EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti Video Card

Aside from some minor cosmetic differences, EVGA's GeForce GTX 560 Ti looks incredibly similar to the GTX 460 in terms of general appearance, but in terms of size it's a little closer to the GeForce GTX 470 it replaces. The outer dimensions for the GeForce GTX 560 Ti give this 2.67" tall double-bay, 4.38" wide, 9.0" long graphics card a similar profile, but it's longer than the GTX 460 (8.25") and shorter than a GTX 470 (9.5" long). NVIDIA's reference cooler design uses a center-mounted 75mm fan, which is more than enough to adequately cool the Fermi GF114 GPU. With the Titanium name tag, it would be nice to see some partner products follow suit with an appropriate color scheme.

Although the power demands have been reduced, the EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti still requires two six-pin PCI-E power connections, which matches the end-of-life GeForce GTX 470. Similar to the GTX 460 shroud design, the GeForce GTX 560 Ti shares identical vents near the header panel. EVGA offers a mini-HDMI 1.4a digital A/V output on the GeForce GTX 560, which add-in partners may elect to remove or possibly further extend with a full-size adapter. Dual dual-link DVI digital outputs are retained on the GTX 560, which still means that at least two GeForce video cards will be needed for a NVIDIA 3D-Vision Surround functionality.

Rather than using a fan shroud with a deep chamfer depression paired to a blower motor fan, the GeForce GTX 560 Ti keeps fresh air moving to the fan with a concave-shaped plastic shroud. This design, paired with a fan that extends out past the surface of the shroud, allows more air to reach the intake whenever two or more video cards are combined in close-proximity SLI configurations. In terms of that SLI configuration, the GeForce GTX 560 Ti supports only dual-card sets. NVIDIA has designed triple-SLI capability into their upper-level 'GTX' family Fermi video cards: GeForce GTX 570 and 580 (GTX 465, 470, 480 in the past series). Despite the lower operating temperatures, special consideration for heat must be given to overclocked computers systems since multiple GPU's inside the computer case will further extend the CPU's heat range.

NVIDIA's GF114 GPU inside the GeForce GTX 560 Ti utilizes all four available 64-bit GDDR5 memory controllers to facilitate 256-bit bandwidth access to the frame buffer. The reference design enabled 1GB of 1000 MHz GDDR5 memory, but could potentially include the use of higher-density DRAM modules in the future. Replacing the Samsung 128MB 1250MHz K4G10325FE-HC04 GDDR5 IC's with 256MB IC parts such as: Samsung 1250MHz K4G20325FC-HC04 GDDR5, or 1500MHz K4G20325FC-HC03 might be possible.

NVIDIA designed the GTX 560 Ti for 170 watts Thermal Design Power (TDP), and suggests at least a 500W power supply unit. Compared to the original GeForce GTX 460 video card, the GTX 560 Ti incorporates features like four-phase power circuitry and improved GPU cooling. The aluminum finsink now offers three copper heat-pipe rods that span from processor to fin, instead of only two (on the GTX 460). Additionally, all of the power circuitry and memory modules have been cooled by using an extended baseplate. Benchmark Reviews tests GeForce GTX 560 Ti power consumption later in this article.

NVIDIA now dedicates hardware circuitry to the task of monitoring power consumption as well as temperature, adjusting performance to protect the graphics card from damage. Circled below are the electronic components responsible for power management on GeForce GTX 5xx series video cards (GTX 580 pictured). NVIDIA has indicated that this circuitry is optional, and that not all AIC partners will include it on their products. Benchmark Reviews uses GPU stress tools to measure maximum power usage, although admittedly no video game exists that would ever create comparable power demands.

In the next section, we detail the various Fermi products and lay out their features and specifications before putting them to test...

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