Conclusion:

When I think of ASUS, my first thought is their production of high quality motherboards. This is what they were originally known for, but like many other companies they decided to diversify at some point. The ASUS GeForce GTX 560Ti 1GB graphics card not only lived up to the expectations I had based on my experience with their motherboards, but exceeded them with their value added innovations.

The DirectCU II cooler really does its job well, as it keeps the high powered GPU of the ASUS GTX 560Ti fairly cool, and cooler than all the other video cards tested. While 4 or 5 degrees Celsius doesn't seem like much, every little bit helps when it comes to keeping your components cool. Most of the real world gaming tests didn't show the true power of the GTX 560Ti, while the synthetic tests show its potential. The ASUS GTX 560Ti comes with a factory overclock from 822MHz to 830MHz, and while this seems to be a key marketing point from ASUS, it is a minor increase in clock speed. However, ASUS includes an application to overclock the card substantially more on your own, and my efforts resulted in almost a 120MHz increase in GPU speed. This simple overclock provided a nice boost in performance, as detailed in all of the benchmark results.



It is hard to find any downside to the ASUS GTX 560Ti. It would be nice if some software was included with the video card - whether we're talking about a copy of Futuremark 3DMark Vantage or a DirectX 11 game - the little extras add extra value to the bundle. Certainly this is not a requirement, but something added like that could help persuade potential customers that are on the fence about which card to buy.

According to the BigBruin shopping pages, various GTX 560Ti video cards can easily be found between $199 and $329. The ASUS GTX 560Ti reviewed here is going for as little as $250 at places such as Tigerdirect.com, Amazon.com, and Newegg.com.

The ASUS GTX 560Ti graphics card earns the Bigbruin.com "Recommended" and "Gaming Approved" awards for its cost, performance, and cooling solution.



Pros:

» Great performance
» Near silent cooling fans
» Good video connection selection
» Energy efficient
» Easily overclocked

Cons:

» Factory overclock is very minor
» No value added software included

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