTX 560 Ti Review Introduction

Here you are, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti launch pilot review. Making use of NVIDIA's proven second generation Fermi architecture, this GPU targets a key price point which has been NVIDIA and ATI's hunting ground since 2006. The sub-$300 segment is where customers have learned to expect high-end like performance and features at compelling prices. Price-performance ratio is the king here. The performance-price sweet spot is a virtual G-spot for GPU manufacturers. Whoever hits it right, gets loads of...sales. Veterans in this segment include the GeForce 7900 GT, Radeon X1950 Pro, GeForce 8800 GT, Radeon HD 4850, GeForce GTX 260-216, GeForce GTX 460, Radeon HD 6870, and in comes the latest contender, the GeForce GTX 560 Ti. The model name invokes some nostalgia as SKUs carrying the "Ti" marker were some of NVIDIA's first with programmable shaders. While the GeForce GTX 560 Ti isn't a "first" in anything as far as feature-set goes, I think "Ti" has more to do with shaping up the brand, telling buyers that the product has a little more to offer for its price, and that it's a step above the price point GTX 460 set for itself, while remaining to be a performance segment model.
Getting into the fine print of NVIDIA's offer, the GeForce GTX 560 Ti is based on NVIDIA's new GF114 chip. As far as its specifications and transistor-count go, the GeForce GTX 560 Ti is identical to the GF104 on which GTX 460 was based, except that it has all 384 of the CUDA cores physically present enabled, and that it uses the same secret-sauce (read: electrical enhancements) that made GF110, an evolved clone of the GF100, totally rock with power consumption figures. 384 CUDA cores apart, there's a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, 32 ROPs, branched geometry processing, and the immediate fruition of the electrical enhancements, clock speeds: 822 MHz core, 1640 MHz CUDA cores, and 1000 MHz (4.00 GHz effective) memory. As far as features go, the GeForce GTX 560 Ti doesn't come with anything we haven't seen already with the GTX 460, it's all about performance per watt/dollar in this round.
GeForce GTX 460 | GeForce GTX 460 | Radeon HD 6850 | Radeon HD 5850 | GeForce GTX 470 | Radeon HD 6870 | GeForce GTX 560 Ti | Radeon HD 5870 | GeForce GTX 570 | GeForce GTX 480 | GeForce GTX 580 | Radeon HD 5970 | |
Shader units | 336 | 336 | 960 | 1440 | 448 | 1120 | 384 | 1600 | 480 | 480 | 512 | 2x 1600 |
ROPs | 24 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 40 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 40 | 48 | 48 | 2x 32 |
GPU | GF104 | GF104 | Barts | Cypress | GF100 | Barts | GF114 | Cypress | GF110 | GF100 | GF110 | 2x Cypress |
Transistors | 1950M | 1950M | 1700M | 2154M | 3200M | 1700M | 1950M | 2154M | 3000M | 3200M | 3000M | 2x 2154M |
Memory Size | 768 MB | 1024 MB | 1024 MB | 1024 MB | 1280 MB | 1024 MB | 1024 MB | 1024 MB | 1280 MB | 1536 MB | 1536 MB | 2x 1024 MB |
Memory Bus Width | 192 bit | 256 bit | 256 bit | 256 bit | 320 bit | 256 bit | 256 bit | 256 bit | 320 bit | 384 bit | 384 bit | 2x 256 bit |
Core Clock | 675 MHz | 675 MHz | 775 MHz | 725 MHz | 607 MHz | 900 MHz | 823 MHz | 850 MHz | 732 MHz | 700 MHz | 772 MHz | 725 MHz |
Memory Clock | 900 MHz | 900 MHz | 1000 MHz | 1000 MHz | 837 MHz | 1050 MHz | 1002 MHz | 1200 MHz | 950 MHz | 924 MHz | 1002 MHz | 1000 MHz |
Price | $160 | $200 | $180 | $260 | $260 | $240 | $250 | $360 | $330 | $450 | $500 | $580 |