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ECS GeForce GTX 560

13 May 2011

The ECS GeForce GTX 560 comes with a core clock of 810MHz and a memory clock of 4008MHz DDR. Based on NVIDIA's GF114 core with 336 stream processors, this graphics card support DirectX 11 and NVIDIA CUDA technologies.

Tags: nvidia, ecs, geforce gtx 560

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HWZ's Overall Rating: 8.0

Performance:

7.5

Features:

Value:

8.5

Affordable price

Overclocking performance was surprisingly good

Clock speeds are on the lower end for a GeForce GTX 560

<div id="product-review" class="article">
			<h2 class="header-green">NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 - Plugging the Mainstream Gap</h2>
		<span class="byline">Article by Vincent Chang on Tuesday, 17 May 2011</span>
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		 		<h2 class="page-title">A Card for Every Price Point</h2>
		 		<h3 class="page_title">A Card for Every Price Point</h3>
<p>The return of the 'Ti' branding on the NVIDIA&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="/view/127983">GeForce GTX&nbsp;560 Ti</a>, launched at the start of the year, heralded a more competitive NVIDIA. After a slow start to 2010, NVIDIA had arguably turned the corner with the debut of the GTX&nbsp;460 and the green team has grown in strength since.</p>
<p>The company has since rejuvenated its mainstream offerings, with the <a target="_blank" href="/view/153562">550 Ti</a> that followed the 560 Ti. NVIDIA&nbsp;also managed the time to blast out the<a target="_blank" href="/view/156894/"> dual-GPU GTX&nbsp;590</a> to counter AMD's Radeon HD&nbsp;6990. Not forgetting the latest entry level 500 series models like the GT&nbsp;520 and NVIDIA can state confidently that it has refreshed its entire range of graphics cards.&nbsp;</p>
<p>But as we mentioned in our 550 Ti roundup, there is quite the performance (and price) gap between the NVIDIA&nbsp;550 Ti and the 560 Ti, which brings us to today's inevitable new SKU, the GeForce GTX&nbsp;560. Equipped with a similar GF114 core, the new GTX&nbsp;560 has 336 CUDA&nbsp;cores or stream processors compared to the 384 on the Ti version. This also meant a decrease of eight texture filtering units, thereby creating a GPU&nbsp;that falls between the 560 Ti and the 550 Ti. </p>
<p>With the GTX&nbsp;560 Ti the successor to the GTX&nbsp;470, it's only natural that the new GTX&nbsp;560 will be considered the heir to the phenomenally successful GTX&nbsp;460. Those are big shoes to fill however and we'll see if the new SKU&nbsp;manages that. </p>
<p>NVIDIA&nbsp;is also giving free rein to its board partners to set the clock speeds, with a rather wide range of core clocks deemed acceptable. This means one will probably find a range of speeds from 810MHz to 950MHz, though NVIDIA&nbsp;believes that the majority of GTX&nbsp;560 in the market will be in the upper range. As a result, the prices too will be spread over a range, which is useful considering the almost US$100 price gap between the US$250 560 Ti and the US$150 550 Ti.</p>
<p class="rtecenter"><img width="500" height="458" alt="" title="We got three graphics cards from ASUS, ECS and Palit, all at different clock speeds. You definitely want to check the clock speeds on this SKU before putting down the cash." src="/files/images/Main_26.jpg" /></p>
<p>As it is, the GeForce GTX&nbsp;560 starts from US$199 and with its similarity to the GeForce GTX&nbsp;560 Ti, you can expect a performance level closer to the 560 Ti. We also expect the major board partners to have their products ready for launch. This definitely won't be a paper launch. For your reference, we have included the specifications for the new GTX&nbsp;560, along with that of its closest competitors.&nbsp;</p>
<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" border="1" align="center">
    <caption>NVIDIA&nbsp;GeForce&nbsp;GTX 560 and Competitive SKUs compared</caption>
    <tbody>
        <tr>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">Model</th>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">NVIDIA&nbsp;GeForce GTX 560</th>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">NVIDIA&nbsp;GeForce GTX 560 Ti</th>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">NVIDIA GeForce&nbsp;<br />
            GTX&nbsp;460</th>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">NVIDIA&nbsp;GeForce&nbsp;<br />
            GTX 470</th>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">
            <p>AMD&nbsp;Radeon HD 6870</p>
            </th>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">AMD&nbsp;Radeon HD&nbsp;6850</th>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">ATI Radeon HD 5850</th>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">Core Code</th>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">GF114</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">GF114</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">GF104</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">GF100</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;Barts XT</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">Barts PRO</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">Cypress Pro</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">Transistor Count</th>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;1950 million</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">1950 million</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">1950 million</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">3200 million</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;1700 million</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">1700 million</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">2150 million</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">Manufacturing Process</th>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">40nm</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">40nm</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">40nm</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">40nm</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">40nm</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">40nm</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">40nm</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">Core Clock</th>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;810 to 950MHz</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">822MHz</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">675MHz</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">607MHz</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">900MHz</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">775MHz</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">725MHz</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">Stream Processors</th>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;336 Stream Processors</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">384 Stream Processors</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">336 Stream Processors</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">448 Stream Processors</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;1120 Stream processing units</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">960 Stream processing units</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">1440 Stream processing units</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">Stream Processor Clock</th>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;1620 to 1900MHz</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">1644MHz</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">1350MHz</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">1215MHz</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;900MHz</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">775MHz</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">725MHz</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">Texture Mapping Units (TMU) or Texture Filtering (TF) units</th>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">56</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">64</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">56</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">56</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;56</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">48</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">72</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">Raster Operator units (ROP)</th>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;32</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">32</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">24</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">40</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;32</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">32</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">32</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">Memory Clock</th>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;4008MHz GDDR5</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">4008MHz GDDR5</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">3600MHz GDDR5</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">3348MHz GDDR5</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;4200MHz GDDR5</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">4000MHz GDDR5</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">4000MHz GDDR5</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">DDR Memory Bus</th>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;256-bit</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">256-bit</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">192 / 256-bit</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">320-bit</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;256-bit</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">256-bit</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">256-bit</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">Memory Bandwidth</th>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;128GB/s</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">128GB/s</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">86.4 / 115.2GB/s</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">133.9GB/s</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;134.4GB/s</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">128GB/s</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">128GB/s</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">PCI Express Interface</th>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;PCIe ver 2.0 x16</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">PCIe ver 2.0 x16</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">PCIe ver 2.0 x16</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">PCIe ver 2.0 x16</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;PCIe ver 2.0 x16</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">PCIe ver 2.0 x16</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">PCIe ver 2.0 x16</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">Molex Power Connectors</th>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;2 x 6-pin</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">2 x 6-pin</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">2 x 6-pin</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">2 x 6-pin</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;2 x 6-pin</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">1 x 6-pin</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">2 x 6-pin</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">Multi GPU Technology</th>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">SLI</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">SLI</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">SLI</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">SLI</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;CrossFireX</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">CrossFireX</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">CrossFireX</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">DVI Output Support</th>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;2 x Dual-Link</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">2 x Dual-Link</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">2 x Dual-Link</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">2 x Dual-Link</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;1 x Single-Link, 1 x Dual-Link</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">1 x Single-Link, 1 x Dual-Link</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">2 x Dual-Link</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">HDMI</th>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">1 (mini-HDMI)</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">1 (mini-HDMI)</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">1 (mini-HDMI)</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">1 (mini-HDMI)</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">1</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">1</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">1</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">DisplayPort</th>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">None</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">None</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">None</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">None</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">2 (DisplayPort 1.2)</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">1 (DisplayPort 1.2)</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">1</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">HDCP Output Support</th>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;Yes</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">Yes</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">Yes</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">Yes</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;Yes</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">Yes</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">Yes</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th valign="middle" align="center">Street Price</th>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">Launch price: from US$199</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">~US$250</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;~US$170 to 190</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;~US$205</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;~US$200</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;~US$170</td>
            <td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;~US$190</td>
        </tr>
    </tbody>
</table>
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ECS GeForce GTX 560

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