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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M is an upper mid-range, DirectX 11-compatible graphics card for laptops unveiled in March 2015. It is based on Nvidia's Maxwell architecture (GM107 chip) and manufactured in 28 nm. The GTX 960M offers 640 shader units clocked at 1097 - 1202 MHz (Boost) as well as fast GDDR5 memory (128 bit, 5000 MHz effective, 80 GB/s).

Compared to the previous and technically very similar GTX 860M, the GTX 960M is clocked slightly higher.

Architecture

Compared to Kepler, Maxwell has been optimized in several details to increase power efficiency. Smaller Streaming Multiprocessors (SMM) with only 128 ALUs (Kepler: 192) and an optimized scheduler should lead to better utilization of the shaders. Nvidia promises that a Maxwell SMM with 128 ALUs can offer 90 percent of the performance of a Kepler SMX with 192 ALUs. GM107 features 5 SMMs and thus 640 shader cores, 40 TMUs and 16 ROPs (128-bit interface).

Another optimization is the massively enlarged L2 cache (GM107: 2 MB). The increased size can handle some of the memory traffic to allow for a relatively narrow memory interface without significantly reducing the performance.

GM107 supports DirectX 12 with feature level 11_0 only.

Performance

Although the GTX 960M has the same memory bandwidth as the previous GTX 860M, its higher core clock leads to a slightly better performance. Overall, the 960M is almost 10 percent faster and similar to the desktop GTX 750 Ti.

Many games of 2014/2015 can be played fluently in FullHD resolution and high detail settings. However, very demanding games such as Assassin's Creed Unity will require lower resolutions and/or details.

Features

GM107 integrates the sixth generation of the PureVideo HD video engine (VP6), offering a better decoding performance for H.264 and MPEG-2 videos. Of course, VP6 supports all features of previous generations (4K support, PIP, video encoding via NVENC API). Unfortunately, HDMI 2.0 is still not supported.

Power Consumption

The power consumption of the GeForce GTX 960M should be similar to the old GTX 860M (about 60 watts). Therefore, the GPU is best suited for 15-inch laptops or larger. The 900M series also supports Optimus to automatically switch between an integrated graphics card and the Nvidia GPU.

ManufacturerNVIDIA
GeForce GTX 900M Series
GeForce GTX 980M SLI compare 3072 @ 1.04 - 1.13 GHz2x 256 Bit @ 5000 MHz
GeForce GTX 970M SLI compare 2560 @ 0.92 - 1.04 GHz2x 192 Bit @ 5000 MHz
GeForce GTX 965M SLI compare 2048 @ 0.92 - 0.95 GHz128 Bit @ 5000 MHz
GeForce GTX 980M compare 1536 @ 1.04 - 1.13 GHz256 Bit @ 5000 MHz
GeForce GTX 970M compare 1280 @ 0.92 - 1.04 GHz192 Bit @ 5000 MHz
GeForce GTX 965M compare 1024 @ 0.92 - 0.95 GHz128 Bit @ 5000 MHz
GeForce GTX 960M 640 @ 1.1 - 1.2 GHz128 Bit @ 5000 MHz
GeForce GTX 950M compare 640 @ 0.91 - 1.12 GHz128 Bit @ 1800 - 5000 MHz
CodenameN16P-GX
ArchitectureMaxwell
Pipelines640 - unified
Core Speed1096 - 1202 (Boost) MHz
Memory Speed5000 MHz
Memory Bus Width128 Bit
Memory TypeGDDR5
Max. Amount of Memory4096 MB
Shared Memoryno
DirectXDirectX 12 (FL 11_0), Shader 5.0
Transistor Count1870 Million
technology28 nm
FeaturesBattery Boost, GameStream, ShadowPlay, GPU Boost 2.0, Optimus, PhysX, CUDA, SLI, GeForce Experience, GameWorks, Adaptive VSync, DSR, Ansel
Notebook Sizemedium sized
Date of Announcement12.03.2015
Link to Manufacturer Pagehttp://www.geforce.com/hardware/notebook...

Benchmarks

Performance Rating - 3DMark 11 + Fire Strike + Time Spy
14.2 pt (15%)
AMD Radeon HD 8180 -90%
...
AMD Radeon RX 460 (Laptop) -4%
NVIDIA Quadro K4100M -4%
AMD Radeon RX Vega 7 -4%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 768MB -4%
AMD Radeon R9 M370X -4%
AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 (Ryzen 4000/5000) -2%
Intel Iris Pro Graphics 580 -1%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M 0%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX 0%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q 1%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770M 1%
AMD Radeon Pro WX Vega M GL 3%
AMD Radeon HD 7770 3%
NVIDIA Quadro K4000M 3%
NVIDIA Quadro M2000M 4%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile 4%
NVIDIA GeForce MX450 5%
AMD Radeon RX 550 (Laptop) 5%
...
AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT (Desktop) 581%
0%
100%
3DMark - 3DMark Time Spy Score
min: 1198     avg: 1202     median: 1202 (7%)     max: 1206 Points
+ 2 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
3DMark - 3DMark Time Spy Graphics
min: 1138     avg: 1148     median: 1148 (6%)     max: 1158 Points
+ 2 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
3DMark - 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited Graphics
min: 191856     avg: 224199     median: 226308 (36%)     max: 251562 Points
+ 16 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
3DMark - 3DMark Ice Storm Extreme Graphics
min: 27912     avg: 90551     median: 106594 (15%)     max: 131124 Points
+ 17 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
3DMark - 3DMark Cloud Gate Score
min: 4513     avg: 15113     median: 16283 (22%)     max: 19618 Points
+ 56 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
3DMark - 3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
min: 21403     avg: 29220     median: 30085.5 (15%)     max: 33474 Points
+ 54 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
3DMark - 3DMark Fire Strike Standard Score
min: 2990     avg: 3927     median: 3984 (10%)     max: 4340 Points
+ 57 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
3DMark - 3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
min: 3906     avg: 4294     median: 4318 (9%)     max: 4705 Points
+ 55 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
3DMark - 3DMark Ice Storm Graphics
min: 28134     avg: 100084     median: 112891 (15%)     max: 200269 Points
+ 49 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
3DMark 11 - 3DM11 Performance Score
min: 3527     avg: 5444     median: 5535.5 (14%)     max: 6161 Points
+ 54 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
3DMark 11 - 3DM11 Performance GPU
min: 4826     avg: 5277     median: 5278 (9%)     max: 5901 Points
+ 54 benchmarks and specifications   - Hide comparison chart
3DMark 06 3DMark 06 - Standard 1280x1024 +
Unigine Heaven 3.0 - Unigine Heaven 3.0 DX 11
min: 56     avg: 56.2     median: 56.2 (19%)     max: 56.3 fps
+ 2 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
Unigine Heaven 2.1 - Heaven 2.1 high
68.7 fps (13%)
+ 1 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
SPECviewperf 11
specvp11 snx-01 +
specvp11 tcvis-02 +
specvp11 sw-02 +
specvp11 proe-05 +
specvp11 maya-03 +
specvp11 lightwave-01 +
specvp11 ensight-04 +
specvp11 catia-03 +
SPECviewperf 12
specvp12 sw-03 +
specvp12 snx-02 +
specvp12 showcase-01 +
specvp12 mediacal-01 +
specvp12 maya-04 +
specvp12 energy-01 +
specvp12 creo-01 +
specvp12 catia-04 +
Cinebench R10 Cinebench R10 Shading (32bit) +
Cinebench R11.5 Cinebench R11.5 OpenGL 64 Bit +
Cinebench R15
Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64 Bit +
Cinebench R15 OpenGL Ref. Match 64 Bit +
LuxMark v2.0 64Bit - LuxMark v2.0 Room GPU
min: 667     avg: 836     median: 879 (9%)     max: 991 Samples/s
+ 9 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
LuxMark v2.0 64Bit - LuxMark v2.0 Sala GPU
min: 1097     avg: 1311     median: 1254 (4%)     max: 1532 Samples/s
+ 11 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
ComputeMark v2.1 - ComputeMark v2.1 Result
min: 3139     avg: 3321     median: 3337 (7%)     max: 3503 points
+ 14 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card
* Smaller numbers mean a higher performance

Game Benchmarks

The following benchmarks stem from our benchmarks of review laptops. The performance depends on the used graphics memory, clock rate, processor, system settings, drivers, and operating systems. So the results don't have to be representative for all laptops with this GPU. For detailed information on the benchmark results, click on the fps number.

Rage 2

Rage 2

2019
low 1280x720
32.8  fps    + Compare
med. 1920x1080
15.9  fps    + Compare
high 1920x1080
13.8  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
13.3  fps    + Compare
» The benchmarks indicate that the game is not playable in the tested settings.
Anno 1800

Anno 1800

2019
low 1280x720
55.8  fps    + Compare
med. 1920x1080
25.8  fps    + Compare
high 1920x1080
15.8  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
7.8  fps    + Compare
QHD 2560x1440
5.6  fps    + Compare
4K 3840x2160
2  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings low.
The Division 2

The Division 2

2019
low 1280x720
62  fps    + Compare
med. 1920x1080
28  fps    + Compare
high 1920x1080
22  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
14  fps    + Compare
QHD 2560x1440
9  fps    + Compare
4K 3840x2160
3  fps    + Compare