GeForce GTX 870M vs 960M
Aggregated performance score
870M outperforms 960M by 1% based on our aggregated benchmark results.
General info
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in performance ranking | 455 | 453 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Value for money | 1.43 | 2.93 |
| Architecture | Maxwell (2014−2018) | Kepler (2012−2018) |
| GPU code name | N16P-GX | N15P-GT |
| Market segment | Laptop | Laptop |
| Release date | 12 March 2015 (9 years ago) | 12 March 2014 (10 years ago) |
| Current price | $799 | $403 |
Value for money
Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.
GTX 870M has 105% better value for money than GTX 960M.
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 cores | 640 | 1344 |
| CUDA cores | 640 | 1344 |
| Core clock speed | 1096 MHz | 941 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 1202 MHz | 967 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 1,870 million | 3,540 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 28 nm | 28 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 75 Watt | 100 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 47.04 | 108.3 |
| Floating-point performance | 1,505 gflops | 2,599 gflops |
Size and compatibility
Information on GeForce GTX 960M and GeForce GTX 870M compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For notebook video cards it's notebook size, connection slot and bus, if the video card is inserted into a slot instead of being soldered to the notebook motherboard.
| Laptop size | medium sized | large |
| Bus support | PCI Express 3.0 | PCI Express 2.0, PCI Express 3.0 |
| Interface | MXM-B (3.0) | MXM-B (3.0) |
| Supplementary power connectors | no data | None |
| SLI options | + | + |
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 type | GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 4 GB | 6 GB |
| Standard memory configuration | no data | GDDR5 |
| Memory bus width | 128 Bit | 192 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 2500 MHz | Up to 2500 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 80 GB/s | 120.0 GB/s |
| Shared memory | - | - |
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 Connectors | No outputs | No outputs |
| eDP 1.2 signal support | no data | Up to 3840x2160 |
| LVDS signal support | no data | Up to 1920x1200 |
| VGA аnalog display support | + | Up to 2048x1536 |
| DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support | + | Up to 3840x2160 |
| HDMI | + | + |
| HDCP content protection | no data | + |
| 7.1 channel HD audio on HDMI | no data | + |
| TrueHD and DTS-HD audio bitstreaming | no data | + |
Technologies
Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.
| GameStream | + | no data |
| GeForce ShadowPlay | + | no data |
| GPU Boost | 2.0 | no data |
| GameWorks | + | no data |
| H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder | + | + |
| Optimus | + | + |
| BatteryBoost | + | no data |
| Ansel | + | no data |
API support
List of supported graphics and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 12 (11_0) | 12 (11_0) |
| Shader Model | 5.1 | 5.1 |
| OpenGL | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| OpenCL | 1.2 | 1.1 |
| Vulkan | 1.1.126 | 1.1.126 |
| CUDA | + | + |
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.
870M outperforms 960M by 1% based on our aggregated 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%
870M outperforms 960M by 2% in Passmark.
3DMark 11 Performance GPU
3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.
Benchmark coverage: 17%
870M outperforms 960M by 36% in 3DMark 11 Performance GPU.
3DMark Fire Strike Graphics
Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.
Benchmark coverage: 14%
870M outperforms 960M by 9% in 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics.
3DMark Cloud Gate GPU
Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.
Benchmark coverage: 14%
870M outperforms 960M by 4% in 3DMark Cloud Gate GPU.
GeekBench 5 OpenCL
Geekbench 5 is a widespread graphics card benchmark combined from 11 different test scenarios. All these scenarios rely on direct usage of GPU's processing power, no 3D rendering is involved. This variation uses OpenCL API by Khronos Group.
Benchmark coverage: 9%
870M outperforms 960M by 16% in GeekBench 5 OpenCL.
GeekBench 5 Vulkan
Geekbench 5 is a widespread graphics card benchmark combined from 11 different test scenarios. All these scenarios rely on direct usage of GPU's processing power, no 3D rendering is involved. This variation uses Vulkan API by AMD & Khronos Group.
Benchmark coverage: 5%
870M outperforms 960M by 27% in GeekBench 5 Vulkan.
GeekBench 5 CUDA
Geekbench 5 is a widespread graphics card benchmark combined from 11 different test scenarios. All these scenarios rely on direct usage of GPU's processing power, no 3D rendering is involved. This variation uses CUDA API by NVIDIA.
Benchmark coverage: 4%
960M outperforms 870M by 24% in GeekBench 5 CUDA.
Unigine Heaven 3.0
This is an old DirectX 11 benchmark using Unigine, a 3D game engine by eponymous Russian company. It displays a fantasy medieval town sprawling over several flying islands. Version 3.0 was released in 2012, and in 2013 it was superseded by Heaven 4.0, which introduced several slight improvements, including a newer version of Unigine.
Benchmark coverage: 4%
870M outperforms 960M by 15% in Unigine Heaven 3.0.
Octane Render OctaneBench
This is a special benchmark measuring graphics card performance in OctaneRender, which is a realistic GPU rendering engine by OTOY Inc., available either as a standalone program, or as a plugin for 3DS Max, Cinema 4D and many other apps. It renders four different static scenes, then compares render times with a reference GPU which is currently GeForce GTX 980. This benchmark has nothing to do with gaming and is aimed at professional 3D graphics artists.
Benchmark coverage: 4%
870M outperforms 960M by 6% in Octane Render OctaneBench.
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:
| 900p | 95
+0%
| 95−100
+0%
|
| Full HD | 36
−27.8%
| 46
+27.8%
|
| 1440p | 15
+7.1%
| 14−16
−7.1%
|
| 4K | 13
−46.2%
| 19
+46.2%
|
FPS performance in popular games
Full HD
Low Preset
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 14−16
+0%
|
14−16
+0%
|
Full HD
Medium Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 25
+31.6%
|
18−20
−31.6%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 12−14
+0%
|
12−14
+0%
|
| Battlefield 5 | 38
+26.7%
|
30−33
−26.7%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 24−27
+0%
|
24−27
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 14−16
+0%
|
14−16
+0%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 28
+27.3%
|
21−24
−27.3%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 27
+17.4%
|
21−24
−17.4%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 35
+12.9%
|
30−35
−12.9%
|
| Hitman 3 | 21−24
+0%
|
21−24
+0%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 18−20
+0%
|
18−20
+0%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 14−16
−6.7%
|
16−18
+6.7%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 24
+26.3%
|
18−20
−26.3%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 14−16
+0%
|
14−16
+0%
|
Full HD
High Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 19
+0%
|
18−20
+0%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 12−14
+0%
|
12−14
+0%
|
| Battlefield 5 | 31
+3.3%
|
30−33
−3.3%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 24−27
+0%
|
24−27
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 14−16
+0%
|
14−16
+0%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 25
+13.6%
|
21−24
−13.6%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 25
+8.7%
|
21−24
−8.7%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 31
+0%
|
30−35
+0%
|
| Hitman 3 | 21−24
+0%
|
21−24
+0%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 18−20
+0%
|
18−20
+0%
|
| Metro Exodus | 12
−8.3%
|
12−14
+8.3%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 14−16
−6.7%
|
16−18
+6.7%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 19
+0%
|
18−20
+0%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 24
−16.7%
|
28
+16.7%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 14−16
+0%
|
14−16
+0%
|
Full HD
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 11
−72.7%
|
18−20
+72.7%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 12−14
+0%
|
12−14
+0%
|
| Battlefield 5 | 26
−15.4%
|
30−33
+15.4%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 14−16
+0%
|
14−16
+0%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 23
+4.5%
|
21−24
−4.5%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 23
+0%
|
21−24
+0%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 25
−24%
|
30−35
+24%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 14
−7.1%
|
15
+7.1%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 14−16
+0%
|
14−16
+0%
|
1440p
High Preset
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 12−14
+0%
|
12−14
+0%
|
| Hitman 3 | 14−16
+0%
|
14−16
+0%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 14−16
+0%
|
14−16
+0%
|
| Metro Exodus | 7−8
+0%
|
7−8
+0%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 6−7
+0%
|
6−7
+0%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 11
−9.1%
|
12−14
+9.1%
|
1440p
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 8
+0%
|
8−9
+0%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 4−5
+0%
|
4−5
+0%
|
| Battlefield 5 | 17
+30.8%
|
12−14
−30.8%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 4−5
+0%
|
4−5
+0%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 15
+7.1%
|
14−16
−7.1%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 15
+7.1%
|
14−16
−7.1%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 18
+12.5%
|
16−18
−12.5%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 8−9
+0%
|
8−9
+0%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 4−5
+0%
|
4−5
+0%
|
4K
High Preset
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 6−7
+0%
|
6−7
+0%
|
| Hitman 3 | 8−9
+0%
|
8−9
+0%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 8−9
+0%
|
8−9
+0%
|
| Metro Exodus | 3−4
+0%
|
3−4
+0%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 5−6
+0%
|
5−6
+0%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 4−5
+0%
|
4−5
+0%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 10
+66.7%
|
6−7
−66.7%
|
4K
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 5−6
+0%
|
5−6
+0%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 4−5
+0%
|
4−5
+0%
|
| Battlefield 5 | 3
−100%
|
6−7
+100%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 1−2
+0%
|
1−2
+0%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 7
+0%
|
7−8
+0%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 6
−66.7%
|
10−11
+66.7%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 10−11
−10%
|
10−12
+10%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 2−3
+0%
|
2−3
+0%
|
This is how GTX 960M and GTX 870M compete in popular games:
- GTX 870M is 0% faster than GTX 960M in 900p
- GTX 870M is 27.8% faster than GTX 960M in 1080p
- GTX 960M is 7.1% faster than GTX 870M in 1440p
- GTX 870M is 46.2% faster than GTX 960M in 4K
Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:
- in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 4K resolution and the High Preset, the GTX 960M is 66.7% faster than the GTX 870M.
- in Battlefield 5, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GTX 870M is 100% faster than the GTX 960M.
All in all, in popular games:
- GTX 960M is ahead in 15 tests (22%)
- GTX 870M is ahead in 12 tests (18%)
- there's a draw in 41 test (60%)
Advantages and disadvantages
| Performance score | 8.78 | 8.91 |
| Recency | 12 March 2015 | 12 March 2014 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 4 GB | 6 GB |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 75 Watt | 100 Watt |
Given the minimal performance differences, no clear winner can be declared between GeForce GTX 960M and GeForce GTX 870M.
Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
Similar GPU comparisons
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
