EVGA GTX 560 Ti 448 FTW Review

The not-quite GTX 570

When is a GTX 560 Ti not really a GTX 560 Ti? When it’s almost a GTX 570.
Nvidia’s latest GPU, the GTX 560 Ti 448 is really a GTX 580 (originally dubbed the GF110) with two functional blocks disabled, reducing its CUDA Core count from 512 to 448. The GTX 570 is a GF110 with one functional block disabled, endowing it with 480 CUDA Cores. The original GTX 560 Ti is a completely different chip, with different power requirements, but all 384 of its cores are fully functional.

Priced at $290, The 560 Ti 448 fills a price gap between the $250 GTX 560 Ti and the $350 GTX 570. Given that yields for GF110 GPUs have improved, the Ti 448 is a limited-edition version, so it’s unclear how long it will remain on the market. And since we’re approaching the end of a GPU generation, it’s likely that many of the processors around today will soon ride off into the sunset. If you really want a GTX 570, but can’t swing the price, the 560 Ti 448 might fill the bill. Like most of the retail cards based on this chip, EVGA’s GTX 560 Ti 448 is factory overclocked, to 797MHz. Compare that to the typical GTX 570 design—Asus’s ENGTX570, for instance—in which the GPU runs at a stock clock of 742MHz. We also compared EVGA’s card to a couple of other factory-overclocked SKUs; namely, the Asus GTX 560 Ti DirectCU II, and the MSI Radeon HD 6950 Twin Frozr III.

The two-slot GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 FTW is outfitted with two dual-link DVIs and one each HDMI and DisplayPort on its mounting bracket.

Note: We’ve made some minor changes to both our test bed and our game benchmarks; so don’t compare these performance numbers to our earlier reviews. The GTX 570 pulls slightly ahead of the pack in apps that make heavy use of shader programs (that’s Just Cause 2 and the Unigine Heaven 2.5 synthetic benchmark in our suite). In most other benchmarks, it’s either a wash or the GTX 560 Ti 448 posts a slight lead. MSI’s implementation of AMD’s Radeon HD 6950 keeps up in some benchmarks (Shogun 2, STALKER: CoP, and Metro 2033), but it falls behind cards based on Nvidia’s GF110 in the other tests. On the other hand, the Asus GTX 560 Ti trails the field in nearly all the benchmarks, edging out the HD 6950 in just a couple (Just Cause 2 and HAWX 2).

So this card is cheaper than the GTX 570, but it still costs nearly $300. Note also that our GTX 570 isn’t a factory-overclocked version; most current versions shipping deliver higher clock speeds, so the performance gap between the EVGA GTX 560 Ti and those GTX 570 cards will likely be wider.
The GTX 560 Ti 448 is also about the same size as other GTX 560 Ti cards, which means it will fit in more compact cases. So if you’re looking for a little more performance juice in that small form factor gaming rig, EVGA’s Ti 448 FTW is definitely worth a look.