EVGA GeForce GTX 560 SC Video Card Review

Legit Video Card Reviews

Manufacturer:	NVIDIA
Product:	EVGA GeForce GTX 560 SC ( 01G-P3-1461-KR )
Date:	Tue, May 17, 2011 - 08:00 AM
Written By:	Brian Giacoletti -
Share:

A Closer Look At The EVGA GeForce GTX 560 SC Video Card

The PCB on the reference NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 video card measures 9.0 inches in length and the card stands at 4.376 inches tall. The card is a dual-slot cooling design for maximum cooling performance. The worst thing that can happen to a performance level card is high temperatures.

Taking a quick look at the other side of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 SC video card, we don't find anything too interesting on the back. Notice that along the top edge of the GeForce GTX 560 SC one SLI connector is placed on the card. This means that SLI and 3D Vision Surround configurations are supported, but much like the Radeon 6800 series multi card setups, over a dual configuration are not possible.

EVGA GeForce GTX 560 SC Video Card Power Connector

The EVGA GeForce GTX 560 SC video card absolutely needs a 500 Watt power supply with a minimum of 30 Amps on the +12 volt rail. For all of our testing we used a 750 watt PSU which was more than enough. It also requires that the power supply has two 6-pin PCI Express power connectors for proper connection. It should be noted that the NVIDIA minimum system power requirement is based on a PC configured with an Intel Core i7 3.2GHz CPU. If you want to run SLI we are not sure the exact specifications, but an educated guess would say that a 550 Watt or greater power supply would be needed.

In the picture above you can see the center mounted 75mm fan that EVGA is using to keep the GTX560 SC cool. Notice that the cooling fan used on the GeForce GTX 560 SC extends past the plastic cowl. We were told it was made this way to help pull in cooler air from outside the fan shroud. This is a very interesting design and not one that we have seen on any reference card in the past decade. Under the 75mm cooling fan, NVIDIA is using a radial curved bifurcated fin heatsink design with three heat-pipes to keep the temperature of the card down at acceptable levels.

EVGA GeForce GTX 560 SC Video Card Connectors

The EVGA GeForce GTX 560 SC GDDR5 graphics card has two dual-link DVI-I outputs along with a mini-HDMI output header. The EVGA GeForce GTX 560 SC features enhanced audio support over HDMI; this includes bitstreaming support for both Dolby True HD and DTS-HD Master Audio over HDMI.

Here is a closer look at the top of the EVGA GeForce GTX 560 SC. If you recall at the start of this page we told you the GeForce GTX 560 SC is 9" in PCB length. The GeForce GTX 460 was just 8.25" long. We were told by NVIDIA that they increased the length of the PCB to have a cleaner PCB layout and in order to fit a better GPU cooler on the card as the TDP is higher on this new card.

Next Page - The Test System

Review Index

Page 1 - EVGA GeForce GTX 560 SC Video Card Introduction
Page 2 - A Closer Look At The EVGA GeForce GTX 560 SC Video Card
Page 3 - The Test System
Page 4 - Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY Edition
Page 5 - Metro 2033
Page 6 - Aliens vs Predator
Page 7 - Left 4 Dead 2
Page 8 - S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat
Page 9 - Battlefield Bad Company 2
Page 10 - 3DMark 11
Page 11 - Furmark 1.8.2
Page 12 - Unigine Heaven 2.5
Page 13 - Temperature Testing
Page 14 - Power Consumption
Page 15 - Overclocking
Page 16 - My Thoughts On The EVGA GeForce GTX 560 SC Video Card

Legit Reviews