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The age of technical devices in the computer industry is short-lived, especially in relation to graphics accelerators. GPU requirements for new games are constantly growing, video cards quickly become obsolete. Top models can last several years, and some veterans can still handle modern games at moderate graphics settings. Proof of this is our extensive testing of the GeForce GTX 580 and Radeon HD 6970 in actual applications. Now we decided to evaluate the potential of the GeForce GTX 560 Ti in modern games. At the same time, let’s compare the old representative of the middle class with fresh budget-level solutions in order to evaluate the overall progress in the performance of graphics accelerators.
As the title of the article suggests, the main competitor will be the GeForce GT 1030. Also in testing is the Radeon RX 550 and older models from AMD and NVIDIA. But first, you need to recall the characteristics of the GeForce GTX 560 Ti.
Inno3D GeForce GTX 560Ti
The honor of the old series of video cards will be protected by a reference design model that has not previously fallen into our hands. By coincidence, many non-reference options have passed through us, except for the most common video adapter. So this acquaintance with the old man was also interesting on a personal level.
Before us is the simplest GeForce GTX 560 Ti from Inno3D. The dual-slot cooler is equipped with one fan.
Under the casing we see a radiator of intricate design. In the center is a one-piece radiator with petals, on the sides two additional radiator blocks hang on two heat pipes. By the way, a similar design was once used by MSI in the Cyclone series of video cards.
The GeForce GTX 560 Ti is based on the Fermi architecture GF114 GPU. This is the first NVIDIA architecture for DirectX 11 and the second generation of chips in this family. Unlike modern solutions, the chip is covered with a large heat-distributing cover. The cooler has a massive copper base, which provides a large contact area and good heat dissipation.
The processor is powered by four phases. External power is supplied through two 6-pin connectors. Claimed TDP at 170W. The entire Fermi line was pretty hot. And in this generation, cooling often played a key role in overclocking.
The GPU runs at 823 MHz by standard specifications, but its stream processors operate at double the 1645 MHz frequency. In total, the chip has 384 processors with 64 texture units and 32 ROPs. And this is close to the characteristics of the GeForce GT 1030. The new ultra-budget video card also has 384 stream processors, but fewer TMUs and ROPs.
The GF114 chip has a 256-bit memory bus. The memory modules themselves operate at an effective frequency of 4 GHz. The amount of memory by today’s standards is small – the GeForce GTX 560 Ti was equipped with 1 GB. And a small amount of memory can play the role of a bottleneck in a number of games.
As a small illustration of the temperature regime, below are two screenshots of monitoring parameters during gaming tests. The core heats up to 77–80 °C, and the fan spins up to 2100–2250 rpm.
In terms of overclocking, this instance showed quite ordinary results. The core was overclocked to 918 MHz (shader domain 1836 MHz), the memory worked at 4698 MHz. On the top versions, we achieved higher frequencies, which was ensured by powerful cooling and an improved PCB design. In this case, for overclocking, I had to unscrew the fan to maximum speed.
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