MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II/OC Video Card Review

Introduction

The GeForce GTX 560 Ti is the latest addition to the GeForce GTX 500 series from NVIDIA, coming with a very affordable USD 250 price tag, competing directly with the Radeon HD 6870. The MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II/OC is a factory-overclocked GeForce GTX 560 Ti with a better cooling solution that, believe it or not, comes at the same price point as the standard GeForce GTX 560 Ti. Let’s check it out.

When a new graphics processor is released, typically “manufacturers” (called “partners” by NVIDIA) don’t actually manufacture video cards using the new chip; they buy the cards already assembled from NVIDIA and only add their own sticker, box and product manual. The MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II/OC, however, is a nice exception to this rule. Not only it comes with a different cooling solution, but its printed circuit board is actually different from the one used on the reference model.

The reviewed card comes overclocked, with the GPU running at 880 MHz instead of at 822 MHz (7% increase), the processing cores running at 1,760 MHz instead of at 1,644 MHz (7% increase) and memory running at 4.2 GHz (effective) instead of at 4 GHz (5% increase). The MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II/OC allows you to increase the GPU voltage, using MSI’s AfterBurner utility.

In the table below we compare the main specs of the video cards included in our review. They are all DirectX 11 parts.

The effective clock rate of the GeForce GTX 560 Ti is actually 4,008 MHz.

Video Card	Core Clock	Shader Clock	Memory Clock (Real)	Memory Clock (Effective)	Memory Interface	Memory Transfer Rate	Memory	Shaders	Price
MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II/O	880 MHz	1,760 MHz	2.1 GHz	4.2 GHz	256-bit	134.4 GB/s	1 GB GDDR5	384	USD 250
GeForce GTX 560 Ti	822 MHz	1,644 MHz	2 GHz	4 GHz	256-bit	128.3 GB/s	1 GB GDDR5	384	USD 250
GeForce GTX 570	732 MHz	1,464 MHz	1.9 GHz	3.8 GHz	320-bit	152 GB/s	1.28 GB GDDR5	480	USD 350
Radeon HD 5870	850 MHz	850 MHz	2.4 GHz	4.8 GHz	256-bit	153.6 GB/s	1 GB GDDR5	1,600	USD 270 – 290
Radeon HD 6870	900 MHz	900 MHz	2.1 GHz	4.2 GHz	256-bit	134.4 GB/s	1 GB GDDR5	1,120	USD 220 – 240
Radeon HD 6950	800 MHz	800 MHz	2.5 GHz	5 GHz	256-bit	160 GB/s	2 GB GDDR5	1,408	USD 300
Radeon HD 6970	880 MHz	880 MHz	2.75 GHz	5.5 GHz	256-bit	176 GB/s	2 GB GDDR5	1,536	USD 370

Prices were researched at Newegg.com on the day we published this review.

You can compare the specs of these video cards with other video cards by taking a look at our AMD ATI Chips Comparison Table and NVIDIA Chips Comparison Table tutorials.   

Now let’s take an in-depth look at the NVIDIA reference model for the GeForce GTX 560 Ti.