480 vs 950

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Combined performance score

GTX 950
13.77
+30.2%

950 outperforms 480 by 30% in our combined benchmark results.

General info

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

Place in performance ranking346395
Place by popularity89not in top-100
Value for money6.031.27
ArchitectureMaxwell (2014−2018)Fermi (2010−2014)
GPU code nameGM206GF100
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date20 August 2015 (8 years old)7 December 2010 (13 years old)
Launch price (MSRP)$159 $499
Current price$12.88 (0.1x MSRP)$15.99 (0x MSRP)
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

GTX 950 has 375% better value for money than GTX 480.

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 cores768480
CUDA cores768480
Core clock speed1024 MHz700 MHz
Boost clock speed1188 MHzno data
Number of transistors2,940 million3,100 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)90 Watt295 Watt
Maximum GPU temperatureno data105 °C
Texture fill rate49.2 billion/sec42 billion/sec
Floating-point performance1,825 gflops1,345.0 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 supportPCI Express 3.016x PCI-E 2.0
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length7.938" (20.2 cm)10.5" (267 mm) (26.7 cm)
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)
Width2-slot2-slot
Recommended system power (PSU)350 Wattno data
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pins6-pin & 8-pin
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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount2 GB1536 MB
Memory bus width128 Bit384 Bit
Memory clock speed6.6 GB/s1848 MHz (3696 data rate)
Memory bandwidth105.6 GB/s177.4 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 ConnectorsDual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2Two Dual Link DVI, Mini HDMI
Multi monitor support4 displays+
HDMI++
HDCP++
Maximum VGA resolution2048x15362048x1536
G-SYNC support+no data
Audio input for HDMIInternalInternal

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 Boost2.0no data
GameWorks+no data

API support

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

DirectX12 (12_1)12 (11_0)
Shader Model6.45.1
OpenGL4.54.2
OpenCL1.21.1
Vulkan1.1.126N/A
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.

GTX 950 13.77
+30.2%
GTX 480 10.58

950 outperforms 480 by 30% 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 950 5339
+30.2%
GTX 480 4100

950 outperforms 480 by 30% 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%

GTX 950 8351
+66.6%
GTX 480 5014

950 outperforms 480 by 67% 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%

GTX 950 6208
+70.1%
GTX 480 3650

950 outperforms 480 by 70% in 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics.

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%

GTX 950 16063
+22.5%
GTX 480 13118

950 outperforms 480 by 22% in GeekBench 5 OpenCL.

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%

GTX 950 41
GTX 480 54
+31.7%

480 outperforms 950 by 32% 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:

Full HD52
+48.6%
35−40
−48.6%
4K21
+31.3%
16−18
−31.3%

Performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+31.3%
16−18
−31.3%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 27−30
+31.8%
21−24
−31.8%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+43.8%
16−18
−43.8%
Battlefield 5 45−50
+30.6%
35−40
−30.6%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 35−40
+28.6%
27−30
−28.6%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+31.3%
16−18
−31.3%
Far Cry 5 35−40
+33.3%
27−30
−33.3%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+35.7%
27−30
−35.7%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
+32.4%
35−40
−32.4%
Hitman 3 35−40
+37%
27−30
−37%
Horizon Zero Dawn 27−30
+31.8%
21−24
−31.8%
Red Dead Redemption 2 21−24
+27.8%
18−20
−27.8%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 27−30
+31.8%
21−24
−31.8%
Watch Dogs: Legion 24−27
+36.8%
18−20
−36.8%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 27−30
+31.8%
21−24
−31.8%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+43.8%
16−18
−43.8%
Battlefield 5 45−50
+30.6%
35−40
−30.6%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 35−40
+28.6%
27−30
−28.6%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+31.3%
16−18
−31.3%
Far Cry 5 35−40
+33.3%
27−30
−33.3%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+35.7%
27−30
−35.7%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
+32.4%
35−40
−32.4%
Hitman 3 35−40
+37%
27−30
−37%
Horizon Zero Dawn 27−30
+31.8%
21−24
−31.8%
Metro Exodus 21−24
+31.3%
16−18
−31.3%
Red Dead Redemption 2 21−24
+27.8%
18−20
−27.8%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 27−30
+31.8%
21−24
−31.8%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 38
+72.7%
21−24
−72.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion 24−27
+36.8%
18−20
−36.8%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 27−30
+31.8%
21−24
−31.8%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+43.8%
16−18
−43.8%
Battlefield 5 45−50
+30.6%
35−40
−30.6%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+31.3%
16−18
−31.3%
Far Cry 5 35−40
+33.3%
27−30
−33.3%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+35.7%
27−30
−35.7%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
+32.4%
35−40
−32.4%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 21
−4.8%
21−24
+4.8%
Watch Dogs: Legion 24−27
+36.8%
18−20
−36.8%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 20−22
+33.3%
14−16
−33.3%
Hitman 3 21−24
+31.3%
16−18
−31.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 20−22
+25%
16−18
−25%
Metro Exodus 12−14
+33.3%
9−10
−33.3%
Red Dead Redemption 2 10−11
+42.9%
7−8
−42.9%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 16−18
+21.4%
14−16
−21.4%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
+40%
10−11
−40%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−12
+57.1%
7−8
−57.1%
Battlefield 5 27−30
+47.4%
18−20
−47.4%
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
+40%
5−6
−40%
Far Cry 5 21−24
+29.4%
16−18
−29.4%
Far Cry New Dawn 24−27
+38.9%
18−20
−38.9%
Forza Horizon 4 27−30
+42.1%
18−20
−42.1%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
+40%
10−11
−40%
Watch Dogs: Legion 8−9
+60%
5−6
−60%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 9−10
+28.6%
7−8
−28.6%
Hitman 3 12−14
+30%
10−11
−30%
Horizon Zero Dawn 10−11
+11.1%
9−10
−11.1%
Metro Exodus 7−8
+75%
4−5
−75%
Red Dead Redemption 2 7−8
+16.7%
6−7
−16.7%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 8−9
+33.3%
6−7
−33.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 13
+62.5%
8−9
−62.5%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 8−9
+33.3%
6−7
−33.3%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 6−7
+20%
5−6
−20%
Battlefield 5 14−16
+55.6%
9−10
−55.6%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
+100%
1−2
−100%
Far Cry 5 10−12
+22.2%
9−10
−22.2%
Far Cry New Dawn 14−16
+27.3%
10−12
−27.3%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
+46.2%
12−14
−46.2%
Watch Dogs: Legion 5−6
+66.7%
3−4
−66.7%

This is how GTX 950 and GTX 480 compete in popular games:

1080p resolution:

  • GTX 950 is 48.6% faster than GTX 480

4K resolution:

  • GTX 950 is 31.3% faster than GTX 480

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

  • in Cyberpunk 2077, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GTX 950 is 100% faster than the GTX 480.
  • in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GTX 480 is 4.8% faster than the GTX 950.

All in all, in popular games:

  • GTX 950 is ahead in 67 tests (99%)
  • GTX 480 is ahead in 1 test (1%)

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance score 13.77 10.58
Recency 20 August 2015 7 December 2010
Cost $159 $499
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 1536 MB
Chip lithography 28 nm 40 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 90 Watt 295 Watt

The GeForce GTX 950 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 480 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

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950
GeForce GTX 950
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480
GeForce GTX 480

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