Our testing reveals that the new card performs slower than the GTX 560 Ti by up to 13 percent and faster than the GTX 460 by up to 21 percent. This suggest smooth gaming at 19x12 and Nvidia classifies the card as custom made for 1080p gaming. GTX 560 cards are priced at €140 before VAT, meaning they’ll be available at about €160-170.

Both cards are based on the GF114 GPU and partners got off light this time as the GPUs are pin compatible. This means that partners can use existing GTX 560 Ti designs and implement them with the GTX 560. Thankfully, Gainward did exactly that with the GTX 560 Phantom. In fact, when we got the card we thought it is GTX 560 Ti Phantom. The difference is evident only on the I/O panel and the number of video outs. The GTX 560 Phantom offers a standard HDMI connector, one dual-link DVI and one VGA. The GTX 560 Ti Phantom, on the other hand, has two dual-link DVIs, one standard HDMI connector and one VGA.

Nvidia did a good job calculating in the performance difference between the GTX 560 Ti and the GTX 560, meaning you’ll get exactly what you pay for. Unfortunately, a glance at the current graphics cards offer makes us wonder whether Nvidia thought about factoring AMD into the equation. For instance, HD 6870 cards go for about 145 euro.

Gainward's GTX 560 Phantom comes with a minimum overclock and the excellent Phantom cooling. We managed to push the GPU to 945MHz and the card remained quiet. If the GTX 560 Phantom doesn't end up pricier than reference cards, then Gainward will definitely have a winner on its hands.


Updated 25.05.2011

Unfortunately, one week after the launch of GTX 560 cards, Gainwar's GTX 560 Phantom card is priced 20 euro higher (€168) than the most affordable GTX 560 (€148?), which is a bit too much to ask solely on the basis of special cooling.

Updated 04.06.2011

Gainwar's GTX 560 Phantom card goes for €162 , here.

Since our today’s test was about Gainward’s card, you can check out the rest of the company’s GTX 560 series offer below.

1)      GAINWARD GeForce GTX 560 2048MB

Core Clock 810 MHz
Memory Size 2,048 MB

 

2)      GAINWARD GeForce GTX 560 1024MB "Phantom"

Core Clock 822 MHz
Memory Size 1,024 MB

3)      GAINWARD GeForce GTX 560 1048MB "Golden-Sample"

Core Clock 822 MHz
Memory Size 1,024 MB