MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II OC Extreme Performance Review
 

I want to thank MSI for the opportunity to test this card.

I'm not here to tell you how good this card is in games or what you get in the box, this review is for extreme performance namely overclocking and benchmarking

Some pictures:


http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/6798/35411232.jpg

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/1433/39957443.jpg

http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/9750/29303651.jpg

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/5782/15659578.jpg

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/7276/28692771.jpg

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/9951/51643207.jpg

The card has a very impressive cooler The Twin Frozr II. So i did a few temperature related tests before overclocking.


http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/9906/loadvantage.png

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/2272/ambienttemp.png


http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/7185/tempidle.png



http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/740/tempload.png



I whipped out my infrared temperature measurement gun to measure memory and VRM temps.



http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/5103/memoryidler.png

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/6868/memoryloadr.png

http://img863.imageshack.us/img863/9334/vrmidler.png
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/5927/vrmloadr.png

Then i started with some 3D Benchmarks.

System Used for all tests:

Graphics card: MSI GTX 560Ti Twin Frozr II OC (@ default speed and overclocked) (100% fan speed)
CPU: Intel Sandybridge 2600k (@ 4.5ghz 8 threads)
Memory: Corsair dominator GT 2000Mhz cl7. (@ 2133mhz 7-7-7-20)
PSU: Antec HCP 1200W
Motherboard: Giga P67

I compared it to an Ati HD 6950, the 560ti's biggest rival.

Using MSI's Afterburner i could set GPU Core voltage to 1.15 for overclocking. Some very impressive air results followed.


Overclocked speed: Gtx 560Ti 1080mhz core / 1260mhz mem

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/47/2003l.png



Overclocked speed: Gtx 560Ti 1050mhz core / 1200mhz mem

http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/4834/2005g.png



Overclocked speed: Gtx 560Ti 1015mhz core / 1250mhz mem

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/1830/2006t.png



Overclocked speed: Gtx 560Ti 1000mhz core / 1250mhz mem

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/2849/2011d.png



Overclocked speed: Gtx 560Ti 1025mhz core / 1250mhz mem

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/14/vantageg.png



Overclocked speed: Gtx 560Ti 990mhz core / 1200mhz mem

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/5866/unigine.png


The PCB design for the Twin Frozr II OC is close to the 560Ti Hawk's PCB, so that means the twin Frozr II OC has a very strong PWM design, but not as strong as the HAWKs 8+1 phase. I took a closer look to see what core voltage this PWM produces.


Below are some tests with an oscilloscope. Variables were set to .05v volts per vertical division (to see voltage noise clearly) and .1ms time per horizontal division. I kept the same setting on all tests to make viewing easier.

Look at the screens grid, each square on the vertical axis represents .05v (50mv). This way you can see the Vcore ripple/noise that the GPU core is receiving.

For reference i compared it with a very older card, 8800gts (G92). So you can see a clear difference between the two power feeds and understand it better.

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/8598/scopevsr.png

Very clean no problems during IDLE. (duh)
http://img852.imageshack.us/img852/7180/scopeidler.png

Here we can see + - .15v peak-peak ripple, which is fine. We can see the GTS is less clean but also fine.
http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/2727/scopeloadr.png

Once again, a little bit more Peak-peak ripple but still fine. The result from GTS looks unclean.
http://img859.imageshack.us/img859/7...opeloadocr.png

Alright so the card is strong on air. Let's put it to the real OC test ;).

Subzero cooling using Liquid Nitrogen and Dry ice.

Preparation Pics:

http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/3524/99573317.jpg

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/4445/47852037.jpg

http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/4821/47101939.jpg

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/6338/20755824.jpg

http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/3996/35499391.jpg

http://img542.imageshack.us/img542/7361/65475338.jpg

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/981/32234022.jpg

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/8198/28408038.jpg

Running at 1.4v core and -120C I reached a stable corespeed of 1300mhz!

There are stronger MSI 560's out there but this was sufficient to achieve the goal i set out to get.


Bringing home some Gold Cups for MSI :).

Wow!!! Makes me won't to drop mine in the cold. Nice write up and pics. Very detailed.

i cant see all the pics on cell but almost time to go home :)

i was looking at that card yesterday but couldnt add it to my cart :( lol

very nice write up vivi... sick card you have there!

add it to your card! It's brilliant. and PM if you run into any issues while overclocking it :).

To be honest my card is one of the normal samples :P. All of these cards can do 1300+ ln2. Strong little buggers.

Massman's 1475 core 3DM2011, now thats a great card!

Slick review Vivi, didn't realize how much punch this lil buggar had.
Was the ATI card overclocked at all?

Nice review Vivi

Two of these bad boys would be formatable for a gaming rig

great review can we get more pics of the mod areas :)

If I could only squeeze one more in my case...

Great review man! Enjoyed reading it.