960 vs 1060 3 GB

#ad
Buy
VS
#ad
Buy

Combined performance score

GTX 1060 3 GB
24.74
+58.2%

1060 3 GB outperforms 960 by 58% in our combined benchmark results.

General info

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in performance ranking201315
Place by popularity2953
Value for money2.402.12
ArchitecturePascal (2016−2021)Maxwell (2014−2018)
GPU code nameGP106GM206
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date18 August 2016 (7 years old)22 January 2015 (9 years old)
Launch price (MSRP)$199 $199
Current price$1112 (5.6x MSRP)$440 (2.2x MSRP)
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

GTX 1060 3 GB has 13% better value for money than GTX 960.

Technical specs

General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores11521024
CUDA coresno data1024
Core clock speed1506 MHz1127 MHz
Boost clock speed1708 MHz1178 MHz
Number of transistors4,400 million2,940 million
Manufacturing process technology16 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)120 Watt120 Watt
Texture fill rate123.072 billion/sec
Floating-point performance3,935 gflops2,413 gflops

Size and compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Bus supportno dataPCI Express 3.0
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Length250 mm9.5" (24.1 cm)
Heightno data4.376" (11.1 cm)
Width2-slot2-slot
Recommended system power (PSU)no data400 Watt
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin1x 6-pins
SLI optionsno data+

Memory

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount3 GB4 GB
Memory bus width192 Bit128 Bit
Memory clock speed8008 MHz7.0 GB/s
Memory bandwidth192.2 GB/s112 GB/s
Shared memoryno data-

Video outputs and ports

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display Connectors1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPortDual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2
Multi monitor supportno data4 displays
HDMI++
HDCPno data+
Maximum VGA resolutionno data2048x1536
G-SYNC supportno data+
Audio input for HDMIno dataInternal

Technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

GameStreamno data+
GeForce ShadowPlayno data+
GPU Boostno data2.0
GameWorksno data+

API support

List of supported graphics and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX12 (12_1)12 (12_1)
Shader Model6.46.4
OpenGL4.64.4
OpenCL1.21.2
Vulkan++
CUDA6.1+

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark performance comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

GTX 1060 3 GB 24.74
+58.2%
GTX 960 15.64

1060 3 GB outperforms 960 by 58% in our combined benchmark results.


Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

Benchmark coverage: 25%

GTX 1060 3 GB 9588
+58.1%
GTX 960 6064

1060 3 GB outperforms 960 by 58% in Passmark.

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

Full HD100−110
+53.8%
65
−53.8%
4K45−50
+55.2%
29
−55.2%

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance score 24.74 15.64
Recency 18 August 2016 22 January 2015
Maximum RAM amount 3 GB 4 GB
Chip lithography 16 nm 28 nm

The GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 960 in performance tests.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

User ratings

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB
GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
GeForce GTX 960

Similar GPU comparisons

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

User ratings: view and submit

Here you can see the user rating of the graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


4.2 7363 votes

Rate NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
4 3257 votes

Rate NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Questions and comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.