Shootouts

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 - Plugging the Mainstream Gap

By Vincent Chang - 17 May 2011

Test Setup

Test Setup

We’ll be evaluating the three cards using our Intel X58 testbed which has the following specifications:

  • Intel Core i7-975 (3.33GHz)
  • Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P motherboard
  • 3 x 1GB DDR3-1333 G.Skill memory in triple channel mode
  • Seagate 7200.10 200GB SATA hard drive
  • Windows 7 Ultimate

?We didn't actually get a 'reference' GTX 560 from NVIDIA, but given the range of clock speeds allowed, there is perhaps no such thing as reference clocks. Hence, we'll be looking at the three custom models from ASUS, ECS and Palit, each with a different clock speed. We'll see if the fancy coolers on the ASUS and Palit cards help in the overclocking and the cooling portion.

For comparison, we have thrown in some of the old and new graphics cards that can compete with the GTX 560. Obviously, the GTX 560 Ti will be included in our results as the next faster NVIDIA card of this generation. The older GTX 460 and 470 are also included. From AMD, we felt that the 6870 and 6850 provide good data points to judge the GTX 560 while the old but gold 5850 may yet prove to be a surprise package.

Here’s a quick summary of the cards’ clock speeds.

Cards Core Clock Speed Shader Clock Speed Memory Clock Speed
ASUS ENGTX 560 DCII TOP 925MHz 1850MHz 4200MHz DDR
ECS GeForce GTX 560 810MHz 1620MHz 4008MHz DDR
Palit GTX 560 Sonic Platinum 900MHz 1800MHz 4200MHz DDR

 

The full list of cards tested and driver versions used:

  • ASUS ENGTX 560 DCII TOP (ForceWare 270.48)
  • ECS GeForce GTX 560 (ForceWare 270.48)
  • Palit GTX 560 Sonic Platinum (ForceWare 270.48)
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti (ForceWare 266.56 )
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 (ForceWare 263.09)
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 (ForceWare 263.09)
  • AMD Radeon HD 6870 (Catalyst 10.12)
  • AMD Radeon HD 6850 (Catalyst 10.12)
  • AMD Radeon HD 5850 (Catalyst 10.9)

The full list of benchmarks used:

  • Futuremark 3DMark Vantage
  • Futuremark 3DMark 11
  • Crysis Warhead
  • Far Cry 2
  • Warhammer: Dawn of War 2
  • Battlefield Bad Company 2
  • “Heaven" from Unigine v2.1
  • S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

 

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