Why do I have now decided precisely for the Twin Frozr II by MSI? For this purpose the following should be said: I have been studying 560 Ti for a longer period Reviews for various models of the GTX. The reference card is intended to have an excellent and especially quiet cooling, however, do not have sufficient cooling reserves for stronger overclocking. Alternative cooling solutions cut mostly mediocre from, just in terms of volume. Since the cooling of the Twin Frozr however, was praised in numerous tests fail, the buyer reviews very good at online retailers like Amazon and Alternate and I have not had any bad experiences with the quality of MSI personally, I jumped at the Twin Frozr. In the typical criticisms of the cooling solution of the Twin Frozr that are mentioned in numerous test reports, I will discuss later.
Test System
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For a better understanding of my experiences in terms of performance, the relevant system specifications:
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6
Processor: Intel Q9550 @ 3.83 Ghz Core2Quad
RAM: 6GB Corsair DDR2-800 XMS2
PSU: BeQuiet Straight Power BQT E6-500W
SSD: Intel 320 120 GB
Previous Graphics Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 260 AMP2!
Delivery
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The video card comes with two 6-pin PCI-E power cable adapters, a mini HDMI to HDMI adapter, a DVI to VGA adapter and a driver CD with the overclocking software MSI Afterburner and a printed Quick Start Guide. Thus, the package includes the usual accessories.
Performance (Games)
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Let's get straight to the interesting part: The power play. There as expected nothing to complain about. All current title can be on my computer at a resolution of 1680x1050, 4 games to 8x antialiasing, 8 to 16-fold anisotropic filtering and maximum details smoothly. This also applies to Crysis and Crysis 2 DX11 with to, high-res texture pack and Ultra settings. In Crysis is the frame rate of an average 40 FPS, which never drops even with large firefights under the magical 30 FPS. My GTX 260 managed with the same settings in the average score only 22 to a maximum of 26 FPS, sank with larger firefights even to below 17 FPS. So a completely different feel, if one is keen to play games with the best possible graphics.
GTA IV still is a big problem, however. While it creates the graphics card GPU purely technically the maximum details (incl. Maximum viewing / detail distance) smooth display, there is however an ongoing basis in objects and textures need to be recharged. The optimal settings for my PC are all options on high and a viewing / detail distance of 70. This is called 'optimal' that no object / no texture appears delayed. It is likely that this circumstance is due to the high memory requirements of GTA IV. The GPU seems namely to have no problems with it, represent the game.
Overclocking
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Here should be noted that the results may vary, of course, because not every card is identical. In principle, the overclocking potential of the GTX 560 Ti is enormous. For me, without a voltage increase GPU clock of 950 MHz was inside. A minimum voltage increase allowed then, easily the 1 GHz mark to crack. And that's after the experience reports on the Internet more the rule than the exception.
The Twin Frozr II / OC has been overclocked at the factory settings by 7%. Moreover, when even itself creates hand, you can still see a further 14% rausholen. So that makes a total of more than 21% more power. In order not to reach although the performance of a GTX 570, approaches her but in some games quite well.
Volume and cooling capacity
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First, it should be noted that I have a self-contained, air-cooled 36 cheap housing, in which no fan noise except the air stream can be heard. Here, a 120mm fan draws the air vornerein and another 120mm fan blows it back out again. The CPU is cooled by a Scythe Mugen and of SSD and HDD expect no noise.
In the test reports on the Internet usually the following points on the cooling solution of the Twin Frozr II are criticized:
- A bad fan profile that attaches to high speed under load.
- The absence of a passive heatsink for the voltage transformers, which must be compensated by those very higher speed.
Both led in the tests to a relatively high volume level under load. Fortunately, that is no longer the case. The Twin Frozr II is now delivered by MSI in a new revision, which has a voltage regulator heatsink. Thus, it is possible runterzuschrauben the rotational speed without any danger to the voltage converter. If so you still own fan profile with MSI Afterburner invests, the graphics card is no longer out of listening to a conventionally cooled housing.
By default fan profile the graphics card in idle about 28 ° C is warm under load is not more than 61 ° C. Real records! The minimum speed is (at least for my housing) inaudible 40%, under load in the normal case at no more than 60%.
My fan profile looks on the other hand like this: In Idle 40% (inaudible), under load 55% (not out audibly) and from about 70 ° C, but which are rarely achieved even with additional overclocking, 65%. Said 65% are perceptible, but not annoying, since one does not hear a squeak, rattle or anything like that. It was not until about 70% of the fan noise drops to really, and it is rather dull and less disruptive. The higher from here, the speed is, the brighter and more disturbing is also the sound. However, it must be noted that you have to let the fans spin only at 55% in order to keep the temperature even in strong overclocking even at below 70 ° C. And these are 'as I said' in a conventionally ventilated housing imperceptible. And who has no problem with the fact that the graphics card completely safe 80 ° C is to say, which can let the fans run even at 40%, so that the cooling solution even people likely to satisfy, where 55% are too much (which is not for me, however, would understand).
Conclusion
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The MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II / OC is an excellent graphics card, otherwise I can not describe it. For the price of a reference card, it provides a truly satisfactory cooler solution that enables even massive overclocking at low temperatures and a pleasant volume. The criticism of the first version of this graphics card, the voltage transformers do not have a passive heat sink, is now out of date, since MSI has upgraded and the latest revision delivering with said heatsink so that it get more even at low fan speed to not overheat the voltage converter can.
The power ranges from about out to play every current game with maximum details at a resolution of 1680x1050. Only GTA IV limited due to the incredible memory of hunger, so as even the 2GB version of the GTX 560 Ti is necessary. Because the GPU itself seems to be no problem with the game to have only the memory is limited, unfortunately.
With a warranty period of 3 years, a very good cooling solution for current games and more than adequate performance, this graphics card is simply a price-performance wonder. In this respect I may make a full purchase recommendation.
