HEXUS: NVIDIA's release of the GeForce GTX 560 Ti on January 25 marks the introduction of the 5-series GPU architecture this side of £200. Combing through the specifications of the new card shows that, really, its design is akin to a GeForce GTX 460 on some Balco steroids.
Knowing that the GTX 460 GPU's specifications have been set very conservatively and that most can run at the 822MHz/4,008MHz clocks of the GTX 560 Ti with nothing more than a quick dabble in an overclocking program, we set out to investigate just how a Ti 560-clocked GTX 460 1GB would perform. Doing so provides a good indication of architecture-to-architecture differences and will, we hope, give present GTX 460 owners an informed opinion on whether an upgrade is necessary.
0°
30°
10°
20°
Ad 
20°
upgrading your PC these days is a mugs game, a by gone era that some people still pursue in the hope in teh extra FPS and resolutions
Im playing my consoles and every sequel looks alot better than the last UC2. ME2, DS2 and this will continue with the next set of sequels
this is due to the developers becoming very familiar with the internal architecture of the Xbox and PS3
with the PC they never have this as hardware, it just keeps moving forward even though the current hardware cycle hasnt even come close to being maximised! this leads to bad ports and poor optimisation
RDR and GOW3 won most of the best graphics awards of 2010, on 5/6 year old hardware?
The best the PC could come up with is Metro 2033, which while with the Direct x11 looked amazing at points, in alot of other area just looked like an indie game and was very inconsistent
I acquired (dont ask) DS2 on PC also to see the difference and its just looked like a cleaner version....huh!? so I have hardware in my PC that must be a generation ahead of whats in my console and.....thats the difference!?
I have my PC for 3D work (and it needs to be up to date for this reaosn) and indie games like Amnesia
but upgrading purely for gaming reasons is just a waste of powerful hardware and money, I have a friend who has a PHD in computer science and he just plays consoles now
he sees upgrading and the hardware race as pointless now and I do but humanity is a stubborn bunch hence why I predict alot of disagree's
but as Jacky boy once said, 'you cant handle the truth!'
rofl.
Software \=/ Hardware
Edit: @below, nvidia is a small company in Santa Clara...they are not that rich.
I think you will find a person that has a PHD in computer science knows an absolute shedload about PC hardware
But not about the requirements for current games. When it comes down to PC gaming, you don't need a PHD to know the inner workings for a GPU, and to be able to compare performance charts <_<.
And if you actually looked, you'd see there were many games hovering in the 30 and below FPS range using the GTX 460 and 560. And newer games are only going to get more demanding. (Crysis 2 ftw!)
I now prefer controller for FPS and TPS, pressure trigger, analogue movement, force feedback trumps the accuracy argument in my book and you always that feeling of weight and inertia with a control pad
M/KB always feels to floaty for me
although coming from a controller the insane accuracy is always welcome
If you bought a 360 back at launch it would have cost you a huge amount of money (buying games new at launch etc. and rebuying the console when it dies out of warranty and buying new controllers when they simply stop working or buttons stop responding etc.) rather than catching up on the console experience this year.
There is also the stuttery frame rates and laggy multiplayer (p2p) problem in consoles...
The problem with pc games at the moment is the developers being idiots and not porting games properly. There need to be more companies making pc targeted games like the witcher 2.
Also, metro didn't use tessellation properly so it is a bad example for people to use (just over marketed rubbish). If you compare how it is applied in Heaven benchmark to how it acts in metro you will notice that metro subdivides models with it; heaven does both that and creates geometry from texture information which is the true purpose that will create amazing image quality (instead of bump/parralax mapping we get actual polygons which even saves quite a bit of shader performance - as apposed to parralax mapping).
As for controllers, they have their own merits. I have used controllers and mouse+kbd both a lot and mouse+kbd is far superior for shooters, certain rpgs and rts but generally worse for other games. I would say analogue movement would help in shooters but all you need is the fastest quiet movement (crouching) and the fastest normal or sprinting movement... why would you ever need to move slowly? If you are trying to line up an angle through an awkward gap you can turn and walk diagonally to get the fine tuning you need. Also, you can usually just plug in a controller to a PC if you prefer it and it will work on nearly every game that is also on 360.
Most people have their mouse sensitivity way too high and they aren't really getting the supremely accurate control, not to mention if they are using a cheap mouse that came with their pc it is horrible when compared to a cheap gaming mouse bought online (logitech mx518 for example)
"you always that feeling of weight and inertia with a control pad" Sounds like you are describing input lag to me... Developers are infact trying to reduce that but it is impossible with the current look of games on the consoles because they are running to the extremes of their capabilities. Next gen consoles will be without "weight and intertia" for a year or so after launch until the bar is raised so high that they have to sacrifice frame rates again.
O.o?
Yea... force feedback is a better alternative to accurate controls. /s
Also, only idiots fork over the dough for upgrades each year. The PC hardware industry is just advancing technology and making it available.
It's like saying that the car industry is ripping you off because they release a new model each year and you decide to buy it.
The article is just showcasing the improvements nVidia has made. "Who cares?" People who like to know what advances the hardware side is making for gaming, that's who.
Also the GTX 560 is an over-clockers card, pump up the frequency and watch it fly. Both the GTX 460 and Gtx 560 are PERFECT cards for mid range gamers with the GTX 560 being the top performer and add another card for SLI and this will give you Enthusiast performance in most games.
I don't know what you play on or what you play but at the level I play on, this equipment is a must for MY Gaming Experience. Some are happy with consoles, some are happy with Dx9 but FOR ME I want the best gaming experience.
So for someone to say this is not necessary or that is not worth it is crap cause obviously they must never play games maxed out across 3 screens. So if you wanna play Metro 2033 or Arma II w/ the ACE mod 2 or any game maxed out across 3 screens then YES this equipment, actually better equipment is a must.
That's what so great about PC gaming, you tailor fit it to your personnel preferences and not one size fits all.
but you fail
input lag? no that would be the resistance of an analogue stick as you push against it
and M/KB is only superior for shooters if you are awful with a pad or put so much emphasis of accuracy that nothing else matters, not even aspects that help to enhance the overall experience like controllers do
/facepalm
The only reason why console players think they are so good with a pad is because developers have catered to your needs by making slower paced games. Games like UT and Quake used to be the pinnacle of competition because of the skill required...but making casuals acquire skill hurts sales so now all we have are slow shooters that rely on graphics and noob tubes.
Good examples are Farcry 1, halo games & cod, with sensitivity up at 10 you can fine tune and snapshot quite well; but still nothing compared to a mouse.