In the world market the GTX 560 Ti are one of the best-selling products, thanks to their relatively low cost, good performance and low power consumption. In this review we will test the GTX 560 Ti, manufactured by PNY. In particular we’ll talk about the PNY GTX 560 Ti XLR8 OC2, characterized by higher operating frequencies than the reference version, which are well managed by the heat sink designed by Nvidia.

[VERSIONE ITALIANA]

The PNY Electronics was founded in 1985 in New York. Initially, PNY business was focused only on memory chips trading. In 1997, the company, to give greater prominence to its expansion, changed its name into PNY Technologies. Today is considered a world-wide leading provider of memory modules, flash memory and graphics solutions dedicated to the whole market, thus not only to the most demanding gamers, but also to enterprises, with products based on NVIDIA's Quadro series.

The company continues to grow and with over 500 employees, aims to continuously improve its image and to make its business innovative in terms of technology and beyond. Its products are subjected to rigorous controls to ensure the highest quality and zero compromise. The PNY Technologies is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, is certified according to ISO-9001 with commercial and production subsidiaries all over the world, from North America, Latin America, Canada, Europe and Asia. In the coming years expansions are expected in India and Australia. Through a specialized team and an advanced equipment the company provides the quality through very careful targeted testing. In Europe it is present in many countries including Italy. The company's European headquarters is located in Bordeaux, France.

PNY currently provides a wide range of products:

MEMORY SOLUTIONS: The PNY's memory products currently make up the largest share of all retail sales in the United States. The PNY memory upgrade modules are compatible with Apple, Compaq, DELL, Gateway, HP, IBM and more than 5,000 types of desktop systems, notebooks, printers and servers. With products easy to install and with a 100% guaranteed compatibility, PNY is considered full-service supplier of quality memory products worldwide.

GRAPHICS CARD: Combining expertise in high-speed memory products with market leadership in the channel, the PNY Verto GeForce  consumer graphics cards are currently the most comprehensive range of NVIDIA graphics cards for PCs available in the retail market from a single source. With several cards with AGP bus (Accelerated Graphic Port) and numerous compatible PCI cards (Peripheral Component Interconnect), the Verto line contains an ideal graphics solution for virtually any application, configuration or budget.

THE NVIDIA Quadro PNY  family are the most powerful and sophisticated high-performance boards available to the community of professional graphics. These products are designed to maximize productivity and creativity in a 2D/3D workstation environment, providing users with unlimited graphics capabilities and multi-monitor support. The technology offers the widest range of PNY hardware for 2D and 3D graphics including the revolutionary multi-display technology NVIDIA nView, the advanced Cg programmability that gives rise to a new class of OpenGL and DirectX applications for rendering real-time and quality design certified by the entire spectrum of CAD and DCC applications.

FERMI architecture and GF114

The GF114 Nvidia graphics chip replaces the previous GF104 Nvidia chip used in Nvidia GTX 460 video cards. Also based on its 40nm technology, as the previous version, through the same studies made for the top range versions, even in this case the frequency management system has been improved, increasing slightly the consumption and improving consistently performance. Despite these changes, the number of transistors has remained unchanged, 1.95 billion, the same of GF104.

GF114 is composed of two Graphics Processing Clusters (GPC), each of which has four Streaming Processors (SM) (8 in total) all enabled, unlike GF104 where a SM was disabled. Each SM is composed of 48 Cuda cores and eight texture units. Overall, the complete Fermi GF114 chip has 384 Cuda Cores and not 336 as it was for GF104 (7 Stream Processors each of which consists of 48 Cuda cores for a total of 336).

The activation of the eighth Stream Processor and then other additional 48 CUDA Cores, was carried out together with an increase of the GPU core frequency, up to 820 MHz.

In each Streaming Processor unit there is also a Polymorph Engine, which deals with the tessellation technology. So in total there are 8 Polymorph Engine.

The GTX560 Ti is equipped with 1024MB of GGDR5 memory.

Overview

Like all GTX560 Ti video cards, also the PNY GTX560 Ti OC2 is ready for the latest technologies on the market. The features allow to adapt the board in various areas of application.

Microsoft DirectX 11

The video card fully supports the latest graphics library from Microsoft ® which, thanks to the DirectX 11  version and the Shader Model 5.0, supports the ultra-performance of current video graphics card and provides more acceleration through GPU-enabled applications.

With DirectX 11 we can use Tessellation technology for a more graphic quality rich in details. This technology, in fact, uses a "tessellator" which, according to the distance between an object and the camera, divides more the polygons that make up the object. Thus an object at close distance will be much more complex than when seen from far away. This does not only enhance the graphics performance of a video game, but also makes sure that the GPU resources are better managed thus ensuring less performance waste when an object is located away from the camera.

Through Direct2D technology, DirectX11 libraries also offer improved performance when using web browsing software like Internet Explorer 9 and Mozilla Firefox 4.0.

NVIDIA PhysX

With NVIDIA  PhysX  you can reach an element of realism never seen before in games. Using the NVIDIA  GeForce  on your PC, you can enjoy a dynamic experience with PhysX ® effects like flaming explosions , reactive debris, water, and realistic characters with lifelike appearance.

Originally, this technology was used only by dedicated video cards that has been produced by the Ageia acquired by Nvidia in February 2008, and integrated into its GPUs starting from the GeForce 8 series. Through the implementation of the APEX library, PhysX technology has reached very high levels of realism. The first title to take advantage of the APEX library was Mafia 2 produced in August 2010. APEX libraries including the following features: APEX Destruction, APEX Clothing, APEX Vegetation and APEX Turbulence.

NVIDIA SLI

The Scalable Link Interface (SLI) was developed by Nvidia to be able to connect two or more video cards to produce a single output video signal. This technology was used for the first time in 1998 in the Voodoo 2 video cards but was not very successful due to poor performance gains. After the acquisition of 3DFX by Nvidia the technology has been reintroduced in 2004 with the same purpose but with much better performance.

In the latest generation of video cards you can select two different criteria for distributing the workload between the video cards operating in parallel:

• Alternate Frame Rendering (AFR): it renders in sequential mode so that a video card renders odd frames while the other even frames.
• Split Frame Rendering (SFR): the rendering is split between the boards in variable percentage.

Despite Nvidia official website, will indicate Triple SLI technology among the features of the GTX 560 Ti, the GTX 560 Ti only supports SLI. It will not be possible to connect in parallel more than two identical video cards.

NVIDIA 3D Vision

Combining the latest Nvidia video card to a NVIDIA 3D Vision kit, you can enjoy a much more engaging 3D experience on your PC or on your workstation. This technology exploits the a 120Hz monitor and a pair of active glasses that occlude alternately lenses so that the images for the left eye and right eye are presented on alternate frames. Thus each eye perceives a frame rate of 60Hz, equivalent to the current monitor refresh rate.

NVIDIA 3D Vision Surround

The 3D Vision technology of Nvidia may be applied to three monitor simultaneously using two video cards Nvidia GF114, the two cards will work in AFR (Alternate Frame Rendering) dividing the frame management and therefore the computational load.

Obviously, the GTX590 are able to manage this technology through the use of a single card as they are multi-GPU video cards.

NVIDIA CUDA

Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) is a hardware architecture for the development of performance calculations produced ​​by Nvidia. This technology allows to increase the calculation performance in demanding applications, especially in the software used by programmers and developers.

The CUDA programming languages available ​​are extensions of the most popular programming languages, the most common is C-CUDA (C with Nvidia extensions).

NVIDIA PureVideo HD

NVIDIA PureVideo carries the film in everyday life. PureVideo uses advanced techniques that are usually found on high end systems in the consumer market players. TV suitable for the Blu-ray, HD DVD and regular DVDs, PCs and mobile content offering crisp, clear and defined images. Regardless of whether you are using an LCD or a plasma TV, with PureVideo image will always be accurate and realistic. Some formats supported are H.264, WMV and MPEG-2 HD and SD.

Blu-Ray 3D Support

You can view a high quality 3D at home with support for 1080p Blu-ray 3D. Through this type of discs you can view compatible 3D content through the HDMI 1.4a, using active-shutter glasses or polarized passive type, on suitable screens .

Hardware Video Decode Acceleration

The combination of video acceleration and high definition decoding and post-processing provides an unprecedented picture clarity, smooth video, accurate color, and precise image scaling for movies and video.

Other features of the card are:

Box and bundle

Regarding the medium \ low range, the PNY offers Nvidia GTX 560 Ti in three variants, each more or less overclocked. We find the basic version, with a reference frequency, the OC with slightly increased frequency and OC2, here reviewed, with the frequencies higher than the OC version.

The video card made ​​by PNY is sold in a very small carton box, aesthetically elegant. In the front, in fact, there are no pictures, but only gold lettering on a black background. The graphics is very similar to that used for all the latest PNY video cards.

As mentioned earlier, we do not find images on the front, but only gold lettering on a black background. In the top left there is the PNY logo, the word overclocked is in the middle, followed by a barely visible stylized signature. XLR8 Performance attests that this is a card with non-reference frequency, while in the lower right corner is applied an adhesive containing all the information about the model concerned: the name, the amount of memory, some features, the available outputs and the minimum system requirements.

The back of the box lists some features about the video card and the box contents, repeated in several languages ​​including Italian, just below there are the label stating that the video card is under warranty for 3 years.

In general, the packaging design becomes very serious, with no particular images or specific references to gaming, demonstrating that, as we shall see, the card is well suited to any type of computer, whether HTPC or Media Center Desktop.

Once opened, we immediately notice that, contrary to many other manufacturers, PNY has decided to use only cardboard sleeve and not a sponge to ensure the card and the bundle. This feature, though somewhat questionable in terms of security, should be appreciated for its willingness to protect the environment.

The video card is enclosed within an anti-static bag. Below it we find an installation manual and driver CD. As usual, you should download the updated drivers directly from Nvidia.

In a separate compartment there are various adapter cables. In particular an HDMI to Mini HDMI, a VGA to DVI adapters and 2 for 2 molex to 6 pin power supply.

The bundle is then composed as follows:

In general it’s a complete bundle, but without exceptional accessories.

The card

The GTX 560 OC2 Ti of the PNY aesthetically looks identical to a Nvidia GTX 560 Ti reference. Looking at noticeable differences from a reference card, we find the adhesives used on the body of the heatsink and the PCB blue color which in the reference version is green.

In the central part of the fan, there is a sticker with the words overclocked while another little further right sticker presents the PNY logo , the XLR8 logo followed by the writing Enthusiast Edition. Finally in the lower part is shown the model of the card with the amount of RAM.

The heatsink used is not different from the reference version. It is composed mainly of a central fan, the hub of three heatpipes which connect to two separate heatsinks detached from the central side. The power circuitry and memory chips are covered by a plate, which ensures adequate cooling.

In front of the card there are the two connectors for 6pin power supply. Given the size of the board, the connectors are easily accessible and do not have particular problems, including mounting the card in smaller cases.

As mentioned earlier the card only supports one-way SLI, so it contains only a single SLI connector. The connector is not protected by plastic caps.

Also available outputs do not differ from the basic version: we find two DVI ports and a Mini-HDMI also not protected by plastic caps.

Technical features

The PNY GTX 560 OC2, being an overclocked version, presents greater operating frequency than the reference version .

The GPU clock was increased from 822MHz to 900MHz, while the shaders and memory are overclocked to 1800MHz and 1053MHz respectively, against the 1645MHz and 1002MHz of the base version.

This overclock then led to an increase of Texture Fillrate, Pixel Fillrate and memory bandwidth, and consequently to an increase in performance.

These characteristics were found using the GPU-Z Software.

The Nvidia reference cooling system can optimally manage these frequencies and temperatures at idle are only 33 °C. Temperatures rise in full a lot and after a few minutes FurMark reach 80 °C. Even though high, they are not alarming and during gaming sessions these temperatures are very difficult to achieve.

The test system and testing methodology

We tested the video card produced by PNY on the following test system:

These are the included applications, divided into two different types:

Synthetic Benchmark:

• 3D Mark Vantage - DX10
• 3D Mark 2011 - DX11
• Unigine Heaven Benchmark V 2.1 - DX11
• Stone Giant Benchmark – Dx11.
• ComputeMark - DX11.

Games:

• Crysis Warhead - DX10
• FarCry2 - DX10
• Mafia 2 – DX10
• Resident Evil 5 - DX10
• Final Fantasy XIV – DX10
• Colin McRae DiRT 2 - DX11
• Aliens vs Predator - DX11
• Metro 2033 - DX11
• Stalker Call of Pripyat,- DX11
• Lost Planet 2 – DX11
• Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2 - DX11
• Formula 1 2010 - DX11

The tests were performed using the system described in the diagram above, using the Operating System Microsoft Windows 7 x64-bit. The processor also has been set to 4 GHz.

3D Mark Vantage

Synthetic benchmark developed by Futuremark, necessarily requires the presence in the system of a video card with support for DirectX 10 API and a Windows Vista or 7. The benchmark consists of 6 separate tests: 4 focused on the GPU and 2 on the CPU. The tests are performed in up to 4 presets configured by Futuremark, characterized by a different level of workload in order to better reproduce the typical scenario of use of your system depending on the hardware configuration in use. The software allows you to set the configuration Entry, Performance, High and Extreme. The tests were done only in Entry, Performance and High mode.

PNY proposal is positioned above the previous top of the range Nvidia, i.e. the GTX 480, a sign that there was a significant improvement.

3D Mark 2011

Last Futuremark benchmark product, which requires the presence of a video card with support for DirectX 11 API. The developer software house says that testing on the tessellation, volumetric lighting and other effects used in modern games make the benchmark modern and indicative of the actual performance of video cards. 3DMark 11 Advanced Edition allows you to set the benchmark in three modes for DX11, Performance, High and Extreme. The first test scenario based on the Deep Sea, does not apply the tessellation but it uses a marked system of lighting and shadows. The second test, again based on Deep Sea, apply a medium level of tessellation and reduces, even in this case at the intermediate level, lighting. The third graphic test, based on the scenario High Temple, has a level of tessellation medium and low light. The benchmark does not take advantage of NVIDIA PhysX technology.

If the reference version is not able to overcome the counterparty AMD HD 6950 2GB, the overclocked version by PNY fully succeeds in the undertaking, losing only at high resolutions, where the highest quantity of memory of AMD HD 6950 has the upper hand.

Stonegiant

Benchmark compatible with API DirectX 11, the Swedish developer of graphics engines and to BitSquid Fatshark games, which puts particular stress the video card with tessellation techniques. It's a tech demo with DirectX 11 integrated benchmark, created to reveal the BitSquid tools and technology. Users who have a DX10 GPU can run tech demo with tessellation disabled. These are the notes supplied with the product by the developer:

The differences between the reference and PNY version are not evident, however, the increase in frequency resulted in increased performance.

Unigine Heaven 2.1

Unigine has unveiled the latest version of its DirectX 11 benchmark, which allows users to test his video card with the new graphics library. Based on Unigine engine, the benchmark Heaven support DirectX 11, DX 10, 9, OpenGL video cards and Nvidia 3D Vision Surround. The benchmark has been tested in DX11 and with tessellation on Extreme.

Again the differences are not noticeable, but there are.

ComputerMark

It's the first benchmark that measures the ability of computing shader in DX 11 in windows environment of new VGA. It's the first DX11 only benchmark.

In this test the video card manages to get the better of the AMD counterpart.

Crysis Warhead

Crysis Warhead is a sci-fi video game first-person shooter, released in autumn 2008 in Italy. It is a stand-alone expansion to Crysis, developed by Crytek Budapest and published by Electronic Arts. The game is set in a parallel story of the first episode, and the player will assume the role of Sergeant Michael 'Psycho' Sykes, a former member of the British SAS, although the plot is almost completely different, since in the first episode the Nomad meets him rarely. As the names imply, Psycho is a type completely different from the Nomad, while the latter is in fact, dedicated to the subterfuge, Psycho is a type of action, and will therefore have a greater arsenal, as well as customized vehicles.

The PNY can exceed 6950 2GB even if you set the resolution in full HD, but with the active filters is placed immediately after the reference version.

FarCry2

Far Cry 2 is the second episode of the video game first person shooter Far Cry. The game was developed by Ubisoft, which announced in March 30, 2006 that it has acquired all intellectual property rights for the brand from the creators of Far Cry , Crytek. Ubisoft, according to an official statement, will continue to develop new video games in the series thanks to the permanent license to use the game engine, Crytek CryEngine . The player will play former U.S. Army Special Forces member Jack Carver. Far Cry is gone down in history mainly due to its graphic engine, developed by Crytek CryENGINE . At the time of its release, in fact, the graphics of Far Cry was the best had ever seen, capable of reproducing the vegetation and, especially, the water, with the limit of photorealistic quality. The islands on which each level was set was huge, and the player enjoyed almost complete freedom, as he preferred to explore . Even the enemies were, at that time, the most intelligent ever seen in a shooter: for the first time the computer opponents were not leaving the position like crazy suicide, and for the first time we saw enemies who tried to bypass the player and take it from behind, and often they could.

The overclocked frequency implies that the score of the GTX 560 Ti is very close to that of the GTX 570.

Mafia 2

Mafia II is a sci-fi video game, following Mafia developed by 2K Czech and published by 2K Games for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. The game takes place from 1943 to 1951 in the town of Empire Bay (the name refers to the nickname of New York "The Empire State"), a fictional city inspired by circles in Los Angeles and New York City, with influences of Chicago and Detroit. The game is characterized by a fully explorable map of 26 square kilometers, there are no limitations from the beginning of the game. There will also be about 50 vehicles and original music of the period. Many firearms be repeated from the first game and will make their debut, however, weapons of World War II.

Even in this case, the 560 Ti overcomes the previous proposal top range Nvidia, GTX 480.

Resident Evil 5

Resident Evil 5, known in Japan as Biohazard 5, is a game of survival horror genre, and is the eighth installment of the main Resident Evil games, is released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game, developed and published by Capcom is set eleven years after the Raccoon City disaster, which occurred in 1998, and five after the adventure of Leon S. Kennedy in Spain, which took place in 2004. In 2009, Chris Redfield, former STARS member of special team, he joined a company that fights against bioterrorism, called BSAA Is sent into the heart of Africa, specifically in the region of Kijuju, to investigate a mysterious threat of bioterrorism. Li made ​​the acquaintance of a girl, Sheva Alomar, member of the African branch of the BSAA The two soon discover the horrors of the place: the natives of Kijuju have been infected by a mysterious parasite, which sentenced them to remain in a permanent state of murderous rage. The two agents B.S.A.A. then deal with the hordes of enemies, called Majini, looking at the same time to prevent the spread of the parasite. At the same time Albert Wesker, a former captain of STARS and nemesis of Chris, he went to Africa to work with Excella Gionne, the owner of the pharmaceutical company Tricell. Wesker, helped by a mysterious hooded woman who does the dirty work for him, trying to counter the plans of the BSAA, intent on world domination.

The results show once again that higher operating frequencies lead to an increase in frames per second compared to the reference version of Nvidia.

Final Fantasy XIV

Final Fantasy XIV is the second of the MMORPG Final Fantasy series, published by Square Enix and released September 30, 2010 for Microsoft Windows, while the PlayStation 3 version was released in 2011. The universe of Final Fantasy XIV is represented by the characteristic elements of the fantasy genre and the typical elements of the Final Fantasy series. The world on which is set the game is called Hydaelyn, while all our adventures take place mainly in the region of Eorzea, which includes the contintent of Aldenard and all the surrounding islands. Throughout the kingdom can be found from the harshest climates and inhospitable to the more gentle and temperate, as varied and vast as its landscapes. Large forests and desert plains stretching to the horizon hiding inside as varied as ferocious creatures. Various city-states are contending and splitting the territory. At the beginning of the game the player can create a character from one of the 5 playable races. Each race also is in turn organized into 2 clans.

If the reference version is not able to overcome the group of AMD Radeon video cards, the PNY is able perfectly gaining 5 positions.

Dirt2

The game is based on Ego technology , present also in the last chapter of Operation Flashpoint. Dirt 2 has a World Tour mode that allows you to compete in various locations around the world : Utah, Japan, Malaysia, China, Croatia, Baja California, Morocco and London. Race modes are very different, like Rally, Race Time, Destroy the Gates, Raid, and Elimination, Domination, beyond the simple "classical race." The rally becomes an even more extreme and adrenaline sports with Colin McRae DiRT 2: exciting new racing head to head, drawn by the impressive realism and special events in stadiums and spectacular circuits. From London to Malaysia, Morocco in Los Angeles, conquers the world of off-road racing.The game supports DirectX11.

The PNY is positioned immediately after the reference version and shows its strength applying filters.

Aliens vs predator

Alien vs. Predator (AVP) is a first-person shooter video game developed by Rebellion Developments, creators of the other two titles dedicated to the franchise. The game was published by SEGA. The game offers the player to interpret one of three different breeds, each with its own characteristics: Marine, Predator and Alien. Alien has the wide-angle view and can fall from heights unimaginable without the slightest damage, but, above all, can walk (and run) on the walls, and this significantly changes the way they deal with the paintings. At first it is easy to move with ease and quickly moving from a vertical wall to a ceiling as if nothing had happened, after few minutes start "to like it" ... is a Marine, a shot of claws and the sea is in the running dead. Easy. Here's another marine, is can see, we run the meeting, has the flamethrower. Let's burn together. And now the Predator.

Once again the higher frequencies allow higher frame rates.

Metro 2033

Metro 2033 is a video action game that combines elements of survival horror and first person shooters. game is based on the novel of Russian writer Dmitry Metro 2033 Glukhovsky. It was developed from 4A Games and published in Ukraine in March 2010 for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. It is in the city of Moscow in the year 2033. Following a nuclear disaster, the survivors are forced to live underground in the Russian capital, organized in stations similar to city-states. In the latter an atmosphere oppressive and distressing. The darkness hides many pitfalls, including the frequent opportunities to run into monstrous creatures that populate the station. The main threat is represented by Tetri, defined as new homines, "won the battle for survival", and destined to inherit the Earth.

The performances are very similar to those found for the reference GeForce GTX 570.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

STALKER: Call of Pripyat is a first-person shooter genre of science fiction post-apocalyptic, developed by GSC Game World and published October 2, 2009 (February 5, 2010 in Europe). It is the third installment of the series and is placed chronologically after the events of STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl, the founder of the saga. STALKER: Clear Sky, the second chapter, but it is the prequel. Like the previous ones, STALKER: Call of Pripyat was developed with the engine owner X-Ray Engine. A group of Stalkers reached for the first time the central core of the entire Zone, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station. The already grave situation in the area is complicated and there is a real risk of a catastrophe. A great power is changing abnormally areas, there are still areas to be considered safe for most, but the whole area is now full of strange anomalies. Many of the Stalker and the other inhabitants of the area have died as a result of these changes, while new areas appear anywhere in the territory. The area is now very unstable, what to do to stop the anomalies? The game supports DirectX 10.1.

The performance is higher than the reference version.

Lost Planet 2

Lost Planet 2 is a game produced and developed by Capcom and released from Halifax for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. It was initially to be released in early 2010, but Capcom has put off the end of 2010. The game is set 10 years after the adventure of Wayne Holden on Lost Planet, and things have changed: Thanks to the efforts of Wayne and his friends, EDN III, the planet where the game is played, he began a slow process terraforming, which has caused a drastic climate change. In fact, if the first 1 in Lost Planet, the planet was only the Arctic, there are now desert areas, areas with dense tropical jungles, areas with warmer climates, etc.. But this has not brought peace, indeed, now that the world is more populated by humans, they are again divided into bands and real snow pirate clans involved a constant and perpetual civil war for control of the planet and 'EN-T, the liquid substance is used by humans as fuel for their technology, both from the Akrid, the indigenous creatures of EDN III, which are a perennial problem for humans as very aggressive and difficult to kill.

Once again the performance is slightly higher than the reference version .

HAWX 2

Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2 ("High Altitude Warfare Experimental") is the second version of flight simulator developed by Ubisoft Romania available for PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii. During the action, the pilot has available several new features over the previous version: night vision to conduct attacks in stealth mode, anti-radar pod that distracts an opponent and prevent him from attacking, the ERS (Enhanced Reality System) , which traces a route through virtual dangerous traits in a safer manner. It's 'can also make new flight procedures such as takeoffs and landings from marine platforms and aircraft carriers, air refueling, using bombs and missiles and precision guided. Several missions also provide support to allied units, land, sea and sky. The game has different views: in the first and third person view cabin (with realistic instrumentation), battle-mode plane (third-person view on the battlefield). The pilot data are maintained during all phases of the game, statistics, performance, and can present experience, as well as upgrades and aircraft unlocked (PEC rewards - Persistent Elite Creation). The satellite information, aerial and geospatial data in the game are provided by GeoEye.

The performance, similar to those of the reference version, allows to overcome the HD 5970 2GB applying filters.

F1 2010

F1 2010 (or even Formula 1 2010) is a driving video game produced by Codemasters, based on Formula 1 2010 World Championship. It's been revamped graphics, spectacular with the introduction of helicopters flying over the runway in the middle of the race, the authors also wanted the game to give more emphasis to sunlight, which often illuminates the windscreen of the vehicle. With the introduction of these little details, Codemasters is secured the title of best game of the category. F1 2010 includes all 12 teams and 24 drivers who started the 2010 season of Formula 1. The mid-season replacements Sakon Yamamoto, Nick Heidfeld and Christian Klien are not included.

The PNY 560 Ti offers a fierce battle with AMD RADEON HD 6870 counterpart.

Overclock

During its operation we noticed that the card fan has never turned to full speed and the temperatures were never high even under stress. This made ​​us additional hope in a good overclocking frequency and in fact we were satisfied with the card capacity. Notice that it is a reference card with only  one fan and a medium-sized heatsink. Nevertheless, without overvolt, using the MSI software Afterburn, we reached 950 MHz on GPU, 2400 MHz for the memory and 1940 MHz on the shaders.

With these frequencies the system was very stable and we managed to finish all the benchmarks sessions. The performance increase is quite noticeable. Even in this case the temperatures have never been alarming.

We overvolted a little the card by setting the voltage of 1,025 V (1,012 V at default) and we were able to conclude 3D ​​Mark Vantage Performance, and High Xtreme bringing the GPU at 970 MHz, memories at 2280 MHz (lower than the first test) and the shaders at 1940 MHz, however these frequencies have not led to a noticeable increase in performance.

The increase in voltage and frequency led to a further increase in performance but also to a rise in temperatures, in some cases, they have touched 80 °C. It must be taken into account that, during the test sessions, the ambient temperature had peaks of 35 °C with an average of 30 °C and the card has been strongly influenced by this factor. In different weather conditions we could further overvolt the card and try to reach 1000MHz on the GPU. We should also notice that the other cards of the comparison chart are tested with an ambient temperature of 22-24°C.

Power draw, temperature and noise

The PNY GTX 560 Ti OC2, having frequencies higher than the reference version , consumes slightly more than it. Using a current clamp, we found the consumption of the whole system at idle, during a gaming session and during use of stress tests. The results obtained are, respectively, 180W, 332W and 367W. The board proposed by PNY then just place it under his direct rival AMD Radeon or the AMD HD 6950.

Despite the use of the reference cooling system, temperatures of the card were excellent. At idle the card gets to about 33 °C, a little more than the GTX 460 but nevertheless justified by the higher frequencies. During play sessions, temperatures reached 70 °C while the stress test Kombustor has peaks of 80 °C. Despite being a little high, the temperatures seem more than adequate for a card that uses non-standard frequencies and a reference heatsink.

We would like to point out however that the tests were carried out at a temperature of 30 °C and the system has suffered a lot.

The fan used by the cooling system has never been 100% operational. In fact, has never reached full capacity. However, setting it up to 100% it was not noisy and, by default, is almost inaudible.

Conclusions

The board proposed by PNY is found to fit all needs, whether for HTPC because of its low noise, relative low power and low temperatures, either for gaming, with respectable performance.

The use of the reference cooler, while it can be seen as a lack of a more performer heatsink, on the other hand has been proved a successful choice. The temperatures recorded surprised us, a sign that Nvidia, finally was able to adequately manage the potential of the Fermi chips without having to run into temperature problems. The fan used is very good: during our testing has never reached full capacity and was always very quiet. The management system is well calibrated and the fan's RPM increases only when strictly necessary.

From the performance point of view, although there are no significant differences compared with reference version, the GTX 560 OC2 allows you to fully enjoy all the latest games, even using a Full-HD resolution. The frame rate has never dropped below 35FPS, even when using the current killer applications such as Metro 2033.

The PNY GTX 560 Ti XLR8 OC2 can be found at 200 €, a price justified by factory overclocking, but not from the reference cooling system. At that price, in fact, you can find video cards with far more efficient non-reference coolers.

Performance :
Quality/Price Ratio:
Overall :

PROs:

• Excellent performance
• Well-managed factory OC
• Possibility of further overclocking
• Good cooling system

CONs:

• High Price

Thanks to PNY for giving us the card subject of this review.

Giovanni Abbinate

Translated by Marco Comerci