13 specifications

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960

On paper, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 has more shading units. Specifications describe what each card is designed to do; how much of that either one holds under continuous load is a separate question.

10 specifications · 3 with a higher side

Full specifications

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950

NVIDIA · GeForce GTX 900 · Desktop

Full specifications

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960

NVIDIA · GeForce GTX 900 · Desktop

Compute

Architecture

Maxwell

Shading units

768

1,024

Base clock

1024 MHz

1127 MHz

Boost clock

1188 MHz

1178 MHz

Memory

2 GB

Memory type

GDDR5

Memory bus

128-bit

Power and platform

TDP

90 W

120 W

Process

Not verified

Launched

Not verified

A check marks the higher figure only on rows where higher is unambiguously better. Rows without one are not ties; they are specifications where “better” has no meaning.

Reading the table

What the difference means.

The same architecture

Both are Maxwell cards from NVIDIA, so their figures can be read against each other directly, and the features are the same on both. The differences in the table are the whole difference.

Video memory

Both carry 2 GB, so neither has the advantage where memory is the limit: high resolutions, heavy textures and local AI models fill both at the same point.

Shading units

The GTX 960 has 1,024 shading units against 768, 33 percent more of the same kind of core. Within one architecture that is the clearest single guide to how much more work the chip can do, provided it is given the power and cooling to use them.

Board power

The GTX 960 draws up to 120 W against 90 W. That is heat the case has to exhaust and current the power supply has to deliver: allow a supply of about 500 W for the GTX 960 with a typical processor, and check the card's power connectors against the supply's. A card that cannot shed its heat does not fail. It lowers its clocks after a few minutes, which is the frame rate that falls the longer you play.

Which to pick, on paper

A small case or a modest power supply: GTX 950; 90 W against 120 W: less heat, fewer power connectors, quieter fans.

What no table says

How much of its speed a graphics card keeps after the first minute depends on the cooling and the power limit of the machine it is in. If you own one of these, measure it: the test is free and runs in this browser.

Free GPU stress test

Questions

Is the GTX 950 better than the GTX 960?: By need, on the specifications: a small case or a modest power supply: the GTX 950. They share an architecture, so the table is a fair guide. Frame rates depend on the game and its settings, and how much speed either card keeps after ten minutes depends on its cooling, which is what a sustained test measures.
What power supply does the GTX 960 need?: Allow about 500 W with a typical processor, and make sure the supply has the power connectors the card uses. The GTX 950 at 90 W is easier on both.
Do the GTX 950 and the GTX 960 have the same features?: Yes. Both are Maxwell designs from NVIDIA, so they share the same generation of video encoders and decoders, upscaling and driver support. What separates them is in the table: how much of the chip each one has, and how much power it is given.

More comparisons

Every figure on this table is a design target. None of it is a measurement.

Nothing above describes how a graphics card behaves twenty minutes into a sustained workload, which is where two chips with nearly identical specifications routinely diverge. A boost clock is a ceiling the vendor permits, not a rate the chip sustains, and whether it holds depends on the cooling, the case, the power profile and the room. None of those appear on a specification sheet.

We deliberately do not reduce these figures to a single score. A composite invented from specifications would look authoritative and measure nothing, and choosing the weights would be choosing the winner.

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