KFA² GeForce GTX 560 EX OC Review

Performance

Unlike the higher clocked Zotac GTX 560 Amp!, the EX OC wasn’t able to outperform a stock-speed GTX 560 Ti 1GB in Dirt 2. At 1,920 x 1,080 with 4x AA, the EX OC managed a minimum frame rate of 84fps, while a standard GTX 560 Ti 1GB can manage at least 87fps.

However, in Black Ops at 1,920 x 1,080 with 4x AA, the EX OC was able to better a GTX 560 Ti 1GB, with a minimum frame rate of 88fps compared with the GTX 560 Ti 1GB’s 79fps.

Meanwhile, in Arma II: Operation Arrowhead, the EX OC’s clock speeds saw it pull level with the GTX 560 Ti 1GB. At 1,920 x 1,080 with 4x AA, the EX OC’s minimum frame rate of 35fps is the same as that of a more expensive GTX 560 Ti 1GB. However, the average frame rate at the same settings was 42fps – 2fps less than the GTX 560 Ti 1GB.

Finally, in Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the EX OC again matched the minimum frame rate of the GTX 560 Ti 1GB at 1,920 x 1,080 with 4x AA. A minimum frame rate of 32fps is fantastic for a £156 card, although the average frame rate was again around 10 per cent lower than that of the full GTX 560 Ti 1GB.


Along with its solid graphics performance, the EX OC also banished our concerns about its possible high power consumption. Our test system sipped 270W from the wall under load - an amazing 60W less than the Zotac and 32W less than a GTX 560 Ti 1GB.

The dual-fan cooler also proved very capable at keeping the card in check; under load, we saw temperatures peak at the same 41˚C above room temperature as a reference GTX 560 Ti 1GB. The fans of the EX OC span up to 1,650rpm, which was pleasantly quiet, if not inaudible.

We’d hoped to see this low power consumption and cool performance from the GTX 560 in the first place, and the EX OC's much-improved performance in these areas is likely to be down to its lower core voltage. However, it has one undesirable consequence inasmuch as it severely limited the card’s overclocking potential. Using KFA²’s overclocking software, Xtreme Tuner HD, we were unable to tease so much as an extra 10MHz out of the GPU or 25MHz (100MHz effective) from the memory.

Clearly, the EX OC is precisely clocked and volted at the stable limit, and attempting to push it even slightly beyond those frequencies resulted in the card becoming unstable.

Conclusion

Despite the lack of overclocking headroom, the KFA² GeForce GTX 560 EX OC is an impressive piece of kit. Performance at 1,920 x 1,080 with 4x AA was on par with a more expensive stock-speed GTX 560 Ti 1GB, and was matched by capable and quiet cooling, as well as low power consumption. At £156, the EX OC is also £36 cheaper than the now more expensive MSI N560GTX Twin Frozr II/OC. While the latter is faster and very overclockable, that’s still a great saving for this respectably fast graphics card.