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[nextpage title=”Introduction”]
The GeForce GTX 560 is a strange GPU, in the sense that its manufacturer, NVIDIA, doesn’t set default clock rates for it. Therefore, it is up to the video card manufacturer to decide which clocks to use. The GeForce GTX 560 Multiview from Zotac works internally at 820 MHz, accesses memory at 4 GHz through a 256-bit interface, and has its processing engines working at 1,640 MHz – the same clock rates used on the standard GeForce GTX 560 Ti. The only difference between the two is the number of shader engines (336 vs. 384 on the Ti version). The Multiview model from Zotac allows you to connect up to three video monitors, a feature not available on regular models.
At USD 200, the Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview is on the same price range as the Radeon HD 6870, although you can find the Radeon HD 6870 selling for less. In this review, we are going to compare the GeForce GTX 560 from Zotac with the GeForce GTX 560 Ti, which has a price tag starting at USD 220.
In the table below, we compare the main specifications of the video cards included in our review. They are all DirectX 11 parts. The prices listed below do not include rebates. Prices were researched at Newegg.com on the day we published this review.
| Video Card | Core Clock | Shader Clock | Memory Clock (Real) | Memory Clock (Effective) | Memory Interface | Memory Transfer Rate | Memory | Shaders | Price |
| Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview | 820 MHz | 1,640 MHz | 1,002 MHz | 4,008 MHz | 256-bit | 128.2 GB/s | 1 GB GDDR5 | 336 | USD 200 |
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti | 822 MHz | 1,644 MHz | 1,002 MHz | 4,008 MHz | 256-bit | 128.2 GB/s | 1 GB GDDR5 | 384 | USD 220 |
| Radeon HD 6870 | 900 MHz | 900 MHz | 1,050 MHz | 4.2 GHz | 256-bit | 134.4 GB/s | 1 GB GDDR5 | 1,120 | USD 175 – 200 |
You can compare the specs of these video cards with other video cards by taking a look in our AMD ATI Chips Comparison Table and NVIDIA Chips Comparison Table tutorials.
Now let’s take a complete look at the Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview.
[nextpage title=”The Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview”]
Below we have an overall look at the Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview. It requires two six-pin auxiliary power connectors.
Figure 1: Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview
Figure 2: Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview
The highlight of this video card is the possibility of connecting up to three video monitors at the same time. For that, the card provides two DVI-D, two HDMI, and one DisplayPort connector. The multi-monitor capability is provided by an IDT VMM1402 chip.
Figure 3: Video connectors
[nextpage title=”The Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview (Cont’d)”]
In Figure 4, you can see the video card with its cooler removed. It uses only solid capacitors and ferrite-core coils (which makes the regulator present higher efficiency because they present lower energy loss than iron-core coils). The voltage regulator circuit has six phases for the graphics chip and one phase for the memory chips, and is controlled by a CHiL CHL8318 chip, using a digital design.
Figure 4: Video card with the cooler removed
Figure 5: Voltage regulator circuit
The GPU heatsink can be seen in Figures 6 and 7. It has a copper base, two 8 mm heatpipes, aluminum fins, and a 75 mm fan.
Figure 6: The GPU heatsink
Figure 7: The GPU heatsink
The Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview uses eight 1 Gbit GDDR5 memory chips, making its 1 GB memory (1 Gbit x 8 = 1 GB). The chips used are K4G10325FE-HC04 parts from Samsung, which support up to 2.5 GHz (5 GHz DDR), and since on this video card memory is accessed at 2 GHz (4 GHz DDR), there is still a huge 25% margin for you to increase the memory clock rate while keeping the chips inside the maximum they support. Of course, you can always try to overclock the memory chips above their specs.
Figure 8: Memory chips
In Figure 9, you can see all accessories that come with this video card.
Figure 9: Accessories
Before seeing the performance results, let’s recap the main features of this video card.
[nextpage title=”Main Specifications”]
The main specifications for the reference Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview include:
- Graphics chip: GeForce GTX 560 running at 820 MHz
- Memory: 1 GB GDDR5 memory (256-bit interface) from Samsung (K4G10325FE-HC04), running at 2 GHz (4 GHz, DDR)
- Bus type: PCI Express x16 2.0
- Video Connectors: Two DVI-D, two HDMI, and one DisplayPort
- Video Capture (VIVO): No
- Cables and adapters that come with this board: One DVI-to-VGA adapter and two power cable adapters
- Number of CDs/DVDs that come with this board: One
- Games included: None
- Programs included: Driver and overclocking utility
- More information: https://www.zotacusa.com
- Average Price in the US*: USD 200.00
* Researched at Newegg.com on the day we published this review.
[nextpage title=”How We Tested”]
During our benchmarking sessions, we used the configuration listed below. Between our benchmarking sessions the only variable was the video card being tested.
Hardware Configuration
- CPU: Core i7 Extreme 965 (3.2 GHz, 8 MB L2 memory cache)
- Motherboard: MSI Big Bang XPower (1.6 BIOS)
- Memories: 3x 2 GB G.Skill F3-10666CL7T-6GBPK (DDR3-1333/PC3-10666, CL7-7-7-18)
- Hard disk drive: Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000GLFS (300 GB, SATA-300, 10,000 rpm, 16 MB cache)
- Video monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 305T (30” LCD, 2560×1600)
- Power Supply: SilverStone Element ST75EF
- CPU Cooler: Intel stock
- Optical Drive: LG GSA-H54N
Software Configuration
- Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
- Video resolution: 2560×1600 @ 60 Hz
Driver Versions
- AMD video driver version: Catalyst 11.6
- NVIDIA video driver version: 275.33
- Intel Inf driver version: 9.1.2.1008
Software Used
- 3DMark 11 Professional 1.0.2
- Aliens vs. Predator + Benchmark Tool
- Call of Duty 4 – Patch 1.7
- Crysis Warhead – Patch 1.1 + HOC Bench Crysis Warhead Benchmark Tool 1.1.1
- Far Cry 2 – Patch 1.03
- Lost Planet 2
- StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty – Patch 1.3.5
Error Margin
We adopted a 3% error margin. Thus, differences below 3% cannot be considered relevant. In other words, products with a performance difference below 3% should be considered as having similar performance.
[nextpage title=”Call of Duty 4″]
Call of Duty 4 is a DirectX 9 game implementing high-dynamic range (HDR) and its own physics engine, which is used to calculate how objects interact. For example, if you shoot, exactly what will happen to the object when the bullet hits it? Will it break? Will it move? Will the bullet bounce back? It gives a more realistic experience to the user.
To get accurate results, we had to disable the 80 FPS limit in the game. To do this, input the command, “/seta com max fps 1000” (minus the quotes) into the console (` key). It can be set to any number greater than 200.
We ran this program at three 16:10 widescreen resolutions, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, and 2560×1600, maxing out all image quality controls (i.e., everything was set to the maximum values in the Graphics and Texture menus). We used the internal game benchmarking feature, running a demo provided by NVIDIA called “wetwork.” We are putting this demo here for downloading if you want to run your own benchmarks. We ran the demo five times, and the results below are the average number of frames per second (FPS) achieved by each video card.
| Call of Duty 4 – Maximum | 1680×1050 | Difference |
| Radeon HD 6870 | 154.8 | 13% |
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti | 148.3 | 8% |
| Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview | 136.8 |
| Call of Duty 4 – Maximum | 1920×1200 | Difference |
| Radeon HD 6870 | 128.3 | 12% |
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti | 125.6 | 10% |
| Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview | 114.4 |
| Call of Duty 4 – Maximum | 2560×1600 | Difference |
| Radeon HD 6870 | 89.4 | 17% |
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti | 85.4 | 12% |
| Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview | 76.2 |
[nextpage title=”StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty”]
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is a very popular DirectX 9 game that was released in 2010. Though this game uses an old version of DirectX, the number of textures that can be represented on one screen can push most of the top-end graphics cards to their limits (especially when the graphics settings are set at “ultra”). StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty uses its own physics engine that is bound to the CPU and thus does not benefit from PhysX.
We tested this game at 1680×1050, 1920×1200, and 2560×1600. The quality of the game was set to the “extreme” preset. We then used FRAPS to collect the frame rate of a replay on the “Unit Testing” custom map. We used a battle between very large armies to stress the video cards.
| Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty | 1680×1050 | Difference |
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti | 85.4 | 0% |
| Radeon HD 6870 | 85.4 | 0% |
| Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview | 85.3 |
| Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty | 1920×1200 | Difference |
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti | 77.9 | 1% |
| Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview | 77.1 | |
| Radeon HD 6870 | 76.2 | 1% |
| Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty | 2560×1600 | Difference |
| Radeon HD 6870 | 64.3 | 1% |
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti | 63.9 | 0% |
| Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview | 63.7 |
[nextpage title=”Crysis Warhead”]
Crysis Warhead is a DirectX 10 game based on the same engine as the original Crysis, but optimized (it runs under DirectX 9.0c when installed on Windows XP).
We used the HardwareOC Crysis Warhead Benchmark Tool to collect the data for this test. We ran this program at 1680×1050, 1920×1200, and 2560×1600 at “medium” image quality (but with no anti-aliasing and no anisotropic filtering) and using the Airfield demo. The results below are the number of frames per second achieved by each video card.
| Crysis Warhead – Very High | 1680×1050 | Difference |
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti |
33 |
6% |
| Radeon HD 6870 |
32 |
3% |
| Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview |
31 |
| Crysis Warhead – Very High | 1920×1200 | Difference |
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti |
28 |
4% |
| Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview |
27 |
|
| Radeon HD 6870 |
27 |
0% |
| Crysis Warhead – Very High | 2560×1600 | Difference |
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti |
20 |
5% |
| Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview |
19 |
|
| Radeon HD 6870 |
19 |
0% |
[nextpage title=”Far Cry 2″]
Far Cry 2 is based on an entirely new game engine called Dunia, which is based on DirectX 10.
We used the benchmarking utility that comes with this game at 1680×1050, 1920×1200, and 2560×1600, setting image quality to “very high,” with anti-aliasing set to “4x,” and running the “Ranch Long” demo three times. The results below are expressed in frames per second and are an arithmetic average of the three results collected.
| FarCry 2 – Ultra High – AAx8 | 1680×1050 | Difference |
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti | 122.1 | 7% |
| Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview | 114.1 | |
| Radeon HD 6870 | 101.9 | 12% |
| FarCry 2 – Ultra High – AAx8 | 1920×1200 | Difference |
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti | 106.2 | 9% |
| Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview | 97.5 | |
| Radeon HD 6870 | 89.2 | 9% |
| FarCry 2 – Ultra High – AAx8 | 2560×1600 | Difference |
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti | 70.5 | 11% |
| Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview | 63.5 | |
| Radeon HD 6870 | 61.3 | 3% |
[nextpage title=”Aliens vs. Predator”]
Aliens vs. Predator is a DirectX 11 game that makes full use of tessellation and advanced shadow rendering. We used the Aliens vs. Predator Benchmark Tool developed by Rebellion. This program reads its configuration from a text file (our configuration files can be found here). We ran this program at 1680×1050, 1920×1200, and 2560×1600, with texture set at “2,” shadows set at “2,” anisotropic filter
ing set at “8x,” and anti-aliasing set at “2x.”
| Aliens vs. Predator – Very High – AAx4, AFx16 | 1680×1050 | Difference |
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti | 44.6 | 9% |
| Radeon HD 6870 |
44.2 |
8% |
| Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview |
41.1 |
| Aliens vs. Predator – Very High – AAx4, AFx16 | 1920×1200 | Difference |
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti | 36.4 | 10% |
| Radeon HD 6870 |
35.7 |
8% |
| Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview |
33 |
| Aliens vs. Predator – Very High – AAx4, AFx16 | 2560×1600 | Difference |
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti | 22.2 | 14% |
| Radeon HD 6870 |
22.1 |
13% |
| Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview |
19.5 |
[nextpage title=”Lost Planet 2″]
Lost Planet 2 is a game that uses a lot of DirectX 11 features, like tessellation (to round out the edges of polygonal models), displacement maps (added to the tessellated mesh to add fine grain details), DirectCompute soft body simulation (to introduce more realism in the “boss” monsters), and DirectCompute wave simulation (to introduce more realism in the physics calculations in water surfaces; when you move or gunshots and explosions hit the water, it moves accordingly). We reviewed the video cards using Lost Planet 2 internal benchmarking features, choosing the “Benchmark A” (we know that “Benchmark B” is the one recommended for reviewing video cards, however, at least with us, results were inconsistent). We set graphics at “medium,” anti-aliasing at “2x,” and DX11 at “full,” at 1680×1050, 1920×1200, and 2560×1600. The results below are the number of frames per second generated by each video card.
| Lost Planet 2 – High – AAx4 | 1680×1050 | Difference |
| Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview | 64.20 | |
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti | 63.70 | 1% |
| Radeon HD 6870 | 60.90 | 5% |
| Lost Planet 2 – High – AAx4 | 1920×1200 | Difference |
| Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview | 53.40 | |
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti | 52.90 | 1% |
| Radeon HD 6870 | 51.40 | 4% |
| Lost Planet 2 – High – AAx4 | 2560×1600 | Difference |
| Radeon HD 6870 | 36.90 | 0% |
| Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview | 36.80 | |
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti | 36.20 | 2% |
[nextpage title=”3DMark 11 Professional”]
3DMark 11 Professional measures Shader 5.0 (i.e., DirectX 11) performance. We ran this program at 1680×1050, 1920×1200, and 2560×1600, selecting the four graphics tests available and deselecting the other tests available. We used two image quality settings, “performance” and “extreme,” both at their default settings. The results being compared are the “GPU Score” achieved by each video card.
| 3DMark Vantage – Performance | 1680×1050 | Difference |
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti |
2855 |
13% |
| Radeon HD 6870 |
2846 |
13% |
| Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview | 2518 |
| 3DMark Vantage – Performance | 1920×1200 | Difference |
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti |
2221 |
14% |
| Radeon HD 6870 |
2190 |
12% |
| Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview |
1955 |
| 3DMark Vantage – Performance | 2560×1600 | Difference |
| Radeon HD 6870 |
1309 |
15% |
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti |
1290 |
13% |
| Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview |
1140 |
| 3DMark Vantage – Extreme | 1680×1050 | Difference |
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti |
1681 |
13% |
| Radeon HD 6870 |
1528 |
3% |
| Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview |
1487 |
| 3DMark Vantage – Extreme | 1920×1200 | Difference |
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti |
1333 |
12% |
| Radeon HD 6870 |
1240 |
5% |
| Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview |
1186 |
| 3DMark Vantage – Extreme | 2560×1600 | Difference |
| GeForce GTX 560 Ti |
807 |
13% |
| Radeon HD 6870 |
784 |
9% |
| Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview |
716 |
[nextpage title=”Conclusions”]
As explained, NVIDIA doesn’t set default clock rate for the GeForce GTX 560, so it is up to the video card manufacturer to decide which clocks to use. Zotac decided to configure its GeForce GTX 560 Multiview with the same clocks as the GeForce GTX 560 Ti. However, the GeForce GTX 560 Ti has 384 processing engines, while the GeForce GTX 560 has 336.
This difference in the number of engines made the standard GeForce GTX 560 Ti to be between 4% and 14% faster than the Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview in our tests, except on Lost Planet 2 and StarCraft II, where both video cards achieved the same performance.
The main problem of the Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview, however, is competition. The Radeon HD 6870 was up to 17% faster than the Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview on our tests, except on Far Cry 2, where the Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Multiview was between 3% and 12% faster; on Lost Planet two, where the reviewed card was up to 5% faster; and on Star Craft II, where both cards achieved the same performance. Also, the Radeon HD 6870 supports six video monitors, and if you research carefully, it can be found for less money.