Roundup: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560

It felt like ages since we did our last roundup, but on another note you might have been aware that NVIDIA introduced a new GTX 560 (non Ti) to their lineup earlier this week. Not surprisingly, this new part performs a bit better than the former GTX 460 and falls shy of the GTX 560 Ti – it also fills a small price gap (about the $199 mark) in terms of what they have to offer. This new card does also takes the performance crown when compared to AMD counterparts which are priced at a similar price point.

• NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 560: The Top To Bottom Factory Overclock (AnandTech)
• GeForce GTX 560 SLI tested (Guru3D)
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 1GB Review (HardwareCanucks)
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Debuts: ASUS and MSI (HotHardware)
• Palit 2GB GTX 560 Review: Fast, Silent, Affordable (Maximum PC)
• Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 560 graphics processor (The Tech Report)
• The Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Review: Take Off Your Ti (Tom’s Hardware)

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 (non-Ti) to Hit Shelves Tomorrow

We yawn, but with jesting put aside the new GeForce GTX 560 by NVIDIA may be the modern counterpart compared to the 9800 GT back when it was released in 2008. This new card is probably going to perform a lot better though right? Based on surfaced detail of this card, we’re looking at a $199 MSRP – it’ll also feature 336 CUDA Cores (same as the GTX 460), 56 texture units, 256-bit memory interface, and 1GB of GDDR5 memory to top things off.

Take a look below if you haven’t seen this sneak peek clip from NVIDIA already.

UPDATE: Looks like Newegg was already listing GTX 560 cards by Palit and MSI, both having custom cooling solutions. When we rushed over there, the items seemed to have been pulled from the site already. Perhaps we’ll see them stocked later today or tomorrow (actual official release date). In terms of pricing, realistically expect to pay $200-225 as that was the range of what the two mentioned manufacturers listed their cards at.

NVIDIA GTX 550 Ti to Launch Next Month

No official word coming from NVIDIA but according this site, the card is to ship next month on March 15th, 2011. They also ballpark that the card will cost about $200, while the GTX 550 Ti is based on the GF116 architecture – NVIDIA may tweak the transistor level for a higher performance-per-watt ratio. In terms of specs, this specific part will ship with a 128-bit memory bus (one of three 64-bit controllers disabled), 1GB of GDDR5 memory. It will also supposedly outperform AMD’s Radeon HD 5770 in DirectX 11 rendering by up to 35%, and up to 20% in DirectX 10 content.

Other reported traits include a 3-phase voltage regulator module for the core and single-phase for memory, twin dual-link DVI ports, mini-HDMI, and a TDP no higher than 110W. We’re having a hard time deciding whether a MSRP of about $200 would be asking too much for video card at this calibre (stacking up to a GTX 460 or a HD 6850). What do you guys think? Sound off in the comments below!

NVIDIA GTX 460 Price Cut

Something like this could have easily went by unnoticed, but NVIDIA discreetly came to the consensus with various vendors to drop the price of the base model GTX 460 (768MB) to $179 USD, also there were cases where prices dropped to as low as $169. Based on this announcement, it reflects a 10% discount from the cards’ MSRP and this is a fairly large portion since profit margins are so slim especially when it comes to video cards.

The recent move was clearly to stay ahead of competition even though the GTX 460 was initially received as an exception performance/price ratio product. On AMD’s end, costs for their HD 5770, 5830, and 5850 cards have already been slowly going down since this summer in response to the arrival of the GTX 460. Confusing as it is, but NVIDIA’s to release a budget entry level card, the GTS 450 sometime this month with similar pricing.

Read the full article from Xbit here. As of writing this, cards for as low as $175.99 can already be found.