Gigabyte & MSI GeForce GTX 560 Launch Review - PAGE 2

The Gigabyte GTX 560 comes packaged in a sleek looking box that has a large robotic eye on the front, along with icons of the graphics cards key features. The features list the use of the Windforce 2x thermal solution, Gigabyte's Ultra Durable VGA design, the length of the warranty period, the size of the frame buffer, along with a few icons listing Nvidia technologies. The back panel of the packaging details similar features, but dives a little deeper into how the features are utilized and beneficial.

The accessories come packaged with the graphics card in a black inner box, consisting of two 6-pin power adapters, a VGA-to-DVI convertor. a Mini-HDMI to HDMI convertor and a software CD.

The Gigabyte GTX 560 has a very unique look, which is in large part due to the Windforce 2x cooling solution. This design includes dual Parallel-inclined 100mm fans that direct air over a large heatsink array. Judging by the looks we are really expecting a lot from this cooler, and we will be examining some of the technologies utilized by the design shortly. Along with the robust cooler, the Gigabyte board also includes their Ultra Durable technologies such as a 2oz copper PCB, all Solid Japanese Capacitors, Ferrite core chokes, Low RDS (on) MOSFET and Tier 1 memory. With these technologies, the Gigabyte board will have increased overclocking headroom along with decreased power switching loss and core temperatures.

The reference GTX 560 has a GPU clock speed of 810MHz, whereas the Gigabyte GTX 560 has a clock speed of 830MHz and a shader clock of 1660MHz. This means that the card is overclocked out-of-the-box performance. In addition, the Gigabyte GTX 560 also includes a 1GB GDDR5 fame buffer that runs on a 256-bit interface and is clocked at 1002MHz (4008MHz effective).

As you would expect, the Gigabyte GTX 560 has nice layout, which is clearly evident from the back of the PCB. Starting from the left you can see this card has solder points for dual 6-pin power connectors along with a single SLI bridge connector and a PCI-Express 2.0 bus type. The inclusion of a single SLI connection point indicates that Nvidia has not expanded the SLI support for this board, meaning it only has 2-way SLI support.

The Gigabyte GTX 560 comes equipped with two 6-pin PEG power connectors which will supply the board with power up to it's 150 watt TDP. However, since this is a non-reference design it will have a slightly higher TDP than 150W, but as the clock speeds on this model are not aggressively overclocked the difference will be minimal. The two power-connectors are located at the back of the PCB and are rear facing.

The video outputs included on the Gigabyte board use the standard dual DL-DVI connectors with a Mini-HDMi connector. While this combination is not quite as expandable as some cards on the market, the output configuration is capable of utilizing features such as 3D Vision, 3D Surround (requires dual graphics cards) and it also has the ability to support a single 30-inch display with resolutions up to 2560x1600.

The Windforce thermal solution is Gigabyte's latest cooling technology which utilizes advanced features to enhance the cooling performance and reduce the acoustics. The top of the heatsink consists of a thin shroud that connects the two 100mm fans to the cooler. The fans utilize an Anti-Turbulence inclined fin design that minimizes the flow turbulence between the fans, enhancing the fans' output range and creating effective airflow within the chassis. Each fan runs up to 2000RPM and has a maximum sound rating of 30.5dBA.

The heatsink itself use four 6mm pure copper heatpipes with DHT (direct heatpipe touch) technology. This allows the pipes to make direct contact with the GPU toimprove the thermal transfer rate, thus reducing the time it takes for the heat to travel away from the core. The heatsink also uses a large aluminum fin array made from a solder free process to enhance heat dissipation.

With the heatsink off, you can see that the Gibgayte GTX 560 includes eight Hynix based memory chips surrounding the GF-114. The board also features six Ferrite core chokes which are found toward the rear of the PCB, along with a small heatsink that is attached to the boards VRM. It's always nice to see additional on-board cooling, so in all we really like Gigabyte's design.