Thermal Testing:

Thermal Testing was completed by using CPUID's HWMonitor while the computer was in an idle state for a minimum of 30 minutes, and then again under load conditions. The load conditions were created by running 3DMark Vantage four times in a row at Extreme settings. As these are temperatures, the lowest temperature is best.

At idle, the ASUS GTX 560Ti was the coolest by 4 degrees Celsius. This shows the cooling ability of the ASUS DirectCU II cooler.



While under the load condition, the ASUS GTX 560Ti was 5 degrees Celsius cooler than the ATI HD 6750, which was the next coolest video card. While the ASUS GTX 560Ti was overclocked the temperature reached a maximum of 86 degrees Celsius, and even this was 1 degree Celsius cooler than the eVGA GTX 275.



While at default settings, the fans were nearly silent as the GPU remained relatively cool. When the card was overclocked, it heated up a bit more. The fans auto-adjusted to try to keep it cool, and at its highest speed the fans were easily noticeable. However, they were not a high pitched sound, but just a dull hum. I sit about a foot from the side of the case, and with the side panel off, the fans never bothered me.