Galaxy’s GTX 560 Ti GC – Introducing Nvidia’s Titanium Hunter

Overclocking

This editor has his own set of criteria for overclocking the Galaxy and the reference GTX 560 Ti. We do not alter the fan speed from the factory set automatic profile nor do we increase the voltage. Even so, we found the GTX 560 Ti to be just a bit cooler-running than our GTX 460 and maybe slightly quieter on the newer card; much quieter with the Galaxy GC version. We also noticed that the GTX 560 seemed to be slightly quieter than the HD 6950 and about the same loudness as the HD 6870 at idle; the 6870 has a slightly louder spin-up although we could not measure it nor quantify the audible difference. Enter the Galaxy Xtreme Tuner overclocking tool and notice the overclocked settings that we achieved with GTX 560 Ti:

GTX 560 Ti Reference >> the new OC:

822/2004 MHz > 925/2004 MHz

GTX 560 Ti Galaxy Clocks >> the new OC:

835/2004 MHz > 965/2004 MHz

An overclock of +13 MHz on the Galaxy Clock (GC) core brought us a little performance increase.  An overclock of +143 MHz over reference brought us solid performance increases in all but two cases in which we suspect driver issues, although the GTX 560 never quite caught the GTX 570.  Since the reference version overclocked to 925 Mhz and the Galaxy GC version overclocked to 965 MHz, we can certainly attribute at least part of the better overclock to the custom dual-fan cooling solution.  And the core certainly was 10C cooler on the Galaxy card at full load.

Power Usage

Power usage is important for many people as a very hot running GPU is not only not “green”, it throws warm air into your room that your air conditioner must work extra hard to compensate for. Of course, for those of us like this editor who lives where it is cooler than warmer, a small space-heater in ones PC is a plus. We have seen that the GTX 460’s TDP specification, which is 170 W, is quite reasonable and only requires 6-pin+6-pin PCIe connectors.  The reference GTX 560 Ti will exhaust most of the hot air outside of your case; the Galaxy GC version requires that you have decent case cooling.

We are unable to provide you with a solid apples to apples comparison with Furmark by running GTX 560 to compare with any other GTX 500 series card. This new reference card has added a power draw limitation system although Galaxy has not implemented it. Three sensors measure the inrush current and voltage on all 12 V lines (PCI-E slot, 6-pin, 8-pin) to calculate power. As soon as the power draw exceeds a predefined limit, the card will automatically clock down much the same as it does when a safe temperature is exceeded. As with temperatures, this limiter will restore clocks as soon as the overcurrent has ended. We are uncertain how this new safety feature will affect extreme overclockers but we are glad that Galaxy does not use it. We will emphasize however, that the reference GTX 560 Ti is slightly cooler than the reference GTX 460 and is also quieter as a bonus. When the GTX 560 Ti spins up under load, it is quieter than a HD 5870 or HD 6870 and noticeably quieter than a HD 6950. We can confirm also that our GTX 280 (BFG reference design) and HD 4870 (open design, by MSI) is noticeably louder than either of the GTX 560s at every fan speed.

Price to Performance

It is pretty clear from our 29 games and two synthetic tests that the GTX 560 is a potent GPU to put against AMD’s new Barts and Cayman video cards – the HD 6870 and HD 6950 which are the replacements for the current HD 5850 and HD 5870 video cards. The new GTX 560 Ti – at this snapshot in time – has the clear distinction of being the fastest video card in its class – the fastest single DX11 GPU video card in its unique class; and at a suggested retail price of $249, sets it just above the average price of the HD 6870 which is likely to drop further.  We also see the GTX 560 Ti trade blows with the HD 6950 2 GB version and the overclocked version often beats it.  Considering that the Galaxy GTX 560 Ti GC will etail from $249 to $259, it will cause AMD to respond or risk losing further market share.  And they have already responded with a lower-priced HD 6950-1GB version.

Considering the awesome, cool and quiet cooler of the Galaxy GTX 560 Ti GC and the overall slightly better performance in newer games, it is a no-brainer to go for Galaxy’s new GTX 560 Ti GC solution if you are considering buying a GTX 470 or a reference GTX 560 Ti.

We also expect that some of its success will depend on market pricing and also what AMD does with their Radeon pricing which appears to be dropping as AMD responds to this new card. But if you want a fast single GPU with an awesome cool and quiet VGA cooler, the new Galaxy GTX 560 Ti GC gives you your cake and allows you to eat it also with better than GTX 470 performance at a much lower price than it was introduced at nearly 10 months ago!  Nvidia has brought you GTX 470 performance to GTX 460 (launch) prices.

Please note that although the GTX 470 is being replaced by the GTX 560, the GTX 460 is still current in Nvidia’s line-up. They are pleased with its sales at their new discounted pricing which puts it well below the $200 range and keeps a potent video card in their line up until later GTX 500 series video cards replace it.