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GeForce GTX 960

GPU • NVIDIA • MAXWELL 2.0

GeForce GTX 960

Q: When was the GeForce GTX 960 released?

The GeForce GTX 960 was officially released in January 22, 2015. It was launched as a graphics solution by NVIDIA.

Q: What is the 3DMark Time Spy score of GeForce GTX 960?

The GeForce GTX 960 scores 2,302 on 3DMark Time Spy, indicating its solid capabilities in modern gaming scenarios. This benchmark is the industry standard for measuring DirectX 12 gaming performance.

Q: How much VRAM does the GeForce GTX 960 have?

The GeForce GTX 960 is equipped with 2 GB of VRAM, providing adequate memory for 1080p gaming and standard workloads.

Q: What is the TGP (power consumption) of GeForce GTX 960?

The GeForce GTX 960 has a Total Graphics Power (TGP) of 120 W. This value dictates your power supply (PSU) requirements, so ensure your system can handle this draw effectively.

Q: What is the base clock speed of the GeForce GTX 960?

The GeForce GTX 960 operates at a base clock speed of 1127 MHz. This is the minimum clock frequency the graphics card runs at under standard workloads before boosting.

Q: What is the boost clock speed of the GeForce GTX 960?

The GeForce GTX 960 features a boost clock speed of 1178 MHz. This clock speed represents the maximum frequency the graphics card can dynamically reach during intense gaming or rendering workloads.

Q: What architecture is the GeForce GTX 960 based on?

The GeForce GTX 960 is built on the Maxwell 2.0 architecture. This foundational design determines the GPU's power efficiency and support for modern features like hardware Ray Tracing and AI upscaling (DLSS/FSR).

Q: How does the GeForce GTX 960 rank in gaming performance?

With a performance score of 55%, the GeForce GTX 960 is ranked as a capable mid-range graphics card in our extensive GPU database.

Q: What bus interface does the GeForce GTX 960 use?

The GeForce GTX 960 uses the PCIe 3.0 x16 interface, ensuring high-speed data transfer and minimal bottlenecking between the graphics card and the motherboard.

Q: How many shading units does the GeForce GTX 960 have?

The GeForce GTX 960 features 1,024 shading units (cores), which are directly responsible for rendering complex visual effects and lighting in modern games.

GM206 Released: January 22, 2015

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GeForce GTX 960

GM206 Released: January 22, 2015

Memory

GB GDDR5

Boost Clock

1178

MHz

TGP

120

Technical Highlights

Architecture : Maxwell 2.0

Generation : GeForce 900

Shading Units : 1024

RT Cores : -

About GeForce GTX 960

GeForce GTX 960 is a discrete graphics card from NVIDIA released on January 22, 2015 based on the Maxwell 2.0 architecture with 2 GB GDDR5 memory on a PCIe 3.0 x16 bus interface. It runs at 1127 MHz base clock, reaches up to 1178 MHz boost clock, and has a 120 W power rating. It supports DirectX 12 (12_1), Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6.

Last updated: March 30, 2026

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Overall Scores General Info Graphics Processor Raw Performance Memory Board Design APIs Benchmarks Performance Charts FAQ

Overall Score Of GeForce GTX 960

This summarizes how GeForce GTX 960 scores across key areas like gaming, rendering, AI, and Energy Efficiency.

Overall

Gaming Performance

AI & Machine Learning

Hardware Architecture

Workstation

Energy Efficiency

General Info of GeForce GTX 960

Vendor

NVIDIA

Release Date

January 22, 2015

Foundry

TSMC

Architecture

Maxwell 2.0

Process Size

28 nm

14% of the current best Process Size score

Transistors

2.94 billion

Launch Price

199

Graphics Processor of GeForce GTX 960

Base Clock

1127 MHz

42% of the current best Base Clock score

Boost Clock

1178 MHz

38% of the current best Boost Clock score

Shading Units

1024

5% of the current best Shading Units score

Compute Units

5% of the current best Compute Units score

Textured Mapping Units (TMUs)

9% of the current best Textured Mapping Units (TMUs) score

Render Output Units (ROPs)

13% of the current best Render Output Units (ROPs) score

Die Size

228 mm²

Density

12.9 MTr/mm²

L1 Cache

48 KB (per SMM)

19% of the current best L1 Cache score

L2 Cache

1024 KB

1% of the current best L2 Cache score

Raw Performance of GeForce GTX 960

Pixel Fill Rate

37.70 GPixel/s

8% of the current best Pixel Fill Rate score

Texture Fill Rate

75.39 GTexel/s

5% of the current best Texture Fill Rate score

FP32 Performance

2.413 TFLOPs

2% of the current best FP32 Performance score

Memory of GeForce GTX 960

Memory Size

2 GB

6% of the current best Memory Size score

Memory Type

GDDR5

40% of the current best Memory Type score

Bus Width

128-bit

Memory Clock

Good

1753 MHz

67% of the current best Memory Clock score

Effective Speed

7000 Mbps

23% of the current best Effective Speed score

Bandwidth

112.2 GB/s

6% of the current best Bandwidth score

Board Design of GeForce GTX 960

Bus Interface

Good

PCIe 3.0 x16

60% of the current best Bus Interface score

PCIe Version

Good

3.0

60% of the current best PCIe Version score

PCIe Lanes

TGP

120 W

Length

241 mm

APIs of GeForce GTX 960

DirectX

Excellent

12 (12_1)

80% of the current best DirectX score

OpenGL

Top tier

4.6

100% of the current best OpenGL score

OpenCL

Top tier

3.0

100% of the current best OpenCL score

Vulkan

Top tier

1.4

100% of the current best Vulkan score

HDMI

Good

2.0

60% of the current best HDMI score

DisplayPort

1.2

40% of the current best DisplayPort score

CUDA

5.2

Ray Tracing

DLSS

Benchmarks of GeForce GTX 960

3D Mark

A standardized suite that approximates real-world gaming workloads to compare graphics performance.

Steel Nomad Lite:

2180

4% of max score 4% of best score for Steel Nomad Lite

Time Spy:

2302

5% of max score 5% of best score for Time Spy

Fire Strike:

7720

9% of max score 9% of best score for Fire Strike

Wild Life Extreme:

4548

4% of max score 4% of best score for Wild Life Extreme

Night Raid:

31098

15% of max score 15% of best score for Night Raid

GeekBench 6 OpenCL

GPU compute benchmark focused on workloads like image processing and parallel compute tasks.

Compute Score:

20370

5% of max score 5% of best score for Compute Score

Background Blur:

51.7 img/sec

12% of max score 12% of best score for Background Blur

Face Detection:

26.1 img/sec

9% of max score 9% of best score for Face Detection

Horizon Detection:

0.84 Gpixels/sec

4% of max score 4% of best score for Horizon Detection

Edge Detection:

1.36 Gpixels/sec

4% of max score 4% of best score for Edge Detection

Gaussian Blur:

1.26 Gpixels/sec

4% of max score 4% of best score for Gaussian Blur

Feature Matching:

0.14 Gpixels/sec

6% of max score 6% of best score for Feature Matching

Stereo Matching:

64.9 Gpixels/sec

2% of max score 2% of best score for Stereo Matching

Particle Physics:

1825 FPS

3% of max score 3% of best score for Particle Physics

Passmark Graphics

A multi-test benchmark that evaluates raster, memory bandwidth, and compute performance.

G3D Mark Score:

6139

16% of max score 16% of best score for G3D Mark Score

G2D Mark Score:

677

48% of max score 48% of best score for G2D Mark Score

DirectX 12:

16% of max score 16% of best score for DirectX 12

GPU Compute:

2800 Ops/s

11% of max score 11% of best score for GPU Compute

Blender

Rendering performance benchmark using Blender Cycles throughput as a practical content-creation metric.

Render Score:

173

1% of max score 1% of best score for Render Score

GeekBench 6 ML

AI benchmark measuring common ML workloads like classification, detection, and super resolution.

ML Single Precision:

3784

7% of max score 7% of best score for ML Single Precision

ML Half Precision:

3830

5% of max score 5% of best score for ML Half Precision

ML Quantized:

2724

7% of max score 7% of best score for ML Quantized

Image Classification:

1492

8% of max score 8% of best score for Image Classification

Object Detection:

1927

7% of max score 7% of best score for Object Detection

Image Segmentation:

2183

4% of max score 4% of best score for Image Segmentation

Face Detection:

3654

3% of max score 3% of best score for Face Detection

Image Super Resolution:

3618

7% of max score 7% of best score for Image Super Resolution

Style Transfer:

22683

3% of max score 3% of best score for Style Transfer

Text Classification:

1315

25% of max score 25% of best score for Text Classification

Machine Translation:

2085

24% of max score 24% of best score for Machine Translation

Depth Estimation:

5491

6% of max score 6% of best score for Depth Estimation

Pose Estimation:

11306

3% of max score 3% of best score for Pose Estimation

FurMark

Stress test designed to push sustained load for thermal stability and cooling behavior.

1080p Vulkan:

2031

6% of max score 6% of best score for 1080p Vulkan

1440p Vulkan:

1292

5% of max score 5% of best score for 1440p Vulkan

2160p Vulkan:

590

4% of max score 4% of best score for 2160p Vulkan

1080p OpenGL:

2227

8% of max score 8% of best score for 1080p OpenGL

1440p OpenGL:

1426

6% of max score 6% of best score for 1440p OpenGL

2160p OpenGL:

666

4% of max score 4% of best score for 2160p OpenGL

Performance Charts Of GeForce GTX 960

These charts give a quick view of FPS scaling across resolutions and how this GPU compares against market top benchmark values.

Gaming FPS Analysis

Ultra settings performance of GeForce GTX 960

1080p Ultra

1440p Ultra

4K Ultra

Performance Benchmarks

Grey is the market top value. Colored bar is GeForce GTX 960.

Market Top

GeForce GTX 960

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Frequently Asked Questions about GeForce GTX 960

The GeForce GTX 960 was officially released in January 22, 2015. It was launched as a graphics solution by NVIDIA.

The GeForce GTX 960 scores 2,302 on 3DMark Time Spy, indicating its solid capabilities in modern gaming scenarios. This benchmark is the industry standard for measuring DirectX 12 gaming performance.

The GeForce GTX 960 is equipped with 2 GB of VRAM, providing adequate memory for 1080p gaming and standard workloads.

The GeForce GTX 960 has a Total Graphics Power (TGP) of 120 W. This value dictates your power supply (PSU) requirements, so ensure your system can handle this draw effectively.

The GeForce GTX 960 operates at a base clock speed of 1127 MHz. This is the minimum clock frequency the graphics card runs at under standard workloads before boosting.

The GeForce GTX 960 features a boost clock speed of 1178 MHz. This clock speed represents the maximum frequency the graphics card can dynamically reach during intense gaming or rendering workloads.

The GeForce GTX 960 is built on the Maxwell 2.0 architecture. This foundational design determines the GPU's power efficiency and support for modern features like hardware Ray Tracing and AI upscaling (DLSS/FSR).

With a performance score of 55%, the GeForce GTX 960 is ranked as a capable mid-range graphics card in our extensive GPU database.

The GeForce GTX 960 uses the PCIe 3.0 x16 interface, ensuring high-speed data transfer and minimal bottlenecking between the graphics card and the motherboard.

The GeForce GTX 960 features 1,024 shading units (cores), which are directly responsible for rendering complex visual effects and lighting in modern games.

The GeForce GTX 960 contains approximately 2.94 billion transistors, packed into its silicon to deliver massive parallel processing capabilities.

The GeForce GTX 960 is manufactured on a 28 nm node. A smaller process node generally translates to better energy efficiency and improved thermal management.