Performance tests

Testbed:

• Intel Core i7-975 3340 MHz CPU
• ASUS P6T Deluxe motherboard on the Intel X58 chipset
• 6GB of 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM from Corsair
• WD Caviar SE WD1600JD 160GB SATA HDD
• Tagan TG900-BZ 900W PSU
• Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, DirectX 11
• 30" Dell 3007WFP monitor
• VSync disabled
• NVIDIA Drivers 267.31/267.59/267.71, AMD Catalyst 11.4 beta

Benchmarks:

• Far Cry 2 (Ubisoft) — DirectX 10.0, Shaders 4.0 (HDR), built-in benchmarking utility (the Middle level), maximum settings.
• Crysis Warhead (Crytek/EA) — Cargo, DirectX 10.0, Shaders 4.0, Very High settings, batch file, timedemo available by e-mail request.
• Colin McRae: DiRT 2 (Codemasters) — DirectX 11, Ultra High settings, run as follows: "dirt2.exe -benchmark example_benchmark.xml".
• Metro 2033 (4A Games/THQ) — DirectX 11, Super High settings, PhysX disabled, run from in game.
• Just Cause 2 (Avalanche Studios/Eidos Interactive) — DirectX 10.0, Super High settings, run from in game.
• Aliens vs. Predator (Rebellion/SEGA) — DirectX 11, Shaders 5.0, Very High settings, run from in game.
• F1 2010 (Codemasters) — DirectX 11, Ultra High settings, run as follows: "formulaone.exe -benchmark example_benchmark.xml". Game provided by NVIDIA.
• Tropics Benchmark 1.3 (Unigine) — DirectX 10.0, High settings.
• Heaven Benchmark 2.5 Pro (Unigine) — DirectX 11, High settings.
• 3DMark 11 (FutureMark) — DirectX 11, Performance settings.

We'd like to thank Unigine for helping us set up their benchmarks.

Since we have already tested similar GTX 550 Ti and GTX 560 Ti cards, we already have those diagrams in i3DSpeed published in April. Palit's GTX 560 Ti has 900 MHz GPU clock rate, while we have results for 1000 MHz and the standard 822 MHz. It's easy to see that the needed result is right in the middle between the latter two.

Final thoughts

Palit GeForce GTX 550 Ti Sonic 1024MB GDDR5 is a very nice GTX 550 Ti variant, factory-overclocked, with a very efficient and almost silent cooler. As for performance, this card is closer to Radeon HD 5770, although it still fits between it and HD 5750. Make your choice based on actual prices. For example, as of the late June 2011, Radeon HD 6850 has the best price/performance ratio.

Palit GeForce GTX 560 Ti Sonic 1024MB GDDR5 is a great solution for overclockers, because you can easily raise clock rates higher than factory defaults, up to 1000 MHz, for example. For ordinary users the price (of GTX 560 Ti in general) seems a bit too high. Once again, as of the late June 2011, Radeon HD 6950 1GB seems to be a better choice, given its price/performance ratio.

We express gratitude to Palit for the provided graphics cards. The PSU is provided by TAGAN, the monitor is provided by NVIDIA.

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