NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960A Comparison

The Verdict

The benchmark data presents a clear, if narrow, hierarchy. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960A wins the only head-to-head benchmark, the Geekbench OpenCL test, with a score of 11998 against the GTX 560 Ti’s 10690. That is a 12.2% performance advantage for the newer card. The GTX 960A also sits higher in the overall performance distribution, at the 51st percentile of all GPUs, while the GTX 560 Ti sits at the 49th percentile. For anyone choosing strictly on compute performance, the GTX 960A is the pick. It is faster, more efficient, and newer.

However, the GTX 560 Ti is not without its own claims. It offers a larger memory bus and significantly higher memory bandwidth, which historically benefits certain workloads. But in the aggregate benchmark score, it loses. The GTX 960A is also a much smaller and cooler-running card, which makes it suitable for compact systems. The GTX 560 Ti, with its dual-slot design and two 6-pin power connectors, is a more traditional desktop part. The verdict from the data: the GTX 960A is the superior performer in the tested workload, and its architectural advantages outweigh the GTX 560 Ti’s bandwidth lead.

Where Each One Wins

The data shows only one benchmark result, so the wins are singular. The GTX 960A wins the Geekbench OpenCL compute test outright. Its score of 11998 beats the GTX 560 Ti’s 10690 by a margin of 12.2%. This suggests the GTX 960A is better suited for compute-heavy tasks like OpenCL acceleration, which can include video encoding, physics simulation, or general-purpose GPU computing.

The GTX 560 Ti, despite losing the compute test, has theoretical advantages in other areas. Its memory bandwidth of 128.3 GB/s is substantially higher than the GTX 960A’s 80.19 GB/s. Its texture fillrate of 52.67 GTexel/s also edges out the GTX 960A’s 47.04 GTexel/s. These figures imply that the GTX 560 Ti could be competitive in texture-bound or bandwidth-sensitive scenarios, such as high-resolution texture streaming or certain legacy game engines. But no benchmark in the data confirms this. In the only measured test, the GTX 960A wins. The GTX 560 Ti’s wins are purely theoretical, based on its raw specification sheet.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different eras of NVIDIA’s design philosophy. The GTX 960A is built on the Maxwell architecture, using the GM107 chip fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. The GTX 560 Ti uses the older Fermi 2.0 architecture, with the GF114 chip on a 40 nm process, also from TSMC. This process shrink is significant. The GTX 960A packs 1,870 million transistors into a die size of 148 mm², yielding a transistor density of 12.6M / mm². The GTX 560 Ti has 1,950 million transistors spread across a much larger 332 mm² die, for a density of just 5.9M / mm². The Maxwell part is nearly twice as dense, reflecting its newer design.

The memory subsystems differ sharply. The GTX 960A uses 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, running at an effective 5 Gbps, producing 80.19 GB/s of bandwidth. The GTX 560 Ti uses 1 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, running at 4 Gbps effective, producing 128.3 GB/s. The GTX 560 Ti has the wider bus and higher bandwidth, but half the memory capacity. The GTX 960A compensates with a higher memory clock.

Compute resources also diverge. The GTX 960A has 640 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 16 ROPs. The GTX 560 Ti has 384 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The Maxwell card has more shaders but fewer texture units and ROPs. The GTX 960A’s pixel rate is 18.82 GPixel/s, which beats the GTX 560 Ti’s 13.17 GPixel/s. The texture rate is reversed, with the GTX 560 Ti at 52.67 GTexel/s versus 47.04 GTexel/s. FP32 performance favors the GTX 960A at 1.505 TFLOPS versus 1,263.4 GFLOPS for the GTX 560 Ti.

Power and physical design are worlds apart. The GTX 960A has a TDP of 75 W, requires no power connectors, and is an MXM module. The GTX 560 Ti has a 170 W TDP, needs two 6-pin connectors, and a 450 W suggested power supply. It is a dual-slot card measuring 229 mm (9 inches) long. The GTX 960A’s display outputs are portable-device dependent, while the GTX 560 Ti offers 2x DVI and 1x mini-HDMI 1.3a. The GTX 560 Ti also uses a PCIe 2.0 x16 interface, while the GTX 960A uses MXM-B (3.0).

API support is similar for DirectX and OpenGL, with both at DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6. The GTX 960A adds Vulkan 1.4 support, while the GTX 560 Ti lists no Vulkan support. The GTX 960A was released on March 12, 2015, while the GTX 560 Ti came out on January 24, 2011. Both are end-of-life products. The GTX 560 Ti had a launch MSRP of 249 USD.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in the Geekbench OpenCL benchmark?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960A scores 11998, which is 12.2% higher than the GTX 560 Ti’s score of 10690.

Q: Which card has more memory bandwidth?

A: The GTX 560 Ti has a 256-bit bus and memory bandwidth of 128.3 GB/s. The GTX 960A has a 128-bit bus and 80.19 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The GTX 960A has a 75 W TDP and needs no power connectors. The GTX 560 Ti has a 170 W TDP and requires two 6-pin power connectors, with a suggested 450 W power supply.

Q: Which card is more physically compact?

A: The GTX 960A is an MXM module with a slot width of MXM Module. The GTX 560 Ti is a dual-slot card measuring 229 mm (9 inches) in length.

Q: Does the GTX 960A support Vulkan?

A: Yes, the GTX 960A lists Vulkan 1.4 support. The GTX 560 Ti does not list any Vulkan support in its specification.

Q: Which card has more shading units?

A: The GTX 960A has 640 shading units, while the GTX 560 Ti has 384 shading units.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only head-to-head benchmark in the data is the Geekbench OpenCL test. The GTX 960A scores 11998, and the GTX 560 Ti scores 10690. The GTX 960A wins with a delta of 12.2%. This is the single biggest and only win in either direction. The GTX 960A’s score places it just 0.3% above the GeForce GTX 1080’s average score of 11960 and 1.3% above the Radeon RX 6500 XT’s 11842. It also beats the GeForce GTX 1660’s 11680 by 2.7% and the Radeon RX 7800 XT’s 11627 by 3.2%. This puts the GTX 960A in a competitive position relative to much newer cards, at least in this specific OpenCL workload.

The GTX 560 Ti’s score of 10690 is 0.6% above the Radeon RX 6600S’s 10629 and 1% above the Radeon R9 M275X’s 10582. It is 0.7% below the Quadro K2200’s 10761 and 1.1% below the Radeon Pro 450’s 10804. The GTX 560 Ti is therefore clustered with lower-end mobile and professional parts, while the GTX 960A sits in a higher performance bracket.

The 12.2% delta between the two cards is the headline number. It reflects the GTX 960A’s architectural efficiency. Despite having a narrower memory bus and less bandwidth, the Maxwell card’s higher shader count, higher clocks, and superior FP32 throughput (1.505 TFLOPS vs 1,263.4 GFLOPS) carry it to a decisive win. The GTX 560 Ti’s higher texture rate and bandwidth do not translate into a benchmark victory. In this test, the newer architecture wins outright.