Galaxy GeForce GTX 560 Ti GC Video Card Review @ [H]

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FrgMstr

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Galaxy GeForce GTX 560 Ti GC Video Card Review - Today, NVIDIA continues the new GeForce GTX 500 series line with the introduction of the GeForce GTX 560 Ti. We will test this new $257 video card against the competition and find out what the real value is at this sweet spot of gaming goodness. You may be surprised at the results, but you might also save some money.
 
Excellent review Kyle & thanks. Really helped me in making a firm decision on my next video card purchase. By any chance, do you think AMD's price drop had anything to do with them getting wind that their HD 6950 card would be able to compete with the 560 Ti if a simple price drop was done?
 
Its pretty impressive & a big step above the GTX 460 but AMD's 6950 price drop sure hurts the sale of this card in my eyes.

I was debating on grabbing the 560 myself but now I cant
 
terrybogard21 said:
Excellent review Kyle & thanks. Really helped me in making a firm decision on my next video card purchase. By any chance, do you think AMD's price drop had anything to do with them getting wind that their HD 6950 card would be able to compete with the 560 Ti if a simple price drop was done?
Click to expand...

I think AMD's price drop had to be firmly based on reviewers leaking information to the company. Either that, or AMD guessed really good and I just don't see "gut feelings" changing market prices. AMD is getting a LOT more savvy when it comes to controlling and using information than it used to be.
 
Very nice article and conclusion was as honest as they come.

This price point just got way crowded with quality parts.

I still think going with the AMD 6950 2GB card (reference) with the ability to flash the BIOS to a 6970 is the best value at this price, the 2GB of memory is just too hard to turn down.

If nvidia had been really cagey they should have gone with 2GB of memory on board.

Still if I was in the market for new cards, the choice just got alot tougher.
For about 500 dollars two of any of these cards is going to be very very good.:D
 
The 6950 2GB is the best card for the money right now.
I'm very impressed with it.

The GTX 560 received No Rating and I agree with that. Nvidia's pricing has their GTX 500s in la la land.
580 - $399, 570 - $289, 560 - $199
 
Kyle just wondering where do you put the 560 against the 1GB 6950 @ 1920x1200 6950 still ontop?
 
4LC4PON3 said:
Kyle just wondering where do you put the 560 against the 1GB 6950 @ 1920x1200 6950 still ontop?
Click to expand...

I think the 6950 1GB is still going to be the faster card at 1920. The 1GB is going to change the impact of AA settings, but really only going to matter at 2560 for the most part.
 
WorldExclusive said:
The 6950 2GB is the best card for the money right now.
I'm very impressed with it.

The GTX 560 received No Rating and I agree with that. Nvidia's pricing has their GTX 500s in la la land.
580 - $399, 570 - $289, 560 - $199
Click to expand...

Nvidia is sort of all over the place, huge gaps inbetween their top cards.

I was hoping to see a GTX460 in this evaluation, no biggy it wasn't competing with it. Would of been nice to see what people would get with an upgrade since that card was a popular sale.
 
I have $250 to spend on a new card and I'm terribly confused. I have a single 1920x1200 monitor but still not sure which card to go for (6870,6950,560...). I heard the 6950 can be "flashed" for better performance but that comes with risks and potential bricking.

This was a nice review though - thanks Kyle.
 
It's exactly what I expected. Good review Kyle. Definitely no 6950 killer as anticipated.....Perhaps overclocked.
 
Glad I went with a 6870. The 560 is maybe marginally better, with quite a bit more power draw.
 
So any way you look at it Nvidia is only worth getting if you game below 2560x1600 and single card. The 580 isn't worth it, the 570 is only worth it if you game at 1080 or 1900x1200 and have money to blow, and the 560 is only worth it if you overclock it alot. AMD won this round I think.
 
mattchapman said:
I have $250 to spend on a new card and I'm terribly confused. I have a single 1920x1200 monitor but still not sure which card to go for (6870,6950,560...). I heard the 6950 can be "flashed" for better performance but that comes with risks and potential bricking.

This was a nice review though - thanks Kyle.
Click to expand...


I am fairly sure we addressed exactly this in our review should you look at the data and read the conclusion.
 
mattchapman said:
I have $250 to spend on a new card and I'm terribly confused. I have a single 1920x1200 monitor but still not sure which card to go for (6870,6950,560...). I heard the 6950 can be "flashed" for better performance but that comes with risks and potential bricking.

This was a nice review though - thanks Kyle.
Click to expand...

Its very hard to brick a 6950 2GB when it comes with a toggle switch. If you mess up your BIOS flash you can just reset it. From what Kyle stated the 6950 1GB & 2GB are better values & the 6950 2GB being able to be flashed to a 6970
 
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From my understanding you don't want to fly to the 6970 bios, you just want to unlock the shaders.
 
great review.

can't wait to see this card in SLI. might have to move from my 5870 to two of these guys. i've wanted to go surround vs eyefinity but dual 570's is just too much $.
 
Wow, thats got to hurt.

To come out with a card and not be at the lead of its price point is basically a fail.

NVIDIA can now adjust the price, but the momentum of a launch seems to have been lost.

It is great for the consumer to have this level of competition on Graphic cards. I wish the same was going on at the CPU side of things.
 
there's a conference room full of nvidia analysts today, frantically crunching numbers trying to figure out their bottom line and just how much they can shave off of the MSRP. kudos to AMD for the preemptive strike.

thanks for the review Kyle et al
 
meh, expected more. Maybe I will have to give SB another look, wanted to stay with my current rig but it isn't crossfire compatible, only SLI.

I think these should be $199 cards, not $260 cards... I'll see what the next two months does to the pricing (as I'm deployed so have to wait).

Nice review as usual.... SLI numbers?
 
@ Kyle

Is HD6950(with unlocked shaders) much louder than GTX560 at load?

@ Kyle and others...

The only reason stopping me from going to RED team are noise levels and ATI drivers…..

On the weekend I did pick up MSI Cyclone GTX460 1Gb for $150CDN… I haven’t tested it yet, but lets assuming I get 850Mhz o/c is worth for me going with GTX560 or HD6950 2GB? Currently I game at 1680x1050, I might be moving to 1080P in the near future though…. No multi-screen setups, 3D required just pure one monitor setup….. Also I’m sure my CPU might be a bottleneck for some games….

So my choices are:
- stick with GTX460 1Gb 850/1700/2000 - $150CDN (better spend money on SSD)
- buy GTX560 and o/c to 950Mhz core range – for $250CDN (extra $100)
- buy HD6950 unlock shadders and o/c to the max – for $300 CND ($150)

Choices....choices....
 
Thank you for the review - I was debating 560's since my 460 SLI setup has been working at 5760x1080 but after reading your review I am going to bite the bullet and get two 580's today.
 
I noticed most of the other reviews out there are a little more positive with respect to the 560.
Lots of "Recommended" ratings...
 
amd7674 said:
@ Kyle

Is HD6950(with unlocked shaders) much louder than GTX560 at load?

@ Kyle and others...

The only reason stopping me from going to RED team are noise levels and ATI drivers…..

On the weekend I did pick up MSI Cyclone GTX460 1Gb for $150CDN… I haven’t tested it yet, but lets assuming I get 850Mhz o/c is worth for me going with GTX560 or HD6950 2GB? Currently I game at 1680x1050, I might be moving to 1080P in the near future though…. No multi-screen setups, 3D required just pure one monitor setup….. Also I’m sure my CPU might be a bottleneck for some games….

So my choices are:
- stick with GTX460 1Gb 850/1700/2000 - $150CDN (better spend money on SSD)
- buy GTX560 and o/c to 950Mhz core range – for $250CDN (extra $100)
- buy HD6950 unlock shadders and o/c to the max – for $300 CND ($150)

Choices....choices....
Click to expand...

In my opinion, if i were in your position (and owning an SSD for a few months) i would choose option 1 because SSD's are a fantastic way to speed up any PC. You obviously won't see any more FPS but your PC will be oh so very snappy. Snappy PC or more eye candy?
 
amd7674 said:
@ Kyle

Is HD6950(with unlocked shaders) much louder than GTX560 at load?

@ Kyle and others...

The only reason stopping me from going to RED team are noise levels and ATI drivers…..

On the weekend I did pick up MSI Cyclone GTX460 1Gb for $150CDN… I haven’t tested it yet, but lets assuming I get 850Mhz o/c is worth for me going with GTX560 or HD6950 2GB? Currently I game at 1680x1050, I might be moving to 1080P in the near future though…. No multi-screen setups, 3D required just pure one monitor setup….. Also I’m sure my CPU might be a bottleneck for some games….

So my choices are:
- stick with GTX460 1Gb 850/1700/2000 - $150CDN (better spend money on SSD)
- buy GTX560 and o/c to 950Mhz core range – for $250CDN (extra $100)
- buy HD6950 unlock shadders and o/c to the max – for $300 CND ($150)

Choices....choices....
Click to expand...

1080p isn't difficult for a 460, in fact I would venture that that until some significantly more demanding engines come out we are getting to a point where even 3rd tier (e.g. 460's) cards offer excellent performance. I currently run dual 460's in SLI at 5760x1200, 1080p is so much less demanding. So an SSD would be your best improvement IMO. It is the single biggest improvement to ssytem performance you can make.
 
Cue nvidia price drop in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.......

At todays' prices, the 560 doesn't make much sense. If nvidia drops the price by $30, then we're talking.

Big cudos to Galaxy for changing the loud ass fan design that plagued their GTX460. Now their cooler is a value add instead of a negative factor. If they can maintain their current place as one of the price leaders in this market segment, their GTX560 should sell very well (relative to other 560s).

If only I could fold on AMD cards, I would have a farm full of 6900 series......
 
Makes me wonder how nvidia will handle pricing now. Seems like they should be responding to AMD's cuts yesterday but then again this is nvidia...
 
I would have liked to see how the 5870 compared to the 560. I know it's last generation but I would say at $200 price point which you can regularly find a sapphire on sale for, it is the best card at that price point.
 
It just launched. ATI didn't instantly drop prices on the HD 6850 and 6870 at launch in response to Nvidia's drop in GTX 460 prices. It won't take long until its set appropriately between the 6870 and 6950.
 
Hmm at that price point it is almost in the realm of GTX 470 they creap close to 220 with rebates from time to time. It would be nice to see how they stacked up against eachother. My suspicion is that the 470 would eat it up.
 
mattchapman said:
I noticed most of the other reviews out there are a little more positive with respect to the 560.
Lots of "Recommended" ratings...
Click to expand...

That is why we don't use canned benchmarks and demos. We give you the real story. If our methods always pointed to the same conclusions as canned benchmarks, we would just use canned benchmarks. It would be a lot less expensive and time consuming on our end if it was. I WISH it was.

Fantasyalive said:
I would have liked to see how the 5870 compared to the 560. I know it's last generation but I would say at $200 price point which you can regularly find a sapphire on sale for, it is the best card at that price point.
Click to expand...

Should be pretty easy to figure out since we covered that comparison back in October of last year.

The Radeon HD 6870 offers a performance upgrade at $239, providing better than Radeon HD 5850 performance. It isn’t a Radeon HD 5870 killer, but then it isn’t supposed to be, that will come later. The Radeon HD 6870 fills a hole that the Radeon HD 5830 has never truly filled in. The HD 6870 with better performance, and lower prices; the sub-$250 price point just became very interesting.
Click to expand...

Aaron Harmon said:
Hmm at that price point it is almost in the realm of GTX 470 they creap close to 220 with rebates from time to time. It would be nice to see how they stacked up against eachother. My suspicion is that the 470 would eat it up.
Click to expand...

I think your suspicion is wrong.
 
Good grief...


Is it just me, or is there a new Video Card launch almost every month these days.


Insane.
 
Well, I think that settles it, then. My next GPU will be a 2GB 6950.

Thanks for triggering the price drops, nVidia!
 
After going over several reviews online for this GTX 560 I can now let out a big sigh of relief. I bought a GTX 470 two months ago and was worried that there would soon be something released that would give me buyers remorse. Thankfully that is not the case. If I were buying a new gpu today I would still buy the GTX 470 over this card. Too many negatives with the GTX 560 for me (I admit I am picky about a lot of things when deciding on a gpu such as the coolers, noise level, build quality, etc).
 
Have to agree, I am upgrading my XFire 5770's and took the advice of the boards to wait for this launch. I don't plan on flashing the shaders just running a stock single GPU and the 2GB 6950 seems to be the way to go. Now to just measure the damn CM Scout and make sure the card will fit.

Thanks for the write up.
 
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