NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 OEM

Who Should Consider It

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 OEM occupies a peculiar middle ground in the GPU landscape. With a benchmark percentile of 50, it sits at the exact median of all GPUs tracked in the database — not a standout performer, but far from obsolete. This card is best suited for gamers targeting 1080p resolution with modest graphical settings in titles released around its 2011 launch window. The 1280 MB frame buffer and 128.3 GB/s of bandwidth are sufficient for older DirectX 11 titles at medium detail, but the data suggests this card will struggle with modern high-resolution textures.

For users running games at 720p or 1080p with reduced settings, the GTX 560 OEM's 847.9 GFLOPS of FP32 compute provides playable frame rates in undemanding esports titles. However, its 26.50 GTexel/s texture fill rate and 13.25 GPixel/s pixel rate indicate that resolution scaling beyond 1080p will rapidly degrade performance. The 40 ROPs are adequate for traditional rasterization at lower resolutions, but they will bottleneck when paired with higher pixel counts.

The card's 150 W TDP and dual-slot design suggest it was intended for mainstream desktop builds with a 450 W recommended power supply. Its 229 mm length requires a mid-tower chassis at minimum. This is not a card for enthusiasts seeking high-refresh-rate gaming or 1440p experiences — the data points to a product that was entry-level even at its launch, and today it serves best as a functional legacy component or a placeholder GPU for basic display output.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The GTX 560 OEM does not include dedicated ray tracing cores or tensor cores — the FACT PACK lists neither field with a value. This places the card firmly in the pre-RTX era, where all lighting calculations were handled by the 384 shading units through traditional rasterization techniques. The architecture is Fermi 2.0, built on TSMC's 40 nm process with 3,000 million transistors on a 520 mm² die. The transistor density of 5.8M per mm² reflects the manufacturing capabilities of its era.

API support is limited to DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6. The DirectX 12 support is feature-level 11_0, meaning the card cannot leverage the full DirectX 12 feature set — no mesh shaders, no variable rate shading, and no DirectX Raytracing. Vulkan support is absent from the specification, which further restricts compatibility with modern cross-platform titles that prioritize Vulkan for performance. The 1x DVI and 1x HDMI 1.3a outputs limit multi-monitor setups and cap display connectivity at older interface standards.

For users considering this card in 2025, the absence of RT and tensor cores means it cannot accelerate any AI-based features such as DLSS or ray-traced effects. The card's feature set is purely functional for basic rendering. Its OpenGL 4.6 support is the most modern aspect of its API stack, allowing compatibility with applications that require recent OpenGL versions, though performance will be constrained by the underlying hardware.

Benchmark Performance

The GTX 560 OEM has an average benchmark score of 0 and a percentile rank of 50, meaning it outperforms half of all GPUs in the database. However, the nearestRivals array is empty, so there are no direct comparison points with specific percentage deltas available from the FACT PACK. This absence of rival data makes it impossible to state exact performance margins against competing cards from its generation or later ones.

The raw compute figures provide context for its relative positioning. The 847.9 GFLOPS FP32 throughput is modest by modern standards, yet it represents the card's peak theoretical output. The 48 TMUs paired with the 26.50 GTexel/s fill rate suggest that texture-heavy workloads will see proportional scaling with clock speeds. The 13.25 GPixel/s pixel rate, derived from the 40 ROPs, indicates that fill-rate-bound scenarios — such as high-resolution rendering with heavy overdraw — will be the card's primary bottleneck.

Given the empty benchmarks array, the percentile of 50 is the only aggregate performance indicator available. This median placement implies that the card is neither a low-end outlier nor a high-end performer; it sits in a crowded middle tier where many alternatives exist. For gaming, this translates to consistent but unremarkable frame rates at 1080p with medium presets in older titles, and significant compromises required for anything more demanding. The data does not support claims of exceptional performance, but it also does not relegate the card to unusable status.

FAQ

Q: Does the GTX 560 OEM support DirectX 12 Ultimate?

A: No. The card supports DirectX 12 at feature level 11_0, which is the base DirectX 12 tier. It lacks support for DirectX 12 Ultimate features such as ray tracing, mesh shaders, and variable rate shading.

Q: What is the memory configuration of this card?

A: The GTX 560 OEM comes with 1280 MB of GDDR5 memory on a 320-bit bus, providing 128.3 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The memory runs at an effective speed of 3.2 Gbps.

Q: Can this GPU be used for modern gaming?

A: The card's 50th percentile ranking and 1280 MB VRAM indicate it can handle older or less demanding titles at 1080p with reduced settings. Modern AAA games with high-resolution textures will likely exceed its memory capacity and compute limits.

Q: What power supply is recommended for this card?

A: The FACT PACK specifies a suggested PSU of 450 W. The card itself has a 150 W TDP and requires a single 6-pin power connector.

Q: What display outputs are available?

A: The card offers 1x DVI and 1x HDMI 1.3a ports. This limits multi-monitor setups to two displays, and the HDMI 1.3a standard does not support the latest display features like variable refresh rates over HDMI.

Q: Is this card still in production?

A: No. The production status is listed as "End-of-life." Its release date was November 28, 2011, making it a legacy product in the GeForce 500 generation.

How It Compares

The nearestRivals array in the FACT PACK is empty, so there are no direct competitor cards with specified scores or deltaPct values to compare against. This absence of data means the GTX 560 OEM cannot be positioned against specific rival models using quantitative deltas. The percentile rank of 50 is the sole comparative metric, placing it at the median of all GPUs in the database. Without rival names or scores, any comparison must remain general — the card is neither a top-tier performer nor a bottom-tier entry, and it likely faces competition from both older and newer mid-range GPUs that are also clustered around the median percentile.

The lack of benchmark entries further complicates direct comparison. Users looking for a definitive "30% faster than X" statement will not find it in the data. What the FACT PACK does indicate is that the card's 384 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 40 ROPs form a configuration typical of its era's mid-range segment. Its 1280 MB VRAM was a common capacity for 2011 cards, though the 320-bit bus width was above average for that class. The card's 40 nm process node and 3,000 million transistors on a 520 mm² die suggest it was a derivative of higher-end Fermi chips, which may explain its dual-slot cooler requirement.

Memory Subsystem

The GTX 560 OEM is equipped with 1280 MB of GDDR5 memory, a capacity that was adequate for 2011-era gaming but is severely constrained by modern standards. The 320-bit memory bus is the card's most notable specification — it provides a wider pathway for data transfer than the 256-bit buses common on competing mid-range cards of its time. This wide bus, combined with an effective memory speed of 3.2 Gbps, yields a bandwidth of 128.3 GB/s. This bandwidth figure is the key enabler for the card's 1080p performance, as it allows the 384 shading units to receive texture data without excessive stalling.

At 1280 MB, the VRAM capacity is the primary limitation for higher resolutions. Modern games with high-resolution texture packs routinely exceed 4 GB of VRAM usage, making this card incapable of storing the necessary assets. Even at 1080p, some titles with large open worlds may exceed 1280 MB, causing texture thrashing and stutter. The 320-bit bus partially compensates by moving data more efficiently, but it cannot overcome the fundamental capacity shortfall.

For users running legacy games or lightweight applications, the memory subsystem is serviceable. The 128.3 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for 720p and 1080p gaming with medium textures. The memory clock of 802 MHz (3.2 Gbps effective) is standard for GDDR5 of that generation, and the 40 ROPs are capable of writing back rendered frames to memory without significant bottlenecks at lower resolutions. However, the 13.25 GPixel/s pixel rate means that 1440p or 4K rendering will be pixel-bound, with the ROPs unable to keep pace with the pixel output requirements. In summary, the memory subsystem is well-balanced for its intended 2011 use case but is a definitive constraint for any modern application beyond basic display.