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TekSpek 's
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
Date issued:
Following on from the launch of the high-end GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970 graphics cards Nvidia is coming to market with its latest Maxwell-powered offering, the GeForce GTX 960. With an MSRP of $199, approximately £160, the GTX 960 offers a more affordable entry into the GTX 900 series for value-conscious gamers.
The GTX 960 is based on the purpose-built mid-range GM206 graphics chip. While less powerful than the GM204 chip found in both GTX 970 and GTX 980, the GM206 GPU still retains all the hallmarks of Nvidia's latest Maxwell architecture. These include dramatic power efficiency improvements, DirectX 12 support and compatibility with new image enhancement technologies such as Dynamic Super Resolution (DSR), Multi-Frame Anti Aliasing (MFAA) and Global Illumination.
In terms of specifications, 1,024 CUDA cores, 2GB of GDDR5 memory and clock speeds of 1,126MHz base and 1,178MHz boost make the GTX 960 an ideal candidate for fully-featured 1080p gaming. Performance testing reveals the GTX 960 offers a performance uplift of up to 10-20 per cent compared to its predecessor, the GTX 760, and as much as 50 per cent more performance than the popular GTX 660. More detailed specification comparisons can be seen in the table below.
Nvidia GeForce GTX Product Comparison |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GeForce | GTX 980 (4GB) |
GTX 970 (4GB) |
GTX 960 (2GB) |
GTX 760 (2GB) |
GTX 660 (2GB) |
GTX 560 (1GB) |
| Launch date | September 2014 |
September 2014 |
January 2015 |
June 2013 |
September 2012 |
May 2011 |
| Codename | GM204 |
GM204 |
GM206 |
GK104 |
GK106 |
GK114 |
| Architecture | 28nm Maxwell |
28nm Maxwell |
28nm Maxwell |
28nm Kepler |
28nm Kepler |
40nm Fermi |
| Transistors (billion) | 5.2 |
5.2 |
2.9 |
3.5 |
2.5 |
2.0 |
| Die Size (mm²) | 398 |
398 |
227 |
294 |
221 |
367 |
| SM Units | 16 |
13 |
8 |
6 |
5 |
7 |
| Cores | 2,048 |
1,664 |
1,024 |
1,152 |
960 |
336 |
| Texture Units | 128 |
104 |
64 |
96 |
80 |
56 |
| ROP Units | 64 |
64 |
32 |
32 |
24 |
32 |
| Base Clock (MHz) | 1,127 |
1,050 |
1,126 |
980 |
980 |
810 |
| Boost Clock (MHz) | 1,216 |
1,178 |
1,178 |
1,033 |
1,033 |
N/A |
| Peak GFLOPS | 4,981 |
3,920 |
2,308 |
2,258 |
1,882 |
1,089 |
| Memory Clock (MHz) | 7,012 |
7,012 |
7,012 |
6,008 |
6,008 |
4,008 |
| Memory Bus (bits) | 256 |
256 |
128 |
256 |
192 |
256 |
| Max bandwidth (GB/s) | 224 |
224 |
112 |
192 |
144 |
128 |
| PCIe Power Connectors | 6+6 |
6+6 |
6 |
6+6 |
6 |
6+6 |
| TDP (watts) | 165 |
145 |
120 |
170 |
140 |
150 |
| GFLOPS per watt | 30.2 |
27.0 |
19.2 |
13.3 |
13.4 |
7.4 |
| Launch MSRP | $549 |
$329 |
$199 |
$249 |
$199 |
$199 |
A TDP of just 120-watts, requiring a single 6-pin power connector, makes the GTX 960 the most power-efficient graphics card in its performance and price class. Such a low TDP makes the GTX 960 an ideal choice for a HTPC, small form factor gaming system or a system with a less-capable power supply.
Nvidia hasn't neglected enthusiasts either with the bold claim that the GTX 960 is 'an overclocker's dream', easily capable of 1,450MHz and beyond with good air cooling. To that ends Nvidia partners such as ASUS, EVGA and Gigabyte are coming to market with highly overclocked designs, out of the box frequencies of 1,300MHz and beyond set the standard high.
Performance and Power Consumption
The popular synthetic benchmark 3DMark demonstrates the GTX 960 to be a capable performer. There are substantial performance uplifts over the GTX 660 and GTX 760 as well as competitive performance against AMD's equivalent offerings, the R9 280 and R9 285.
Move from a synthetic benchmark to a real game and the GTX 960 appears even stronger. Performance will vary from game to game but one thing's for sure: the GTX 960 delivers a very smooth gameplay experience at 1080p with all details cranked up to the max.
Power consumption demonstrates why the GTX 960 is a class-leading product: just 160-watts of total system power during an intense gaming scenario on a Core i7 and Z97-based system. More impressive is the fact the GTX 960 offers 50 per cent more performance than GTX 660 while maintaining a similar power envelope.
Summary
Sweet-spot performance and class-leading efficiency make Nvidia's GeForce GTX 960 a force to be reckoned with in the mid-range graphics card market. Starting from £160, this Maxwell-based GPU offers a noteworthy upgrade for owners of older Nvidia cards. Gamers running a GTX 660 graphics card or slower can expect to see large boosts in gaming performance in a modest power envelope that's flexible enough for HTPCs and compact gaming systems.
Furthermore, the GTX 960 brings with it all the latest bells-and-whistles of the Maxwell architecture such as full DirectX 12 support and compatibility with new image-enhancing technologies. Looking for the ultimate 1080p gaming graphics card? This could be it.
You can browse the full selection of Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 cards right here or Gaming systems here