NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti vs NVIDIA Quadro 6000 Comparison

# NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti vs NVIDIA Quadro 6000

The GeForce GTX 560 Ti and Quadro 6000 represent two distinct philosophies from NVIDIA's Fermi era, yet both are built on 40 nm TSMC silicon. The benchmark data shows the GTX 560 Ti winning the only head-to-head test with an 8.6% margin, but the Quadro 6000 counters with vastly more memory and a professional display feature set. This comparison is not about which is faster overall — it is about which card serves which workload, and the numbers reveal a clear split between gaming-oriented throughput and professional compute capacity.

Where Each One Wins

The GeForce GTX 560 Ti wins the single available benchmark comparison, the Geekbench OpenCL test, scoring 10,690 against the Quadro 6000's 9,846. That 8.6% advantage places the GTX 560 Ti at the 49th percentile of all GPUs, while the Quadro 6000 sits at the 47th percentile. This suggests the GTX 560 Ti has a slight edge in raw compute throughput as measured by OpenCL, which aligns with its higher FP32 rating of 1,263.4 GFLOPS versus the Quadro 6000's 1,027.7 GFLOPS.

However, the Quadro 6000 wins decisively in memory capacity and bandwidth. It carries 6 GB of GDDR5 across a 384-bit bus, yielding 143.4 GB/s of bandwidth, compared to the GTX 560 Ti's 1 GB on a 256-bit bus at 128.3 GB/s. For workloads that require large datasets resident in VRAM — such as professional visualization, rendering, or compute tasks with big working sets — the Quadro 6000's 6 GB is a massive advantage that no benchmark in this pack fully captures.

The wins are not symmetrical. The GTX 560 Ti wins on compute efficiency per watt and raw OpenCL score; the Quadro 6000 wins on memory capacity, pixel fill rate (16.07 GPixel/s vs 13.17 GPixel/s), and professional display outputs. The data implies the GTX 560 Ti is the better choice for general compute acceleration, while the Quadro 6000 targets memory-bound professional workflows.

Architecture Differences

Both cards use the Fermi architecture, but they are not identical implementations. The GTX 560 Ti uses the GF114 chip, while the Quadro 6000 uses the larger GF100. The GF100 packs 3,100 million transistors on a 529 mm² die, compared to the GF114's 1,950 million transistors on 332 mm². Interestingly, both have the same transistor density of 5.9M per mm², meaning the Quadro 6000's larger die comes purely from scaling up the design rather than denser packing.

The shading unit counts differ: the GTX 560 Ti has 384 shading units, while the Quadro 6000 has 448. This gives the Quadro 6000 more parallel execution resources, yet its FP32 throughput is lower due to clock speeds. The GTX 560 Ti's memory runs at 1,002 MHz (4 Gbps effective), while the Quadro 6000's memory runs at 747 MHz (3 Gbps effective). The GTX 560 Ti also has more texture mapping units (64 vs 56), while the Quadro 6000 has more ROPs (48 vs 32).

The architecture generations differ slightly: the GTX 560 Ti is listed as "Fermi 2.0," while the Quadro 6000 is simply "Fermi." This suggests the GTX 560 Ti benefits from a refined iteration of the same fundamental architecture. Both cards support DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, but neither has Vulkan support listed. The GTX 560 Ti belongs to the GeForce 500 generation, while the Quadro 6000 belongs to the Quadro Fermi (x000) generation.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct benchmark comparison available is Geekbench OpenCL, where the GTX 560 Ti scores 10,690 against the Quadro 6000's 9,846. This is an 8.6% delta in favor of the GTX 560 Ti. To put that in context, the GTX 560 Ti's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6600S (10,629, 0.6% behind) and the NVIDIA Quadro K2200 (10,761, 0.7% ahead). The Quadro 6000's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro M2000M (9,832, 0.1% behind) and the AMD FirePro W5000 (9,803, 0.4% behind).

The 8.6% difference between these two cards is larger than the gaps to their respective nearest rivals, which suggests the GTX 560 Ti holds a meaningful compute advantage. However, the Quadro 6000's higher pixel rate (16.07 GPixel/s vs 13.17 GPixel/s) indicates it may perform better in rasterization-heavy tasks, even if OpenCL does not capture that. The texture rates tell a different story: the GTX 560 Ti achieves 52.67 GTexel/s versus the Quadro 6000's 32.14 GTexel/s, a 63.8% advantage for the GTX 560 Ti in texturing throughput.

The FP32 numbers reinforce the GTX 560 Ti's compute lead: 1,263.4 GFLOPS versus 1,027.7 GFLOPS, a 22.9% gap. Yet the Quadro 6000's larger memory bus (384-bit vs 256-bit) and higher bandwidth (143.4 GB/s vs 128.3 GB/s) mean it can feed data to those shading units more efficiently in memory-bound scenarios.

Specification Differences

| Specification | GTX 560 Ti | Quadro 6000 |

|---|---|---|

| Chip | GF114 | GF100 |

| Architecture | Fermi 2.0 | Fermi |

| Transistors | 1,950 million | 3,100 million |

| Die size | 332 mm² | 529 mm² |

| Memory size | 1,024 MB | 6 GB |

| Memory clock | 1,002 MHz (4 Gbps) | 747 MHz (3 Gbps) |

| Memory bus | 256-bit | 384-bit |

| Memory bandwidth | 128.3 GB/s | 143.4 GB/s |

| Shading units | 384 | 448 |

| TMUs | 64 | 56 |

| ROPs | 32 | 48 |

| Pixel rate | 13.17 GPixel/s | 16.07 GPixel/s |

| Texture rate | 52.67 GTexel/s | 32.14 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 1,263.4 GFLOPS | 1,027.7 GFLOPS |

| TDP | 170 W | 204 W |

| Power connectors | 2x 6-pin | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 450 W | 550 W |

| Display outputs | 2x DVI, 1x mini-HDMI 1.3a | 1x DVI, 2x DisplayPort, 1x S-Video |

| Length | 229 mm (9 inches) | 248 mm (9.8 inches) |

| Height | Not listed | 111 mm (4.4 inches) |

| Launch MSRP | 249 USD | 4,399 USD |

| Release date | 2011-01-24 | 2010-12-09 |

The GTX 560 Ti uses less power (170 W vs 204 W) and requires a smaller PSU (450 W vs 550 W). The Quadro 6000 is longer and taller, and its display outputs skew professional with dual DisplayPort and S-Video, while the GTX 560 Ti offers dual DVI and mini-HDMI. The Quadro 6000's launch MSRP of 4,399 USD is dramatically higher than the GTX 560 Ti's 249 USD, reflecting its professional positioning.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher OpenCL benchmark score?

A: The GTX 560 Ti scores 10,690 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 8.6% higher than the Quadro 6000's 9,846.

Q: Does the Quadro 6000 have more memory bandwidth than the GTX 560 Ti?

A: Yes. The Quadro 6000 achieves 143.4 GB/s over a 384-bit bus, while the GTX 560 Ti achieves 128.3 GB/s over a 256-bit bus.

Q: Which card has more shading units?

A: The Quadro 6000 has 448 shading units, while the GTX 560 Ti has 384. Despite this, the GTX 560 Ti has higher FP32 throughput at 1,263.4 GFLOPS versus 1,027.7 GFLOPS.

Q: What is the memory size difference?

A: The Quadro 6000 has 6 GB of GDDR5, while the GTX 560 Ti has 1 GB of GDDR5. This is a sixfold difference in capacity.

Q: Are both cards based on the same architecture?

A: Both use Fermi, but the GTX 560 Ti is listed as "Fermi 2.0" on the GF114 chip, while the Quadro 6000 uses the original Fermi on GF100.

Q: Which card has a higher pixel fill rate?

A: The Quadro 6000 has a pixel rate of 16.07 GPixel/s, compared to the GTX 560 Ti's 13.17 GPixel/s, a 22% advantage for the Quadro.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear division: the GTX 560 Ti is the compute performance winner, and the Quadro 6000 is the memory capacity and professional feature winner. Anyone running OpenCL workloads that fit within 1 GB of VRAM should prefer the GTX 560 Ti, as it delivers 8.6% higher benchmark scores with 22.9% more FP32 throughput and 63.8% higher texture rate. Its lower TDP (170 W vs 204 W) also makes it easier to integrate into existing systems.

The Quadro 6000 is the choice for workloads that need more than 1 GB of memory. With 6 GB of GDDR5, it can hold six times more data on-board, and its 384-bit bus provides 11.8% more bandwidth. Its higher pixel rate (16.07 GPixel/s) and more ROPs (48 vs 32) suggest better fill-rate performance for rendering tasks. The Quadro 6000 also offers DisplayPort outputs, which are standard in professional environments, whereas the GTX 560 Ti relies on DVI and mini-HDMI.

The percentile rankings reinforce this split: the GTX 560 Ti sits at the 49th percentile of all GPUs, just above the Quadro 6000's 47th percentile. These are closely matched cards in overall performance, yet their design priorities could not be more different. The GTX 560 Ti's 1,263.4 GFLOPS of FP32 power makes it a compact compute workhorse, while the Quadro 6000's 6 GB frame buffer and 143.4 GB/s bandwidth make it a data-heavy professional tool.

For gamers or general compute users, the GTX 560 Ti is the obvious pick — it wins the benchmark, uses less power, and costs far less at launch. For professionals who need large VRAM allocations, multiple DisplayPort connections, or S-Video output, the Quadro 6000 is the only viable choice despite its lower raw compute score. The 8.6% benchmark gap is real, but it is irrelevant if the workload does not fit in 1 GB of memory. The data does not declare a universal winner; it declares two winners for two different jobs.