Official GTX560 Review Thread (updated with 17 reviews at this time)

[MentalIlness]

Why are these cards limited to 2 card SLI only ? No support for 3-way ?

 

[bryanW1995]

So basically you can buy a 560 for $250 and oc the heck out of it and it smokes anything AMD has? Big trouble for amd if that's the case.

no, a $270 2gb 6950 will unlock to 6970 and smoke even an OC'd 560.

 

[PingviN]

Why are these cards limited to 2 card SLI only ? No support for 3-way ?

Because Nvidia doesn't want them canabilizing sales of more expensive GeForce prodcuts.

 

[bryanW1995]

We don't know that. We don't know how much those 1050mhz overclocks increase power consumption for both cards. Seeing as the 6950 is faster when both are overclocked a bit more power use is ok.

I have to admit the 560 is a quiet card, we just need to see those custom 6950 benched (The sapphire, XFX and HIS cards we saw)

I think that's what I like most about my 460. they are just incredibly quiet and cool running, even at massive OC's. nice to see that they were able to keep the power/noise/heat under control even with the massive performance increase.

 

[bryanW1995]

Picked up one of those Galaxy GTX460 768MB and didn't open it yet because I wanted to see how the 560 would turn out. At 1680x1050 (paired with a Phenom II X4 @3.5GHz) I take it there's no real reason to return it to grab a 560?

I'm using a gtx 460 768 at 1680x1050. just use afterburner to OC it to 850-900 core and you'll have all the power you need for a long time.

 

[Nged72]

How hard and risky is flashing the 6950 to 6970?

 

[Erudite21]

Jesus, what a mess a couple of people have turned this thread into. Not really surprised I suppose.

I ordered the MSI GTX 560 TWIN FROZR card from Amazon (Had several gift cards from Christmas) and awaiting it's arrival tomorrow. I only do 1920x1080 gaming and feel this card will suffice for a good while. Will post what it is like to overclock as soon as I get done playing with it.

How much did the card sell for? I see it is sold out now.

 

[Nged72]

How much did the card sell for? I see it is sold out now.

It's cheaper on Newegg even with shipping

 

[Castiel]

I can imagine some 1.1Ghz core overclocks with a 560 on water

 

[Castiel]

Is there a reason Anandtech didn't do a 560 SLI review?

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Is there a reason Anandtech didn't do a 560 SLI review?

They are updating all of their SLI/Crossfire results with the new drivers. In the review he said there would be another review of SLI later this week.

 

[sticks435]

PureOC.com and overclockersclub.com have both the Twin Frozr II and DirectCU II reviews. Looks like The Frozr has lower temps and better fans, while the Asus OC's a little higher. 1070 asus vs 1030 msi. So far all 3 sites that reviewed the asus have said that the fans emit a whine when they crank up.

Edit: Those speeds above are for PureOC. OCC.com got 1027/1177 on MSI and 1004/1202 on Asus. Also, the PureOC temps were at stock. OC'd, both cards are within 2 degrees of each other.

 

[Idontcare]

Welcome to the forums Erudite21! :thumbsup:

 

[drizek]

I have a 380W Earthwatts power supply and an OCd Phenom II 720. I currently use an HD 4830 and it works fine, but I'm wondering if getting either a GTX 560 or 6950 would be too much for my PSU. The Core i7 with 6970 in the at review topped out at 361, so I'm thinking that even a flashed 6950 would be fine if I don't overvolt it. I don't game all that often, but is running my PSU at close to 100% for a few hours a week a bad idea? I was actually surprised to find that it actually had two PCIE power cables(the new 430W model only has one, IIRC).

 

[Bearach]

The GTX560 looks a great card, shame it wasn't released sooner! Looks like it's done a great thing for us consumers, and hopefully there will be more slashes on prices in it's segment.

Looks like a heavily overclocked 6870 comes up close but not quite to the GTX560 and a stock 6950 is about on par, with them trading blows... Wonder why they brought back the Ti moniker... not seen that in a while.

Overclocking can be done both sides, so it's all about the price and brand preference in my opinion.

People stating it's more power efficient though, I don't know, it's reference design uses more power than a 6950 according to AnandTech's review, so overclocking would definitely go up from that point, so can't see how they're seeing that.

Would I buy a GTX560? Yup, would I buy a 6950? Yup to that too!

 

[drizek]

I think the Ti means that it is designed for gaming instead of CUDA.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

I have a 380W Earthwatts power supply and an OCd Phenom II 720. I currently use an HD 4830 and it works fine, but I'm wondering if getting either a GTX 560 or 6950 would be too much for my PSU. The Core i7 with 6970 in the at review topped out at 361, so I'm thinking that even a flashed 6950 would be fine if I don't overvolt it. I don't game all that often, but is running my PSU at close to 100% for a few hours a week a bad idea? I was actually surprised to find that it actually had two PCIE power cables(the new 430W model only has one, IIRC).

I would recommend trying to stay as close to the 4830's power as you can. This would mean a 6850, for maximum performance and equivalent power. A 6950 can use up to twice the power as a 4830, so you would definitely be taking a bigger risk.

Technically... a stock 6950 with a stock Phenom 720 should work fine with a little bit of room to spare.. But since you overclock, that throws the game off and makes estimating more difficult. So this is why my recommendation is on the safe side.

I am simply unsure how much power your 720 is using when overclocked, but it's certainly more than stock.

 

[Bearach]

I think the Ti means that it is designed for gaming instead of CUDA.

Possibly, but when they first started using Ti it was with the GeForce 2 Ti, if my memory serves me well, and that was their "halo" of the GeForce2's (forgot about the Ultra... so not Halo but it was still one of the best GeForce 2's). Subsequent releases were just all Ti's till GeForce 5, which was FX.

 

[sticks435]

Possibly, but when they first started using Ti it was with the GeForce 2 Ti, if my memory serves me well, and that was their "halo" of the GeForce2's. Subsequent releases were just all Ti's till GeForce 5, which was FX.

I thought they Used MX for 4200 series also, and got a lot of flak because the Geforce 3 was actually faster than a MX?

 

[Bearach]

I thought they Used MX for 4200 series also, and got a lot of flak because the Geforce 3 was actually faster than a MX?

Okay, I should have not said *all* in that context, they used MX for the GeForce 2, too... and yeah, I remember there was a lot of people confused about them at the time. To nVIDIA's credit, the GeForce 4 series of MX's were 3 numbers mostly, where as their full fledged GeForce 4's were 4.

So I change it to, all their fully fledged GeForce 3, and 4's were Ti.

 

[drizek]

I would recommend trying to stay as close to the 4830's power as you can. This would mean a 6850, for maximum performance and equivalent power. A 6950 can use up to twice the power as a 4830, so you would definitely be taking a bigger risk.

Technically... a stock 6950 with a stock Phenom 720 should work fine with a little bit of room to spare.. But since you overclock, that throws the game off and makes estimating more difficult. So this is why my recommendation is on the safe side.

I am simply unsure how much power your 720 is using when overclocked, but it's certainly more than stock.

well it is a 95W part, so overclocked, probably 120-140W is a fair guess(particularly considering how my motherboard would probably fry if it was using any more than 140). This is about the same power consumption as an i7, right?

I don't see the 6850 as being too much of an upgrade over the 4830, particularly for the price. The 6870 is nice, but it isn't much more power efficient than a 6950. The OCd one actually uses more power than a stock 6950 in furmark, and even at stock it only used 2W less. Total system power was 320W, which is enough to account for possibly some excess CPU draw and for having a couple of hard drives. I'd like to be conservative, but PSUs are designed to run at full draw, right?

Okay, I should have not said *all* in that context, they used MX for the GeForce 2, too... and yeah, I remember there was a lot of people confused about them at the time. To nVIDIA's credit, the GeForce 4 series of MX's were 3 numbers mostly, where as their full fledged GeForce 4's where 4.

So I change it to, all their fully fledged GeForce 3, and 4's were Ti.

Yes. Their mainstream cars were labeled MX, their gaming cards were TI and their Fail cards were FX .

 

[sticks435]

Okay, I should have not said *all* in that context, they used MX for the GeForce 2, too... and yeah, I remember there was a lot of people confused about them at the time. To nVIDIA's credit, the GeForce 4 series of MX's were 3 numbers mostly, where as their full fledged GeForce 4's were 4.

So I change it to, all their fully fledged GeForce 3, and 4's were Ti.

Yea, which alot of review sites are thinking is why they brought it back. Ti for the full fledged cards, and either nothing or MX or SE for the cut down GF114/116.

 

[Bearach]

Yea, which alot of review sites are thinking is why they brought it back. Ti for the full fledged cards, and either nothing or MX or SE for the cut down GF114/116.

It would have made sense to bring back Ti for the 570 and 580 too if it was to denote a full fledged 500 Series.

 

[Bearach]

Yes. Their mainstream cars were labeled MX, their gaming cards were TI and their Fail cards were FX .

lol! FX was bad, I completely skipped it, and their MX cards... I didn't like them at all. Ti or nothing for me in them times :biggrin:

 

[96Firebird]

well it is a 95W part, so overclocked, probably 120-140W is a fair guess(particularly considering how my motherboard would probably fry if it was using any more than 140). This is about the same power consumption as an i7, right?

I don't see the 6850 as being too much of an upgrade over the 4830, particularly for the price. The 6870 is nice, but it isn't much more power efficient than a 6950. The OCd one actually uses more power than a stock 6950 in furmark, and even at stock it only used 2W less. Total system power was 320W, which is enough to account for possibly some excess CPU draw and for having a couple of hard drives. I'd like to be conservative, but PSUs are designed to run at full draw, right?

I would be careful about running a PSU near full load for any amount of time. Your PSU is probably 80% efficient, so you need to take that into account. I have an Enermax 460W PSU and i'm guessing I'm pretty close to the maximum output of my PSU with an OC'd 65W dual core and an OC'd GTX460...