Ready for a limited edition graphics card? The GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core just landed. Learn how it differs from the GeForce GTX 560 Ti, why its life will be be short, if it's a decent performer, and what we can do with this thing overclocked.
It’s not often that a graphics card manufacturer goes through the trouble of launching a special, limited-run product just for the holiday season. But that’s exactly what Nvidia is doing with its GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core.
Given the name, you might expect this new card to be an unlocked and enhanced version of Nvidia's existing GeForce GTX 560 Ti. But that's simply not so. Recall that the GF114 graphics processor used in the existing GeForce GTX 560 Ti is already unfettered. All of its 384 cores are functional, leaving no disabled hardware to turn on. Rather, the GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core is equipped with a cut-back GF110.
This GPU was first seen on the company's GeForce GTX 580, slightly handicapped for use in its GeForce GTX 570, and now further trimmed back for the GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core.
GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core Specs:
Compared to the GeForce GTX 580, two Streaming Multiprocessors (SM) are disabled; the GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core utilizes 14 of the GF110’s 16 available SMs. Each functioning SM has 32 shader cores and four texture units. Five of the six 64-bit ROP partitions are left enabled, each capable of handling eight 32-bit integer pixels per clock cycle.
All told, the card has 448 shader cores, 56 texture units, 40 ROPs, and a 320-bit memory interface. Not surprisingly, its power demands necessitate two six-pin PCIe power cables. And because it's one of Nvidia's higher-end boards, the GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core card supports two-, three-, and four-way SLI through its pair of SLI bridges. You cannot match it up to a standard GeForce GTX 560 Ti card, of course. It'll only cooperate with other 448-core models. So, if you'd like to run in a multi-card configuration, buy these boards at the same time, since they're not expected to remain available.
If this card's specs sound familiar, that's probably because they match Nvidia's now-defunct GeForce GTX 470. You might also notice that the GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core is essentially a GeForce GTX 570 with one SM disabled. And speaking of the GeForce GTX 570, the new card has the same 732 core, 1464 MHz shader, and 950 MHz GDDR5 memory frequencies.
Knowing what we know from past reviews on Nvidia's existing cards, the GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core should perform between the GeForce GTX 560 Ti and the GeForce GTX 570. For more information on the company's line-up, check out the following reviews:
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti | GeForce GTX 470 | GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core | GeForce GTX 570 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shader Cores | 384 | 448 | 448 | 480 |
| Texture Units | 64 | 56 | 56 | 60 |
| Full Color ROPs | 32 | 40 | 40 | 48 |
| Graphics Clock | 822 MHz | 607 MHz | 732 MHz | 732 MHz |
| Shader Clock | 1644 MHz | 1215 MHz | 1464 MHz | 1464 MHz |
| Memory Clock | 1002 MHz | 837 MHz | 950 MHz | 950 MHz |
| GDDR5 Memory | 1 GB | 1280 MB | 1280 MB | 1280 MB |
| Memory Interface | 256-bit | 320-bit | 320-bit | 320-bit |
| Form Factor | Dual-slot | Dual-slot | Dual-slot | Dual-slot |
| Power Connectors | 2 x 6-pin | 2 x 6-pin | 2 x 6-pin | 2 x 6-pin |
Nvidia made it clear to us that its GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core isn’t a replacement for any existing product. A limited supply exists, and it’s exclusive to Asus, Evga, Gainward, Gigabyte, Inno3D, Palit, MSI, and Zotac. This new card is only available in the USA, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Russia, and the Nordics.
The circumstances of this board's birth are somewhat strange. Perhaps Nvidia has a small collection of GF110 GPUs with two bad SMs, precluding them from use on a GeForce GTX 570. Or, it could simply be a product intended to fill a gap right before the holidays. It could even be a test case of sorts to see if there's a market for something between the GeForce GTX 560 Ti and 570.
Pressed for more information, Nvidia let us know that our first two suspicions were dead-on. Like any chip manufacturer Nvidia bins its processors, and it has a number of GF110s with 14 viable SMs. It chose to put them into a limited product to drum up sales over the holiday season, and tah-dah: the GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core. No matter how few of these boards end up hitting shelves, though, it'll stand or fall based on its performance per dollar, just like any other graphics card.
Zotac's GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core Limited Edition
There is no official GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core reference design from Nvidia, so manufacturers modify their own GeForce GTX 570 cards to accommodate the cut-back GPU.
Zotac’s option is based on its GeForce GTX 570 AMP! Edition card. As expected, then, it's 9.5” long (about an inch less than the reference GeForce GTX 570 and about half an inch longer than the reference GeForce GTX 560 Ti). The 448-core card doesn't get the designation of being one of Zotac's AMP! models, but it does feature a slight increase of 33 MHz over the reference 732 MHz core clock spec.
Zotac doesn’t employ a radial fan like the GeForce GTX 570 reference model, instead opting for a single axial fan configuration. The cooler is equipped with three copper heat pipes to pull thermal energy away from the GPU quickly, and the cooler is covered with a shroud painted in Zotac’s stylish orange and black trademark colors.
We're comparing the GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core to the similarly-priced competition, including AMD's Radeon HD 6950 1 GB, 6950 2 GB, and 6970, as well as Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560 Ti and GTX 570.
Again, Nvidia didn't sample a reference board design for testing, so we dropped the clocks on Zotac's model to match the specs Nvidia provided to us.
| Test Hardware |
|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i5-2500K (Sandy Bridge) Overclocked to 4 GHz, 6 MB L3 Cache, power-saving settings enabled, Turbo Boost disabled. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Motherboard | MSI P67A-GD65, Intel P67 Chipset | |||
| Memory | OCZ DDR3-2000, 2 x 2 GB, at 1338 MT/s, CL 9-9-9-20-1T | |||
| Hard Drive | Western Digital Caviar Black 750 GB, 7200 RPM, 32 MB Cache, SATA 3Gb/s Samsung 470 Series SSD 256 GB, SATA 3Gb/s | |||
| Graphics Cards | GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1 GB GDDR5 GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core 1280 MB GDDR5 GeForce GTX 570 1280 MB GDDR5 Radeon HD 6950 1 GB GDDR5 Radeon HD 6950 2 GB GDDR5 Radeon HD 6970 2 GB GDDR5 | |||
| Power Supply | Seasonic X760 SS-760KM: ATX12V v2.3, EPS12V, 80 PLUS Gold | |||
| CPU Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper TX 2 | |||
| System Software And Drivers |
|---|
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64 |
|---|---|
| Renderer | OpenGL |
| Graphics Driver | GeForce: 285.88 Beta |
| AMD Catalyst 11.11 | |
| Games | |
| Battlefield 3 | Version 1.0.0.0, Operation Swordbreaker, Fraps Run |
| Batman: Arkham City | Version 1.0.0.0, Built-In Benchmark |
| Metro 2033 | Version 1.0.0.1, Built-In Benchmark |
| DiRT 3 | Version 1.2.0.0, Built-In Benchmark |
| Aliens Vs. Predator | Version 1.0.0.0, DirectX 11 Benchmark |
Benchmark Results: Battlefield 3
Does Nvidia's new GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core play Battlefield 3?
Benchmark Results: DiRT 3
DiRT 3 is a beautiful rally racing sim, and it turns out to make an excellent performance comparison test for these graphics cards:
In general, the engine appears to favor AMD's Radeon cards. But the GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core beats the GTX 560 Ti by a notable margin.
source:http://www.tomshardware.com
In general, the engine appears to favor AMD's Radeon cards. But the GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core beats the GTX 560 Ti by a notable margin.
Benchmark Results: Batman: Arkham City
Batman: Arkham City is an interesting game to benchmark. The DirectX 11 tessellation and MVSS/HBAO options absolutely cripple frame rates. This is a known issue, and the developer is working on a title update to address it. In the meantime, PC gamers have to be wondering how Rocksteady missed an issue that affects every DirectX 11-based graphics card during its own testing.
In any case, we benchmarked the game with tessellation set to normal and MVSS/HBAO enabled:
Clearly, the GeForce cards dominate this game with DirectX 11 enhancements turned on, which is not much of a surprise since this is an Nvidia TWIMTBP title.
The sad part is that I don’t consider any of these results to be playable. Check the minimum frame rates; none of these cards can handle this console port without obvious slowdowns, at least until DirectX 11 support is fixed.
Now let’s disable MVSS/HBAO and tessellation to see what kind of performance we get:
Now we see 30 FPS+ minimum frame rates on all cards, even at 2560x1600 with 8x MSAA enabled. AMD's Radeon-based boards lead. Considering the ultra-smooth frame rates, though, that lead is hardly notable.
As you can see, the GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core sails past the reference GeForce GTX 570 performance at its stock setting. And while the GTX 570 can also be tweaked to hit higher performance numbers, it's at least good to know that the less expensive 448-core card has the potential to exceed the competitive benchmark numbers posted by Nvidia's GeForce GTX 570 in our other benchmarks.
In any case, we benchmarked the game with tessellation set to normal and MVSS/HBAO enabled:
Clearly, the GeForce cards dominate this game with DirectX 11 enhancements turned on, which is not much of a surprise since this is an Nvidia TWIMTBP title.
The sad part is that I don’t consider any of these results to be playable. Check the minimum frame rates; none of these cards can handle this console port without obvious slowdowns, at least until DirectX 11 support is fixed.
Now let’s disable MVSS/HBAO and tessellation to see what kind of performance we get:
Now we see 30 FPS+ minimum frame rates on all cards, even at 2560x1600 with 8x MSAA enabled. AMD's Radeon-based boards lead. Considering the ultra-smooth frame rates, though, that lead is hardly notable.
Overclocking Benchmarks
zotac's GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core responded well to our overclocking efforts. At stock voltages, we managed to hit an 860 MHz core frequency and 1050 MHz on the memory clock. As you can see, the GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core sails past the reference GeForce GTX 570 performance at its stock setting. And while the GTX 570 can also be tweaked to hit higher performance numbers, it's at least good to know that the less expensive 448-core card has the potential to exceed the competitive benchmark numbers posted by Nvidia's GeForce GTX 570 in our other benchmarks.
Power, Temperature, And Noise
Because there aren't any reference models available, we have to rely on Zotac's specific implementation of the GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core for power, thermal, and acoustic testing. Keep in mind that only the Radeon HD 6970 and 6950 2 GB are reference models, so power and temperature measurements from the other cards are affected by factory over-voltage and non-reference coolers.
The GeForce cards draw a little more power under load than AMD's Radeon-based boards. With that said, Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core falls roughly where we'd expect, nearing the GeForce GTX 570 from which it's derived.
All of these cards sport excellent coolers, and even AMD's reference Radeon HD 6970/6950 2 GB does well.
The GeForce cards draw a little more power under load than AMD's Radeon-based boards. With that said, Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core falls roughly where we'd expect, nearing the GeForce GTX 570 from which it's derived.
All of these cards sport excellent coolers, and even AMD's reference Radeon HD 6970/6950 2 GB does well.
GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core: A Card With Overclocking Potential
A quick average of frame rates at 1080p sheds a little more light on how these cards match up in our benchmark suite. Bear in mind that we're excluding the new Batman game due to its show-stopping DirectX 11 bug.
Despite significantly different frame rates observable on a game by game basis, the field averages out in a way that puts each card pretty close to the others. Let's focus on Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core, though.
The new card’s performance is about 12% higher than the standard GeForce GTX 560 Ti in our tests. Again, that figure will rise and fall depending on the game you're playing, the resolution you use, and the settings you choose. The point is that there's a quantifiable difference, and the case can be made for spending an extra $55 over the vanilla GTX 560 Ti for this 448-core version.
The problem is that AMD's Radeon HD 6950 1 GB is almost as fast, but it costs $45 less. If you're satisfied with its stock performance and planning to play at 1920x1080, there’s little reason to opt for more than a Radeon HD 6950 1 GB. It has the best price/performance ratio, matching the 2 GB version's performance and nipping at Nvidia's new GTX 560 Ti 448 Core.
Our tests indicate that Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core introduces the potential for big gains via tweaking. As we saw from our overclocking tests, this board can sail past a pricier GeForce GTX 570 at its stock settings. The idea that AMD's Radeon HD 6950 might be unlocked is great, but it doesn't have as much overclocking headroom.
We're happy to see a sub-$300 option catering to enthusiasts with a penchant for Nvidia's product line. The GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core doesn't detract from the allure of AMD's Radeon HD 6950 2 GB, if you're willing to chance a firmware flash. But with that said, competition is a good thing in this space. More than anything, it's too bad that the GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core is being introduced with the expectation that it'll disappear soon. After all, it shows promise at its stock settings, while serving up value in its overclocking headroom. We're sure there will be power users happy to snatch up these GF110-based boards while they last.
Despite significantly different frame rates observable on a game by game basis, the field averages out in a way that puts each card pretty close to the others. Let's focus on Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core, though.
The new card’s performance is about 12% higher than the standard GeForce GTX 560 Ti in our tests. Again, that figure will rise and fall depending on the game you're playing, the resolution you use, and the settings you choose. The point is that there's a quantifiable difference, and the case can be made for spending an extra $55 over the vanilla GTX 560 Ti for this 448-core version.
The problem is that AMD's Radeon HD 6950 1 GB is almost as fast, but it costs $45 less. If you're satisfied with its stock performance and planning to play at 1920x1080, there’s little reason to opt for more than a Radeon HD 6950 1 GB. It has the best price/performance ratio, matching the 2 GB version's performance and nipping at Nvidia's new GTX 560 Ti 448 Core.
But overclocking enthusiasts may see the competitive landscape a little differently. The $265 Radeon HD 6950 2 GB doesn't look like much of a contender compared to the cheaper 1 GB card. However, it gives you the chance to match the $350 Radeon HD 6970, if you're able to unlock its disabled GPU resources through a BIOS modification. Until now, there wasn’t a sub-$300 GeForce in Nvidia's line-up able to facilitate that same level of performance.
Our tests indicate that Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core introduces the potential for big gains via tweaking. As we saw from our overclocking tests, this board can sail past a pricier GeForce GTX 570 at its stock settings. The idea that AMD's Radeon HD 6950 might be unlocked is great, but it doesn't have as much overclocking headroom.
We're happy to see a sub-$300 option catering to enthusiasts with a penchant for Nvidia's product line. The GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core doesn't detract from the allure of AMD's Radeon HD 6950 2 GB, if you're willing to chance a firmware flash. But with that said, competition is a good thing in this space. More than anything, it's too bad that the GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core is being introduced with the expectation that it'll disappear soon. After all, it shows promise at its stock settings, while serving up value in its overclocking headroom. We're sure there will be power users happy to snatch up these GF110-based boards while they last.
source:http://www.tomshardware.com
