Verdict and Conclusion
Looking at the results from our tests, you can see that the Gigabyte Geforce GTX 560 Ti is quite a performer, producing excellent scores in all of our benchmarks. It easily outperforms both the GTX 460 and the standard GTX 560 Ti, however it’s beaten by the more powerful GTX 570, which is expected … but only marginally. That’s pretty amazing considering the GTX 570 costs an extra USD $100 or more. It’s by far one of the fastest Geforce GTX 560 Ti we’ve tested in our labs, and this is all thanks to the overclocked GPU running at 900Mhz (default is 822Mhz). Furthermore, to give the graphics card something extra special, Gigabyte have included their innovative UltraDurable VGA technology, which gives it extra stability, increased longevity and better cooling.
The Geforce GTX 560 Ti GPU uses all of Nividia’s 3D technologies, which includes CUDA, DX11, OpenGL 4.2, PhysX, Nvidia’s 3D Vision, as well as HD hardware video decode acceleration. However, unlike the GTX 570 and the flagship GTX 580, which can support 3-way or even 4-way SLI for multi-GPU configuration … the Geforce GTX 560 Ti only supports 2-way SLI, which I think is fine and should be more than enough for most gamers. Again remember, the Geforce GTX 560 Ti is currently marketed by Nvidia as the entry-point to their Geforce GTX 500 series. So with this in mind, plus what we’ve seen from our benchmarks … I can say I’m more than happy with both its performance and the features that it offers.
Appearance wise, Gigabyte’s Geforce GTX 560 Ti looks no different to their older GTX 460 models. The PCB board looks the same, it uses the same Wind-Force x2 anti-turbulence cooling solution, and it has the same video outputs. The only noticeable difference is when you install the card in to your system … then you’ll see the GTX 560 markings on the PCB, and during driver installation. For connectivity, there’s a mini-HDMI port and dual DVI, which I think is more than enough for most users.
The packaging is what you would expect from Gigabyte … a nice looking box, but nothing special. However, it does come with the usual intruction manual, driver CD, 2 x 6pin PCIE power cables, DVI-to-VGA converter and a mini-HDMI to standard HDMI adaptor. I suppose Gigabyte could have included a DX11 game or possibly a “full feature” HDMI cable … if they did, then it would make the product complete.
Nvidia has definitely come up with a winner here, and I can see an explosion of these Geforce GTX 560 Ti graphic cards to hit the market over the next few months. So what about competition from AMD? What competition? Well, it’s sad … but AMD haven’t actually been on top of their game lately, however they did announce the Radeon HD 6990 Dual GPU graphics card with 4Gb GDDR5 ram … but honestly, who can really afford it? If AMD is going to compete against Nvidia in the higher-end mainstream and gamers market … they’ll need to take a good hard look at Geforce GTX 560 Ti, and come up with something that can compete against it.
Pricewise, the Gigabyte Geforce GTX 560 Ti will cost you somewhere in the region of USD $250 (GBP 215), which I think is excellent, as it offers one of the best price/performance ratio I’ve seen, in quite a while. For that price, you would get one of the fastest Geforce GTX 560 Ti on the market, offering performance that just rocks!
Final words: The Gigabyte Geforce GTX 560 Ti is a real stunner. Armed with an overclocked GPU, it offers excellent performance that almost matches the more expensive GTX 570. What’s more, it comes with all of Gigabyte’s innovation UltraDurable VGA technologies, including the Wind-Force x2 anti-turbulence cooling solution. I have no problems giving it our Editor’s Choice award, as it ticks all the right boxes and more … performance, price and features.
SCORE
9/10
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