Nvidia has smoothed out the kinks in its production of DirectX 11 graphics cards since its, er, ‘troubled’ launch last year. Where previously, clock speeds were limited by high power draw, voltage leaks and yield problems from the then-new 40nm production process, this has gradually been fixed as Nvidia’s range has matured. Enough so that the new GTX 560 — essentially a rebadge of last year’s GTX 460 1GB but made with updated production technology — is actually pretty compelling. Speeds are up by about 20% (at least for core clocks) above the 460. MSI’s N560GTX Twin Frozr II/OC, for example, ramps the core and memory clocks up to 870MHz/1,020MHz over a stock GTX 460’s 675MHz/900MHz (a theoretical reference GTX 560 sits at 810MHz/1,000MHz).
That speed jump makes for a noticeable improvement over previous-generation gear, especially in cases of borderline playability. For instance, MSI’s 560 clears the 30fps threshhold on Crysis at very high settings at 1080p. Likewise with demanding DirectX 11 titles like Aliens vs. Predator. While you won’t be playing the latter on a 2,560 x 1,600 monitor, anything below that resolution should be sufficiently smooth. At only $40 more than a GTX 460 1GB, we think that makes this card a compelling deal.
We also tested the similarly equipped Gigabyte GV-N560GSO-1GI. It pushed out marginally more frames per second than MSI’s 560, almost matching the performance of a GTX 560 Ti card. However, while it's due out soon, this card hadn’t hit the local market at the time of posting and pricing was unclear. Gigabyte has indicated a rough A$260 retail price to us (a bit steep compared to MSI’s $230 offering), but if you can snap up the GV-N560GSO-1GI for closer to $230, it’d be a solid bet, too.
