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Review and testing MSI N560GTX-Ti 448 Twin Frozr III

Introduction

The graphics processor of this video card is different from the GTX 560 Ti - GF114 chip. The core of this GPU is GF110 with 448 stream processors (32 processors in 14 clusters). The essence of simplifying the kernel in this video card is two disabled multiprocessor clusters. The core of the GTX 570 video card has been simplified according to the same principle - one cluster is disabled, and all 16 are enabled in the GTX 580. The changes also affected the connection of the card to the SLI array (now there are three connectors - 3-way SLI). The performance of the video card has significantly increased in comparison with its predecessor (GTX 560 Ti 384) and now comes close to the GTX 570. The memory size has also grown - now 1280 MB, and the bus with 320 bits.

Taking this graphics processor as a basis for the video card, MSI has developed an original 6 + 1 phase power supply scheme, and also used Military class II elements during assembly, which must meet the requirements of military technology specifications. In addition, the core frequency was raised from the reference 732 MHz to 750 MHz and the memory frequency from the reference 950 MHz to 975 MHz, respectively. This design was named the Power Edition by the manufacturer. For the MSI N560GTX-448 video card, the Twin Frozr III cooling system was chosen, which has five heat pipes and two fans of 80 mm each. To avoid oxidation, the copper base of the cooler, as well as the heat pipes, are coated with a layer of nickel.

Packaging

The color scheme of the cardboard box with the video card is dominated by gray, black and blue tones. The front side is decorated with a close-up image of the product and the MSI branding. The front side also displays all the main characteristics of the video card and the technology that it supports. Graphics card specifications and minimum system requirements are listed on the back of the box. The following technologies and capabilities are listed: DirectX 11, Direct Compute 5.0, NVIDIA CUDA, 3-way SLI, NVIDIA GeForce 3D Vision, and HD PureVideo.

Further, to install the product, the need for a free PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot, two 6-pins, is indicated in the system. video card power connectors, a power supply unit with a capacity of at least 550 watts and free hard disk space on which drivers are installed.

There are also flap valves on the box, which indicate information about the features of the corporate design of the device and its cooling system. Here you can find brief information on how you can raise the voltage on the board to three different values ​​using MSI AfterBurner, which can and should come in handy if you want to overclock a video card. 6 + 1 power supply design and high quality components (Military class II) should ensure the stable operation of the product and increase its operating time.

As for the cooling system, the information on the reverse side shows that the fans create an air flow of 22.55 CFM, which is 20% higher than that of the reference sample cooling system. At maximum fan speed, a noise level of 30 dB is generated, and in idle mode, 18.68 dB.

As you can imagine, this is a presentation of a video card through the eyes of marketers. We will see what the true picture looks like later in this review. All free space in the package is filled with polyethylene foam. The video card is located in a special recess in the plastic and is in an antistatic bag. As you can see in the photo below, absolutely all interfaces of the video card are protected by plastic caps to ensure their safety during transportation.

A separate compartment near the graphics card contains all the additional accessories that MSI deemed necessary to include in the product package:

Adapter connector DVI - VGA;

Mini HDMI to HDMI adapter connector;

two 6-pin PCI-E adapters - Molex;

quick installation instructions;

user's manual;

CD with a set of drivers.

Now it's time for a more detailed inspection of the video card.

Inspection of the video card

MSI GeForce GTX 560TI 448 almost completely repeats the GTX 570. The data exchange bus is the same - 320 bits, the volume of GDDR5 video memory --1280MB is also identical. Both video cards are based on the GF110 GPU.The only difference is the number of disabled computing clusters: the GTX 570 has fifteen clusters, while the GTX 560TI 448 has fourteen. The GF110 is manufactured according to the 40 nm process technology, the crystal area is 520 sq. mm, and contains approximately three billion transistors.

The reference video card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560Ti 448 has a core frequency of 732 MHz, a memory frequency of 950 MHz, and a 4 + 1 power scheme. The number of phases has been changed for the MSI product - 6 + 1. The manufacturer promises in this way to ensure the stability of the video card during overclocking. The factory overclocking in the MSI graphics card is negligible: the core frequency has risen to 750 MHz, and the memory - to 975 MHz. In addition, when assembling this video card, the Military class II element base (compliance with the requirements of military specifications) was used, which should serve to increase the stability and service life of the video card.

MSI GeForce GTX 560TI 448 uses a modified third generation Twin Frozr III cooling system. It is based on five copper SuperPipes with a diameter of 8 mm, a copper base and an aluminum heatsink. Copper parts of the cooling system are nickel-plated. The entire system is blown by two 80 mm fans. MSI advertises the fans as having optimally adjusted blades under the name Propeller Blade. The main stream of warm air is discharged into the inside of the computer case. Therefore, when purchasing this video card, it is advisable to remember about the correct organization of the ventilation system in the case. Only a very small part of the warm air is blown out of the case through the shaped slots in the mounting plate.

This video card has two DVI-I dual-link ports and one mini HDMI. That is, this card does not differ in the abundance of open ports, as well as the majority of other products based on NVIDIA chips. In addition, as already mentioned, the video card is equipped with DVI - D-Sub and mini HDMI - HDMI adapters. When installed on a motherboard, the video card occupies two adjacent expansion slots.

Let's take a look at the MSI GeForce GTX560TI 448 from above. Here we can see two connectors for combining video cards into a 3-way SLI array, as well as connectors for connecting two six-pin connectors for additional power. A little to the right of the Twin Frozr III emblem, we see the fan mode switch. It allows you to switch the fan operating mode: efficient (Performance) and quiet (Silence). There is also a stiffener on the top under the casing that extends from the back plate to the power connectors.

The photo below shows the MSI GTX 560TI 448 without cooling system. It is clearly seen under the cooler that an additional metal plate is fixed on the power elements and memory chips for more efficient cooling.

Around the GPU are ten Samsung memory chips, each with a capacity of 128MB. Starting from the row of capacitors, the power section is located and occupies the entire rear part of the product board. The GF110-270-A1 graphics processor is located under the heat spreader cover, which displays all information about it. The memory chips are labeled Samsung K4G10325FG-HC04.

The table below shows the main characteristics of the MSI GTX 560TI 448 Twin Frozr III Power Edition video adapter.

Testing

This testing of MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti 448 Power Edition consisted of the performance of the video card in a number of synthetic benchmarks and real demanding gaming applications. During each run, the number of frames per second (fps) was estimated. The test results were compared with those of other popular video cards on the market. All applications were run both at standard frequencies and during overclocking. The currently popular test programs and games were selected as applications for testing. The following drivers were used: Catalyst 11.7 - for ATI video cards, Forceware 275.27 - for NVIDIA.

Test stand

- Microprocessor - Intel Core i7 920;

- CPU cooling system - Noctua NH-D14;

- Motherboard - Asus P6X58D-E;

- Memory - OCZ DDR3 12 GB 9-10-9-28 1866 MHz;

- Video card - MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti 448 Power Edition;

- Power supply unit - Thermaltake TR2 RX 1000 watts;

- Winchester - SATA Western Digital 1000 GB;

- Optical drive - Samsung DVD-RW;

- Operating system - 64-bit Windows 7 Professional;

- Case - Corsair Graphite Series 600T.

Video cards compared in testing:

- XFX Radeon HD 6970;

- Asus Radeon HD 6950;

- Sapphire Radeon HD 6870;

- XFX Radeon HD 6850;

- Asus GeForce GTX 580;

- Asus GeForce GTX 570;

- Asus GeForce GTX 560 Ti;

- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480;

- Galaxy GeForce GTX 470;

- EVGA GeForce GTX 460.

Overclocking the product

MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti 448 Power Edition managed to overclock to frequencies of 945 MHz in the core and 1130 MHz in memory. With the help of the MSI Afterburner program, the voltage on the core was increased to 1.15 V (initially - 1 V), while in memory the increase reached +35 mV. With such voltage values, frequencies of 950/1138 MHz were reached. However, the video card could not work stably with them, so I had to return to the 945/1130 MHz parameters. Thus, the percentage of overclocking was ~ 29% for the core frequency and ~ 19% for the memory frequency.

In the diagrams below, we can see the overclocking results of other video cards - participants in our testing.

Testing Applications:

Aliens vs. Predator;

Metro2033;

Unigine Heaven Benchmark 2.5;

H.A.W.X. II;

Just Cause II;

Mafia 2;

Lost Planet II;

3DMark 11.

Aliens vs. Predator

Settings:

Anti-aliasing x4;

Anisotropic filtering x16;

Resolution - 1920x1200;

SSAO - Enabled;

Texture quality - Very High;

Hardware Tessellation - Enabled;

Advanced Shadow Sampling - Enabled.

The values ​​in the diagram are given in fps.

Metro 2033

Settings:

DirectX 11;

Resolution - 1920x1200;

Anti-aliasing x4;

Anisotropic filtering x16;

Physx - disabled.

The values ​​in the diagram are given in fps.

Unigine Heaven Benchmark

Settings:

Resolution - 1920x1200;

Anti-aliasing x4;

Anisotropic filtering x16;

Shaders = High;

Tessellation = Medium;

Unit of measurement = FPS.

The values ​​in the diagram are given in fps.

H.A.W.X. 2

Settings:

Picture quality settings - Maximum;

Resolution - 1920x1200;

Anti-aliasing х8;

Anisotropic filtering x16;

The built-in benchmark was used.

Just Cause 2

Settings:

Resolution 1920x1200;

Anti-aliasing x4;

Anisotropic filtering x16;

Detail of water l = Average.

Mafia II

Settings:

Anti-aliasing x4;

Anisotropic filtering x16;

Resolution 1920x1200;

Quality settings - High.

Lost Planet 2

Settings:

Anti-aliasing x4;

Anisotropic filtering x16;

Resolution - 1920x1200;

Quality settings - High.

The built-in benchmark was used.

3DMark 11

Settings:

All benchmark settings are default;

Resolution 1920 x 1080.

Temperature

Settings:

Monitoring using MSI Afterburner software;

To simulate the load, stability test in MSI Kombuster;

Load within 15 minutes;

Temperatures are in degrees Celsius.

Energy consumption

Settings:

To create a load, stability test in MSI Kombuster;

Resolution 1920 x 1200;

8xAA;

Load within 15 minutes;

The data in the diagram below is in watts.

Conclusion

MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti 448 Power Edition is a great graphics card for the price. This is a brief description of this MSI product. The big advantage of the video card is the efficient cooling system and relatively low power consumption. MSI provides user-friendly software for all of its products, and this product is no exception. An example is MSI Afterburner - a great tool for overclocking a video card. With this program, you can easily increase the voltage supplied to the video card without resorting to changing the hardware.

The GF110 GPU supports video card bundling into an SLI array. Thus, this product can be easily used as part of a high-performance gaming assembly. If the fan speed is not forced to the maximum, then their noise is low and does not cause irritation. In overclocking, the MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti 448 achieved a 29% increase in core frequencies and 19% in memory. In this case, the temperature of the video card practically did not increase.

Perhaps the only justified drawback is that the main stream of heated air from the video card is blown out directly into the case. But this is insignificant if the cooling system is correctly organized in the computer case.

And in conclusion, it remains to say that the MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti Power Edition video card in almost all test applications, at least, did not lag behind the GTX 570 video card, and often even outstripped it. At the same time, it is noticeably cheaper, has less heating and has a significant overclocking potential.

Advantages of the video card:

- Great cooling system;

- Very good overclocking;

- Low noise level;

- 2 slots for array SLI (3-way SLI);

- Excellent performance;

- Ability to adjust different voltage values ​​using MSI Afterburner software.

Disadvantages of the video card:

- A significant part of the air heated by the video card is thrown into the case.

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