It’s not often that a graphics card manufacturer goes through the trouble of launching a special, limited-run product just for the holiday season. But that’s exactly what Nvidia is doing with its GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core.

Given the name, you might expect this new card to be an unlocked and enhanced version of Nvidia's existing GeForce GTX 560 Ti. But that's simply not so. Recall that the GF114 graphics processor used in the existing GeForce GTX 560 Ti is already unfettered. All of its 384 cores are functional, leaving no disabled hardware to turn on. Rather, the GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core is equipped with a cut-back GF110.

This GPU was first seen on the company's GeForce GTX 580, slightly handicapped for use in its GeForce GTX 570, and now further trimmed back for the GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core.