The third part of the GTX 5 series of cards from nVidia is upon us. Does it maintain the amazing standards of its forebears?

Continue ReadingQuote

Wow that's impressive.Quote

Overclockers UK and Scan have some in stock and they all have non reference coolers so should overclock wellQuote

And AriaQuote

Yer some really impressive cards for launch day on the non ref like a 1ghz gigabyte.Quote

Looks like one hell of a card. Awesome overclocking results too. Can't wait to see the price in the US. There is one card on newegg now, but it is listed as deactivated.

On maximum in the Crysis Warhead results the stock 560 got 88 frames, but overclocked it got 83 frames.Quote

Looks like Nvidia has a winning streak this time. Great read guys Quote

F@H will be updated asap, just didnt have time between us to do it before NDA. Only had the card for the weekend, and I cant have the bencher sat about for so long. I may chuck a cheap rig in the loft just for F@H use.Quote

Nice, eagerly awaiting those results!Quote

Its over 1GHZ F@H stable though! I just need to re-aquaint myself with all the F@H gubbins as Im out of the loop in a big way.Quote

Can't wait until MSI release a Hawk/Lightning version of this.

EDIT: There already is one 880MHz on core, 4200MHz on Memory Quote

O_o i think this will have to be purchased.Quote

Wow. I know you benched at over 1GHz, but I really didn't expect to be folding at that. Excellent! This sounds like this will be THE card to get.Quote

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-msi-gtx-560-ti-twin-frozr-ii-oc-40nm-4200mhz-gddr5-gpu-880mhz-shader-1760mhz-384-cores well this might interest you.

Also Theres a GTX 560 ti phantom in 1gb and 2gb coming out which is weird.Quote

WOW WOW WOW

i cant beleve the hawx is so cheap 203 at scan wonder what the drectcu 2 is like?

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-gigabyte-gtx-560-ti-super-overclock-40nm-4590mhz-gddr5-gpu-1000mhz-shader-1800mhz-384-cores

first factory OC'd to 1ghz core

deffo a payday treatQuote

I guess it's safe to assume 1GHz isn't a golden chip Quote

Amazing card and for nearly the same price as a 6870 . Looks like Nvidia have taken the lead again Quote

nah most are coming in at 880 or 900 core and i dont beleve gainward has there GS GLH edition out yet

msi twin fzer 2 is crazy how thats so cheapQuote

Yer no news on the glh but pretty sure they will release one.Quote

Those non-reference designs such as the MSI Twin Fozer, and Gigabyte 1GHz cards might even be able to nibble at overclocked reference 570s

Tom are you gonna be reviewing any of the non-reference cards? Especially the MSI 560 Twin Frozer II?Quote

Have a look at the numbers Gigabyte 560 ti SOC is achieving in this review. On same web site there are SLI details tooQuote

deffo i reckon the twin fzr with some voltage help with touch 1100core speculation maybe but i think its possable especialy if they brought out a talon attack versionQuote

Look at review on my last post it gets the same FPS as the 570 in some gamesQuote

I seen stats that show non ref gtx 570 nibble at gtx 580's.Quote

Thats normal with the lower cards. Its meant to be that way. end of the day you can then overclock the 580 soooooo......

Aftermarket cards I dont know yet but obviously when they release decent ones we will. Bloody stupid question tbhQuote

I was just asking since a lot of sites already offer ones with aftermarket coolers, and I was wondering if you would be covering one of those in the next few days.Quote

Agreed but the price difference between the gtx 570 and gtx 580 is large compared to the difference to the between the gtx 560 and gtx 570 what I was more getting at.Quote

WoW. V good. Thanks. Ages ago, before I recently registered to your site I looked at the reviews I needed here. All of them are interesting and helpful and properly presented. I'm confident the 480 review i looked at was here, 480 drivers started a tough trail, now they're swimming. 560 ti hits high, Fermi is controlled qulity. Perfect for the bargain hunter and overclocker

Nvidia OC'd Quote

Wow, excellent card, this will be the choice of many users. Also a good review, but I feel that it's lacking a bit because of a missing comparison with the GTX460 1GB card. I think it would really show how much has the mid-end performance improved for the nVidia camp.Quote

I’m building a pc for one of my mates and I’m debating whether to go for the 6950 from scan for 227£ or the MSI GTX 560 Ti TWIN FROZR II 1GB for 203£, really confusing because the 6850 has 2GB of memory which is really good with high resolutions and I must admit this review has made me more confused.

Quote

Fantastic review. There's no reason to buy AMD cards at ALL. We want SLI! Or Maybe 3 monitor gaming? Are the 6950 and 6970 aimed just for eyefinity? Or high res? I can't see why they go with 2gb of memory each, while nvidia chooses speed over memory...it's interesting.Quote

Theres a 2gb gtx 560 coming out.Quote

I'm generally contemptuous of AMD fanboys, but lately I've gone from feeling sorry for them (SB kicks AMD butts and I doubt if Bulldozer is going to save them) to really worrying about AMD's survival going forward. They don't seem to have enough market share to support the R&D they'll need to do to catch up. But we kind of need them to survive, otherwise there is no-one to exert any pressure on Intel to keep prices low.

Real game changers come when a company invests HUGE dollars into a new fabrication process. Much of Intel's advantage comes from the ability to make 32 nm parts (though it seems that they also excel in other areas - what I call uncore architecture - cache and pipeline management, branch prediction and so forth.) Whichever camp first starts making GPUs based on a 32nm or even 22nm process is simply going to slay the competition.

Wouldn't you like to see a GPU with GTX 570 performance or better, a TDP less than 100 W, and with the overclocking potential we've seen with Sandy Bridge? That would be the logical result of a smaller fabrication process, and one could hope to see that on the market in a year or so.Quote

I agree 100% I'm not biased to one brand over the other. I like people buying that product that is in the sweet spot...price/performance. But AMD has to keep the competition alot closer than this. If they can't compete in performance...they need to go back to what they do best, and thats competing in the mainstream price brackets. Start lowering the price of video cards until they become a really outstanding bargain. I think that is the only way for them, treat the video card market like they treat their cpu market. Mainstream bang-for-buck prices. I sure hope they come out swinging with bulldozer, as blah said we need AMD to keep Intel incheck, or else who is going to keep their prices down?Quote

A lot of people are convincing me that the 6950 1GB is king of this range. I forgot that was coming out today also (hadn't heard much about it).

http://www.anandtech...he-250-market/1

It's like $10 more than the 560 and overclocks seem to be even more beneficial to it than the 560.

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/500728 P5268 560 -but that's at 1050MHz. I don't feel like many 560s are going to be going much past that.

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/404347 P5690 6950 2GB (probably unlocked and overclocked, but still.)

there's not much 560 data to go on right now, and not much 6950 1GB data to go on, but from the 3dmark results search, 6950 results go way beyond anything the 560 results are showing.

So yeah, :[

Somewhat the opposite of what the review concluded with, but that's how it's looking. I know people will still buy Nvidia for things like PhysX though. I would/it's influenced me.Quote

I'm sory but I'm disappointed with the price.

I can still buy two 460's and sli them for the price of one of these.Quote

go green team !!!Quote

No panic AMD is not going anywhere soon. Thing with AMD and nVidia is that nVidia is more focused on GPU's while AMD is larger company with larger profits but as more development areas to invests those profits into.

Actually it's a good time to invest to AMD right now as share prices are fairly low and with introduction of bulldozer def gonna go up.Quote

768mb yes

2 1gb PNY's for example would be around £266 shipped, but then u get into the argument of 2 cards vs 1 in terms of power draw and heat SLi scaleing etc

EDIT-just found this silly overclock on AIR Silly Overclock

shame there is no brand,but air is air lolQuote

Intel sign 1.7 billion dollar contract with nvidia so they can share tech so wouldn't think to hard on that.Quote

I'm buying a pair Quote

Patents, not technology.Quote

Yer well what mean is the future is to certain and companies will do all sorts of deals.Quote

just watched both videos great review TomQuote

Very good card... Probably about right for the price.

Hasn't made me feel bad about buying my 570 for £70 more.Quote

no me neither just hope the price of the 570 dont go up its already dearer than when i got mine by £35Quote

But air also means something like the Arctic Cooling Accelero Extreme, but still bordering 1.2GHz, now that is a golden chip.Quote

Tremendous review Tom. I'm so tempted to go up to a 560, but I'll have to go SLI to compete with my 460 SLI @ 820.Quote

According to Linus, the 560 uses the same socket as a 460, which is why so many companies were able to release non-reference designs instantly.Quote

Nice Tom Just watched both videos and enjoyed them greatly.Quote

GTX 560 Videos now added to the main review. Apologies for the delay, we were having major YT issues yesterday Quote

I'm looking forward to the the price cut of the 6000 series.

Here's more info.

www.tcmagazine.comQuote

ah yes of course i had forgot aboout agter market cooling,altho i doubt there is one out yet?Quote

I'm still curious how the 6970 oc performs effectively lower than the standard version in the crysis?? comparison.

There's a bit of fun to be had with these cards. I'd not view them with the intention of sli'ing them, although you obviously can, as they're in the wrong end of the market (similarly my thoughts to xfiring the mid range AMD cards). Double the bucks can be put towards a better single card option, without any anti-synthetic drawbacks, imo.

..no need to look at the over-priced, under-performing storage heaters with an nVidia badge.

It doesn't really matter, but saying this over and over isn't going to make it true. These underperformers broke all the records of the time. And were tamed by enthusiasts, post the review samples.

It's a nice little cooler the 560 ended up with. Tidy little package.Quote

Even if they do the gtx 560 ti beats it also and you can get a msi freezer version of the card or a gigabyte oc to 900mhz already for £200 so they have to drop the 6950 to what £180 to make it competitive which in turn they have to drop the 6870 to even lower which I don't see happening.Quote

They will actually have to cut the price so the performance lines up, not in synthetic benchmarks, but also in gaming benchmarks, so a 6970 needs to drop down to a price that's comparable with a 560 if they want remain competitive.Quote

Agreed Nvidia have become very aggressive and secretive but seems to be paying off. Wonder what the 530 going to be like if this is they way things are going 180 cuda cores at 1 ghz nvidia factory standards lol.Quote

I would be tempted to get one but i haven't had my 460s for that long Quote

The PCB layout between the MSI GTX460 Hawk and MSI GTX560 Ti Twin Frozer II, is virtually identical save for a few voltage tweaks that can be found on the 460 Hawk, which means the Twin Frozer ISN'T a Hawk/Lightning edition card, just has the same cooler. But since these two cards have very similar PCB layouts, I'm gonna take a stab that a GTX460 compatible cooler will work on the GTX560.Quote

nVidia products have historically (although it's taken as competing for price with competitors) dropped $30-$40 off the price of a new product after a month or so of being on the shelf. We shouldn't see this card as being any different.Quote

Damn, sexy card.Quote

Hey Rasta how nice is it for you to see an OC3D review where its pretty much all good things we are saying about Nvidia Quote

Good video review on these has made me decide I really need one . Have to get up some cash somehow and buy one when are in stock.Quote

Tom I'm sure you will be doing a sli 560 video in the future. Right? I so want to see how this card scales.Quote

Depending on where you are they should be in stock in some variant, also if you "really" need one you "really" need to be folding with it Quote

Those who just bought a 570 must be feeling pretty ill right now Quote

I'm glad I waited Quote

I'm not glad I got those noisy DirectCUs.. you should hear them while folding.. heck you probably do from over the pond, dude. If you were wondering what it was.. it's no Jumbo, instead it's my 460s folding. But, hey, a couple of months down the line a better card will come out, then a better one, then a better one. That's just how things go

Oh and by the way! Tom, if you really want somebody with a Sabertooth to test these cards I could give them a go Quote

my directcus are not loud lol put it on set fan speed when folding its what i do, mine only really get loud above 70% fanQuote

You have the 1gig version, no? I've got the 768s as they were the cheapest 460s around. I didn't know why at that point but then I very quickly understood Quote

Not in the slightest...

As mentioned on the last page.. I only paid £70 quid more for my GTX 570 which for the extra 7 - 10 FPS in some of the harsher games can make a big difference.

That said, if I had to buy one now at over £300, then it might be a different story.

Yes the 560 can overclock near to the 570, but then the 570 overclocks up to 900 core with a lil voltage tweak and pulls ahead again.

Quote

You're never going to stop tormenting him are you? lolQuote

From a Folding Standpoint I have to concur with the fan it is bloody loud next to the whisper silent cylcone albeit on the older 925 wu's the 768 TOP would clock like crazy and beg for more! the 560 Twin Frozr Should be fun to see when It Arrives Friday in the Mail Quote

Yeah, I have to admit I am a little confused as well. The results Here show the GTX 560 ti preforming almost as well as a Radeon 6970. That said, the results I see everywhere else I have looked show the Radeon 6950 2 GB crushing the GTX 560 ti in almost every discipline and almost every game. Don't get me wrong, I am in no way questioning the veracity of the testing done here on overclock3D. I am only pointing out that the result I have seen here are not consistent with the results I have seen at more than a half a dozen other sites.

GTX 560 ti 3DMark 11 performance Preset overall score

GPU 3851

3DMarks 4180

metro 2033 High quality settings 4xAA 2560x1600 20 fps

Aliens Vs. Predator (DX11) 4xAA 1920x1080 32.6 fps

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (DX11) 8xAA 2560x1600 37.3

F1 2010 (DX11) ultra settings 8xAA 1920x1080 50.3 fps

F1 2010 (DX11) ultra settings 8xAA 2560x1600 31.3 fps

Radeon HD 6050 3DMark 11 performance Preset overall score

GPU 4877

3DMarks 4483

metro 2033 High quality settings 4xAA 2560x1600 29.3 fps

Aliens Vs. Predator (DX11) 4xAA 1920x1080 37.2 fps

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (DX11) 8xAA 2560x1600 42.5

F1 2010 (DX11) ultra settings 8xAA 1920x1080 63.9

F1 2010 (DX11) ultra settings 8xAA 2560x1600 44.1

Deltas

3DMark 11 performance Preset overall score

GPU 6950 21.1% Faster

3DMarks 6950 6.8% Faster

metro 2033 High quality settings 4xAA 2560x1600 6950 31.8% Faster

Aliens Vs. Predator (DX11) 4xAA 1920x1080 6950 12.4% Faster

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (DX11) 8xAA 6950 12.3% Faster

F1 2010 (DX11) ultra settings 8xAA 6950 21.3% Faster

F1 2010 (DX11) ultra settings 8xAA 6950 29.1% Faster

Overall Radeon 6950 19.25% Faster

With all that said, it should be said that overclocking the GTX 560 ti to 1GHz will close the lions share of that 19.25% performance difference. If we are going to overclock the GTX 560 ti then we must do the same with the Radeon 6950. The 6950 can be bios modded and overclocked into a fully functional 6970. That gives a delta improvement of approximately 18% leaving the overclocked GTX560 ti trailing by very significant margins.

The expected retail price of the GTX 560 ti here in the USA is $250.00. The real price is likely to be about $10.00 more. The Radeon 6950 reference boards can be found for $280.00. that is a $30.00 difference in price or a 10.8% difference in price. So the bottom line is, if you do not overclock you get 19.25% more performance for a 10.8% price increase. If you do overclock you get a < 18% increase in performance for a 10.8% increase in price.

Don't get me wrong the GTX 560 ti is an amazing card especially when overclocked. At it's absolute price point it is virtually untouchable. The same can be said for the Radeon 6950 its just that at it's price point it holds the absolute value for dollar crown. As much progress as Nvidia have made in the last year "and they have made tremendous progress". Nvidia still hasn't figured out how to beat AMD at the value for dollar game. Now, if they were to lower the prices of they're 5xx series video cards across the board. Then the green team would be truly tempting. Maybe they will do just that over the next few weeks. This kind of competition is always good for us consumers.Quote

So fan of AMD ?Quote

Nobody here would test at such retarded resolutions and 8xAA with a mid-range card, mate.. At 1080p 560>6970 as well.Quote

Makes me wonder I do see flotting around youtube alot tests on cards on super unrealistic test resolutions I mean if you can afford that large of a displays why are you buying mid range cards maybe less on 3 monitors and more on the system might be a better plan.Quote

Not really, I have owned both Nvidia and ATI/AMD video cards, chip-sets, ect.. My motto could be "to hell with dogma give me metrics". At the end of the day, we pay these companies for performance. There are many ways to measure performance, The standard I tend to be most interested in as a consumer is performance per Dollar. Example for quite a while now Intel has had a lock on high performance CPU's, AMD hasn't been able to touch them in pure throughput. That said, in the case of i7 970 vs t1090, the i7 970 is a whopping 30% faster in highly threaded apps than the t1090 at the same clock. Wow that is a huge performance lead, right? Well the short answer is no. For the price of a basic system using a i7 970 you can build 2 basic systems using the t1090. That means that for the same investment the t1090 produces at least 50% more compute power. The new sandy bridge procs have turned that around so that they are the better value. So what I am trying to say (and not doing a very good job) is there are two performance metrics to consider.

1. Absolute performance

2. Performance per dollar

The first can be important in environments that have specialized requirements. Rarely found at the consumer level.

The second is with very few exception, the metric by which consumers try to make buying decisions. Even enthusiasts want to get good value form there purchases.

I am not trying to preach or sound put-offish. Hope I haven't sounded like a jack-nozzle. Well I think I might be a fanboy.

I am a fanboy of value, I don't care what label is on the package. Give me great performance at a reasonable price and I will be loyal, until your competition gives me better value.Quote

It was just personal curiosity don't think to much on the question. Though Do you have multi monitor ?Quote

I thought for sure that overclock3D test the GTX 560 ti at 1920x1200 8xaa DX11 Alien vs Predator.

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/gpu_displays/nvidia_gtx560_ti_review/6

Or where you referring to 2560x1600? If so why don't you expect mid range cards to support those resolution? that is to say a lot of people have dual and triple monitor setups.

If you look at the chart you will see that the 6970 outperforms the overclocked 560 by 10% That is the equivalent to a HD6950 overclocked and bios flashed.

Anyway my point is that the HD6950 is only $30.00 (18.85 GBP) more than the GTX 560 ti. It is in the same price bracket "the mid range" preforms about 20% better on average and only costs 10% more. I don't think it is retarded to expect the maximum performance per dollar. Not to mention having a 2 gig frame buffer is useful for more than just games. The extra 1GB DDR5 of frame buffer alone is worth the extra $30.00 (18.85 GBP).Quote

Sorry, I do tend to go on........

Anyway, ya I have 2 LGs at 1680x1050. I would love to check out those new ASUS p246Q pro art monitors. I am building a new rig in march and if they are are not to expensive....That would be a sweet upgrade...Quote

I'm just curious about whether the 6950 and 6970 where retested with the better drivers on this site as I remember tom mentioning in his video review that while he was reviewing them that there where supposed to be much better drivers out that gave better performance. If it hasnt been done is it possible to test them out and see was there actually any performance increase in them? Only reason am thinking this because of the previous poster commenting on other sites.Quote

Driver updates won't improve frame rates too much, it will increase by 3 FPS tops. But if you look at the price difference between the 560 and the 69xx and it's performance, the only reason to get AMD atm is for Eyefinity, if you don't want to play games with 3 or more monitors than Nvidia is the way to go.Quote

On a side note what would be faster, MSI GTX560-TI Twin Frozr II Super Overclock or MSI GTX560-TI Twin Frozr Golden Edition. The Super Overclock comes with 950MHz on the core, while the Golden Edition comes with 900MHz on the core. But considering the Golden Edition has a Golden Shroud, would it overclock better?Quote

I'm new to the computer hardware world and it looks like Nvidia is dominating the GPU market at this point. Love the videos!!Quote

Gigabyte 560 SOC = 570

http://guru3d.com/article/gigabyte-gtx-560-ti-soc-review/14Quote

Wow The Gigabyte GTX 560 Ti SOC is an amazing card. Well the 560 ti's in general are amazing cards. The best part is they have sparked a price war in mid market. Anyway I haven't found an online retailer with one in stock but I did find this link. basically say that the price for the Gigabyte GTX 560 Ti SOC is $269.00 dollars (169.118 GBP)

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Gigabyte-GTX-560-Ti-SOC-Becomes-Official-Features-1GHz-GPU-Overclock-180568.shtml

Anyway like I was saying the GTX 560 ti's have forced AMD to lower there prices. You can now find Radeon 6950 reference cards for as low as $269.00 dollars (169.118 GBP) after a rebate. We all know that they can be flashed and overclocked into fully functional 6970's.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131384

My point is all of this churn in the mid market is all kinds of good news for enthusiasts. Now for the low price of $269.00 dollars (169.118 GBP)you can chose between the Gigabyte GTX 560 Ti SOC and the Radeon 6950. If you want PhysX go with the GTX 560. If you want eyefinity (multi monitor setup) and better overall performance go with 6950 overclock/bios flash to 6970. Both options provide excellent value, so pick the features you want, lay your money down and take a sweet ride.

http://guru3d.com/article/gigabyte-gtx-560-ti-soc-review/19Quote

i think you hit it on the head, buy the card that suits your needs.

you want 3 screen gaming then the amd is for you.

you want to f@h or use any of the other cuda plug ins or 2 cards for 3d gaming then its nv.Quote

its amazing cos of the overclock from factory.

MSI twin fzr will do that easyQuote

It's not a torment, but it is foolish considering the comments I've also made on the AMD reviews

Leopard and spots.Quote

Think only option for me at the moment is the 560ti then . Gotta start saving the pennies now.Quote

Gold shroud how bling.Quote

Gigabyte 560 SOC = 570

http://guru3d.com/article/gigabyte-gtx-560-ti-soc-review/14

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/nvidiageforcegraphicscards/nvidiagtx560tifermiseries/gigabyte/engtx560tidcii2di1gd5gv-n5.html

Not the best price, but still £230 for 570 performance is pretty sweet. Quote

Dual slot card so should go well with the P67 UD7 from Gigabyte.

Quote

Sorry to disappoint you mate but.. its.. copper, not gold. Same shroud just not painted? Quote

Is it just me or is the actual card more bronze coloured than gold, doesn't much seem to resemble the box photo....

Anyhoo I'm liking the gigabyte gtx 560 SOC. Very nice reviews. Quote

Why isn't it nickel plated its going to oxidize like there's no tomorrow.Quote

Dam, MSI, calling something Golden Edition than covering the thing in copper. RAWR!

EDIT: Wait isn't that an all copper heatsink?

EDIT: @murphy, copper won't oxidize provided you don't touch it with your fingers...oh boy the entire shroud is copper...use some wipes =DQuote

Oxidize means exposure to oxygen found in the air nothing to do with fingers though they do contain acid corrodes the copper. Air will slowly reduce quality of the heat transfers though the time it will take and the difference it will have is a little complicated to call.Quote

exerllant reveiw id be intrested to know if the evga 570sc would be capable of hitting the hieghts this gtx 560ti does 1050 on the gpu clock wow!!! 570 preformance for £100 less Quote

This just goes on and on...

Yes, it gets right on the 570 at it's very highest overclock but then overclock the 570 to its limit and it'll just pull away again.

570's can be had for under £265...

Do have to say though, for the money compared to normal non ref cards, the Gigabyte SOC is a very good price.Quote

Copper corrodes extremely slowly in air, unless there is a catalyst which in this instance the oils on your fingers. Also when it comes to copper corrosion it tends to be quite superficial so I doubt it will make too much of a difference,Quote

Ok Here are the prices I found for the GTX 560 Ti

EVGA $280.00 (176.23 GBP) free shipping

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130610

Zotac $265.00 (166.79 GBP) $7.56 Shipping

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500190

Here are the new prices for the HD6850

HIS $260.00 (163.63 GBP) after mail-in rebate

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161355

Sapphire $275.00 (173.10 GBP)after mail-in rebate card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102914

That's right, let the price wars begin......like I said before, this is going to be great!

May the two big names in graphics beat each other to a bloody pulp in the name of good value. fighters to they're corners....Ding!Quote

Nvidia won't need to drop prices because they know AMD will need to drop the 6970 to like $300; which they can't, only than it will it make sense price to performance wise. Currently Nvidia just offers way better bang for your buck.Quote

I think that Nvidia is going to have to do something about price. The stock HD 6950 outperforms the stock GTX 560 ti by almost 20%. The HD6950 can be found online for a lower price than a GTX 560 ti as of today. Further that is the 2 GB version of the HD6950. Yes it's true the overclocking of 560 TI is very impressive. In fact, when overclocked to 1GHz it preforms slightly better than a stock HD6950. That said once the bios is flashed on the 6950 and its effectively turned into a HD6970 the battle is over. The fact is the HD6950 with bios flashed to HD6970 crushes the overclocked GTX 560 ti in almost every way. Basically it is 15% to 20% faster than an overclocked GTX 560 ti for the same price. So if Nvidia wants to remain competitive they will have to lower the price of the GTX 560 ti. I personally think this price war is going to be great for gamers.

On a side note, I am a little concerned about Nvidia's ability to compete on price. the big problem is that the GF114 requires 40% more surface area per chip than the Cayman chips. This of course translates into a nearly linear price difference in fabrication costs of the GPU. Worse, once the slightly reduced yields that are achieved as a result of added complexity are factored in, it is not difficult to imagine Nvidia having difficulty going toe to toe with ATI/AMD on price. Hopefully, Nvidia will find a way to compete because as I have said that is great for enthusiasts.Quote

im looking at a couple new cards, should i go 2 gtx 570's or 2 560's?Quote

2 570'sQuote

The 560 Ti's are a way better value, if I where choosing between them I would definitely go for the pair of 560 Ti's. Well hold on a minute what resolution do you plan to run at? I ask because if you are planning to go above 1920x1080 then the 560 Ti's 1GB frame buffer is going to cause some very serious problems. It will begin to slow down at 1920x1200 and will be severely crippled at 2560x1600. Sli will only make the frame buffer problem worse, I am sorry to tell you.

That said, if you are planning on running at 1920x1080 or below then definitely go for the 560 Ti's. The pair will save you approximately $190.00 (119.32 GBP) depending on the currency use. And if you overclock them there will be precious little difference in performance up to 1920x1080. If, as I said, you are planning to run at resolutions beyond 1920x1080 then make no mistake the 560 ti's 1GB frame buffer is not enough. Shame really, because a pair of 560 ti's can be had for $530.00 (332.79 GBP), whereas the pair 570's costs a staggering $720.00 (452.60 GBP). What can you do if you need the larger frame buffer? Well there are the 570's (ouch!). Another option would be to use a single 580. It won't preform as well as the 570's in SLI, but it will handle the higher resolutions and can be had for $510.00 (320.30 GBP) that's 130 quid difference mate. (did I use Quid right?, hope I don't sound like a Jack-monkey).

In any case.....

Wouldn't it be great if there was a way to get the price of a pair of 560 Ti's. The performance of a pair of 570's. A large enough frame buffer to handle 2560x1600 without breaking a sweat. The good news is there is a way to do just that. The bad news is your not going to like it. Anyway let me know if you want to know how to get it done.....

I hope this helpedQuote

thanks for the input oneseraph, i mean at the moment im only running 1920x1200 but 3d surround does look pretty tasty!!! so some new monitors maybe the next big ticket item. and with the 570's i can keep my option open for 3(or even 4) way sli, but DAYM 1ghz clock?!? and 130 quid is a lot of coin for similiar kit(at current res)Quote

Ya, once you make the move to multi-monitor, you will never look back...

I use a pair of LG's at the moment. Around the end of march, I plan to build a new rig. I am thinking of making the jump to a triple monitor setup. The new Asus PA246Q ProArt Series sound pretty good. Hopefully they won't be ridiculously expensive. In any case, best of luck with your setup.

CheersQuote

Yer Wont make huge difference in the first ten years lol. Just feels bit substandard for a luxury style card.Quote

What screen sizeQuote

@CH4PZ 3D surround isn't really mature yet, so 570s would be better, since SLI won't scale too well so the more powerful GPUs will fair better.Quote

im at 1920 x 1200 at the moment, but multi monitor maybe an option within a year or so

yeah i think i will go 570's!! i dont like the thought of not being able to go anywhere with the 560 setup, wheres with 570's i've got a few options, and i will be able to afford it(for a change, lol) cheers for ya help everyone but still ya gotta take ya hat off to the baby brother cracking the 1 ton clock speedQuote

I'd read some impressive stats, but, well, to be honest till Tommy yumps on a card, tears off its clothes and then tosses it on the rack... I just haven't watched a review. Very nice TTL. Another intelligent, lucid, and human presentation, thank you. And yes, I happied all over my keyboard. YOU OWE ME ...... ANOTHER !Quote

..Except the 6970 beats the 560 on every review I've seen. In fact, it beats it so thoroughly that the reviewers usually choose to use the 6950, and it still beats the 560 in every http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-560-ti-review/14 review http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...14,2845-6.html I've seen http://www.anandtech.com/show/4135/nvidias-geforce-gtx-560-ti-upsetting-the-250-market/11 ..except this one.

"At stock speeds" "It walks past the 6950" "walks past the 6970.." I'm not seeing that in any review. Every other review I've read of this card it's a disappointment for it's price. Granted, I'm a US reader and most of these reviews are speaking of the US prices. That doesn't change his assessment of the performance.

I'm a huge Nvidia fan, at the moment. The problems I had with the 5xxx series.. ugh. I don't want to go back to that. Fair is fair however, and the 6950 is the better card. In OC3Ds defense, the charts actually disagree with TTLs assessment in the video. The stock 6970 beats the stock 560 quite handily.

In other words, Nvidia needs to drop the price of the 560 relative to the performance of the 6950.Quote

HEY TOM, CAN U REVIEW THESE CARDS AGAINST THE STOCK 560 ,570 ,580 AND EACH OTHER?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125362

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127565

I M HAVING A TOUGH TIME ABOUT DECIDING WHETHER I SHUD GO FOR 2 OF EITHER OF THESE OR A GTX 570?I WILL BE GAMING AT 1920X1080Quote

hullooooooooQuote