ZOTAC GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Cores Limited Edition Pro Reviews

The Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 card we've tested is functionally almost identical to the GeForce GTX 570. More than anything, it's a bit of a temporary Christmas price cut on the 570. We're favorably inclined toward such things, and for as long as this card is available, nobody should buy a GTX 570. The Ti 560 448 is the same basic thing for less money. We're also generally pleased with Zotac's rendition of this holiday special. We like the shorter board length, higher clock speeds, reasonably quiet cooler, and the included coupon for a copy of Battlefield 3. All in all, a very solid offering from Zotac. The surprising outcome of our testing is the relatively minor differences in performance between the cheapest two cards, the GeForce GTX Ti 560 and Radeon HD 6950, and the more expensive offerings, which cost about $100 more. In fact, in our admittedly limited set of tests, we saw larger differences between the two major GPU brands than we did between the different rungs on their respective product lineups. For instance, Arkham City runs better on all of the GeForces than on any of the Radeons, while the reverse is true (in more dramatic fashion) for Battlefield 3. I had kind of expected our tighter focus on GPU frame times and on specific performance stumbles to lead to more separation between the various product segments, not less. Then again, we are dealing with relatively minor differences even in theory, all told, once you factor in the relatively high clocks on our Asus GTX 560 Ti and such. There's just not a lot of differentiation to be had between $240 and $350 or so.

Let me first say that Zotac has done a great job with this card. It does use a slightly modified reference design but it looks good and stays fairly cool. This is something that nVidia has really improved on from their previous generation of cards. I’m sure there are those that can remember the blow dryers that passed for the 400 series cooling solution. Not only were they loud but they didn’t cool all that well either. These cards are a totally different story and Zotac was smart enough not to tamper too much with what already worked. With the way these cards are designed though, they are going to exhaust a fair amount of the hot air into your case. For this reason I would strongly suggest that you have a case that is able to provide adequate air flow. When nVidia first released these new cards I was kind of thinking that it was a bit of a waste. I’m now thinking that this will give gamers more options to choose from and that’s never a bad thing.

Finally, to wrap things up we have the matter of Zotac’s GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Cores Limited Edition. If the regular GTX 560-448 is nearly a GTX 570, then Zotac’s card is a GTX 570’s fraternal twin. It’s close enough in performance that the differences in performance cease to matter, and the power consumption doesn’t suffer for the factory overclock. At $299 there’s a greater risk of running into the actual GTX 570, which is what makes the Zotac card a GTX 570 substitute rather than something immediately more or less desirable than the GTX 570. On the plus side if you're in North America and don’t yet have Battlefield 3, the choice becomes much clearer.

A GTX 560 Ti 448 that makes more sense in such a crowded marketplace.

GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448-Core Limited Edition cards will be available immediately from a number of NVIDIA’s key AIB partners, like Zotac, EVGA, Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, Gainward, Inno3D and Palit, in the US and Canada and across the pond in the UK, France, Germany, Russia, and Nordics, but it will not be a worldwide release. The GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448-Core will be a limited edition product that’s not intended for every market and will likely sell out within a couple of months according to NVIDIA. With that said, the card is a solid choice for the midrange. With prices ranging from $289 on up depending on the overclock and bundle (the Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core Limited Edition will sell for $299 and include a copy of BF3), it competes directly against the Radeon HD 6950 and falls in right between the GTX 560 Ti and 570. Considering the GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448-Core was faster than the 6950 overall, that’s a good position to be in. If you’re looking for a graphics card in this price range, the GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448-Core Limited Edition won’t disappoint.

If NVIDIA set out to fill a vacuum between the standard GeForce GTX 560 Ti and GeForce GTX 570, it more than achieved it with the new GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 cores. Cards based on this new SKU are priced somewhere in between the price-points of the two, but the performance measured shows it's tilting precariously close to the GTX 570. And why shouldn't it? The new GTX 560 Ti 448 Cores has everything the GTX 570 has - GF110 GPU, 1280 MB of memory over a 320 bit GDDR5 memory interface, 40 ROPs, and even the same reference clock speeds. It's just that the GTX 570 has about 7% more CUDA cores. Is this all sounding too good to be true? Well, here's the catch. First, the GTX 560 Ti 448 cores is a "Limited Edition" product, meaning that limited quantities of it will be produced. We think North American and European markets should digest all cards made in this winter shopping season alone. Next, it's a "Limited Availability" product, meaning that it will be available only in select North American and European markets.