NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560Ti-A killer GPU for a mid-range gaming PC.

Specifications Rs 16,888 (Zotac) www.zotac.com Fabrication process: 40 nm; Stream processors: 384; Speed (Core | Memory): 823 MHz | 1002 MHz; Memory: 1 GB GDDR5; Memory bus width: 256-bit; DirectX version: 11. Contact Aditya Infotech Phone 0120-4555666 EMAIL sales@adityagroup.com

Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Ti Zotac has gone all out and brewed a custom-designed GTX 560 Ti, but running at stock speed. The PCB of this card is slightly smaller than the reference design and measures 8.2 inches in length. The heatsink is oblong and has two copper pipes that carry heat from the base to two separate smaller heatsinks at the sides. Unlike Nvidia’s reference sample, this card also has a DisplayPort, and yes, it looks funkier in Zotac’s black and yellow theme. The card bundles with a download coupon for the full version of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, which is valid up to March 31, 2012. Palit GeForce GTX 560 Ti Sonic The suffix ‘Sonic’ suggests this card is a factory-overclocked variant with a custom cooler. The GPU runs 77 MHz faster than the stock speed at 900 MHz and the memory is clocked at 1050 MHz, which is 48 MHz faster. Out of the three cards, this card was the smallest in length, with the PCB measuring 7.3 inches; almost 2 inches smaller than Nvidia’s reference design and 1 inch smaller than Zotac’s offering. A smaller design is an advantage because it will easily fit into micro-ATX and mid-tower cases wherein it’s difficult to squeeze in graphics cards more than 10 inches in length. To deal with the additional heat dissipated due to higher clock speeds, Palit has used a dual-fan cooler. The heat sink comprises of two units; one sits over the GPU and the other is a smaller block towards the end of the card. The two are connected by three copper heat pipes. The rear of the card has a pair of dual-link DVI ports and an HDMI port. GTX 560 Ti in action The GTX 560 Ti is a big jump from the GTX 460. The latter struggled in Crysis Warhead at 1920x1080 Enthusiast mode. The GTX 560 Ti handles the game quite well at 37 fps. Even with 4xAA enabled, the game was just about playable at 30 fps, while the GTX 460 could manage only 23 fps. Palit’s factory-overclocked card was just 2 fps faster than the reference card and Zotac GTX 560 Ti running at stock speed. The Radeon HD 6870 fared equally well in Crysis Warhead, pumping out similar frame rates. Just Cause 2 is a lot lighter than Crysis Warhead and runs smoothly at 38 fps on the GTX 460 at 1920x1080 with Very High settings and 8xAA. The GTX 560 Ti was 10 fps faster than the GTX 460 and Palit’s Sonic Edition was a further 4 fps faster. This time, the Radeon HD 6870 took a beating, being 5 fps slower than the GTX 560 Ti. Mafia II looks best with all the settings maxed out and PhysX enabled, and this is where the Radeons fall to their knees. At 1920x1080, with all the visual effects cranked to full and PhysX enabled, the Radeon HD 6870 crawled at 12.6 fps. The GTX 560 Ti shone with a frame rate of 32 fps. With PhysX turned off and all other visual effects kept as is, the GTX 560 Ti and HD 6870 were almost at par.

The power of two Since we had three cards in our Test Center, we had an opportunity to club two cards in SLI. The two cards scaled very well and defeated a single GTX 580 by a big margin. The GTX 560 Ti SLI setup scored a whopping 29770 points in 3DMark Vantage, which is a good 23 percent faster than the GTX 580. The scaling was even better in Crysis Warhead and Unigine Heaven 2.1 benchmark. At 1920x1080, Enthusiast mode with 4xAA, the SLI setup churned out 56 fps; that’s 82 percent faster than a single GTX 560 Ti and 32 percent faster than a GTX 580. Unigine Heaven 2.1 benchmark is a GPU killer, with immense use of tessellation and stunning visual effects. With tessellation set to Extreme, the SLI setup scored 51 fps, which is almost twice as fast a single card and 37 percent faster than a GTX 580. On the whole, GTX 560 Ti SLI is around 75 percent faster than a single card and 30 percent faster than the GTX 580. Very impressive! Final words The average retail price of the GTX 560 Ti is Rs 16,000. Price-wise, it competes with AMD’s Radeon HD 6870, but when it comes to sheer performance, the GTX 560 Ti is a clear winner, especially when it comes to Tessellation and PhysX. A factory-overclocked GTX 560 Ti delivers only 3 to 5 fps more in most games, so unless the premium is only a few hundred rupees, we recommend sticking to a card running at stock speed. There are plenty of options based on the reference as well as custom designs already in the market. We suggest evaluating the available options and considering a card with a good custom cooler and overclocking it manually.