HD Graphics 3000 vs GeForce GTX 960

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 960 with HD Graphics 3000, including specs and performance data.

GTX 960
2015
4 GB GDDR5, 120 Watt
15.83
+2298%

GTX 960 outperforms HD Graphics 3000 by a whopping 2298% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking3501197
Place by popularity3793
Cost-effectiveness evaluation9.17no data
Power efficiency9.06no data
ArchitectureMaxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)Generation 6.0 (2011)
GPU code nameGM206Sandy Bridge GT2+
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Release date22 January 2015 (10 years ago)1 February 2011 (14 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$199 no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

The higher the performance-to-price ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices for comparison.

no data

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores102496
Core clock speed1127 MHz650 MHz
Boost clock speed1178 MHz1300 MHz
Number of transistors2,940 million1,160 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm32 nm
Power consumption (TDP)120 Wattunknown
Texture fill rate75.3915.60
Floating-point processing power2.413 TFLOPS0.2496 TFLOPS
ROPs322
TMUs6412

Form factor & 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 3.0no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16Ring Bus
Length241 mmno data
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slotno data
Recommended system power (PSU)400 Wattno data
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pinno data
SLI options+-

VRAM capacity and type

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 typeGDDR5System Shared
Maximum RAM amount4 GBSystem Shared
Memory bus width128 BitSystem Shared
Memory clock speed7.0 GB/sSystem Shared
Memory bandwidth112 GB/sno data
Shared memory-+

Connectivity and outputs

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 1.2Portable Device Dependent
Multi monitor support4 displaysno data
HDMI+-
HDCP+-
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
G-SYNC support+-
Audio input for HDMIInternalno data

Supported technologies

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

GameStream+-
GeForce ShadowPlay+-
GPU Boost2.0no data
GameWorks+-

API and SDK compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX12 (12_1)11.1 (10_1)
Shader Model6.44.1
OpenGL4.43.1
OpenCL1.2N/A
Vulkan+N/A
CUDA+-

Synthetic benchmark performance

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


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score.

GTX 960 15.83
+2298%
HD Graphics 3000 0.66

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. 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.

GTX 960 6100
+2302%
HD Graphics 3000 254

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

GTX 960 30751
+1861%
HD Graphics 3000 1568

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.

GTX 960 49918
+1895%
HD Graphics 3000 2503

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 HD65
+622%
9
−622%
4K29
+2800%
1−2
−2800%

Cost per frame, $

1080p3.06no data
4K6.86no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Atomic Heart 35−40
+1800%
2−3
−1800%
Counter-Strike 2 27−30
+286%
7−8
−286%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−35
+1450%
2−3
−1450%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Atomic Heart 35−40
+1800%
2−3
−1800%
Battlefield 5 60−65
+3100%
2−3
−3100%
Counter-Strike 2 27−30
+286%
7−8
−286%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−35
+1450%
2−3
−1450%
Far Cry 5 50−55
+2450%
2−3
−2450%
Fortnite 80−85
+2700%
3−4
−2700%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
+1450%
4−5
−1450%
Forza Horizon 5 40−45
+3900%
1−2
−3900%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 50−55
+575%
8−9
−575%
Valorant 120−130
+321%
27−30
−321%

Full HD
High Preset

Atomic Heart 35−40
+1800%
2−3
−1800%
Battlefield 5 60−65
+3100%
2−3
−3100%
Counter-Strike 2 27−30
+286%
7−8
−286%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 190−200
+1700%
11
−1700%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−35
+1450%
2−3
−1450%
Dota 2 90−95
+1063%
8
−1063%
Far Cry 5 50−55
+2450%
2−3
−2450%
Fortnite 80−85
+2700%
3−4
−2700%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
+1450%
4−5
−1450%
Forza Horizon 5 40−45
+3900%
1−2
−3900%
Grand Theft Auto V 49
+2350%
2−3
−2350%
Metro Exodus 30−35 0−1
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 50−55
+575%
8−9
−575%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 50
+1150%
4−5
−1150%
Valorant 120−130
+321%
27−30
−321%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 60−65
+3100%
2−3
−3100%
Counter-Strike 2 27−30
+286%
7−8
−286%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−35
+1450%
2−3
−1450%
Dota 2 90−95
+1229%
7
−1229%
Far Cry 5 50−55
+2450%
2−3
−2450%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
+1450%
4−5
−1450%
Forza Horizon 5 40−45
+3900%
1−2
−3900%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 50−55
+575%
8−9
−575%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 28
+600%
4−5
−600%
Valorant 120−130
+321%
27−30
−321%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Fortnite 80−85
+2700%
3−4
−2700%

1440p
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 18−20 0−1
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 110−120
+5400%
2−3
−5400%
Grand Theft Auto V 24−27
+2300%
1−2
−2300%
Metro Exodus 18−20 0−1
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 140−150
+3550%
4−5
−3550%
Valorant 150−160
+2433%
6−7
−2433%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 40−45
+4100%
1−2
−4100%
Cyberpunk 2077 12−14 0−1
Far Cry 5 30−35
+3200%
1−2
−3200%
Forza Horizon 4 35−40
+3600%
1−2
−3600%
Forza Horizon 5 27−30
+2600%
1−2
−2600%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 24−27
+2300%
1−2
−2300%

1440p
Epic Preset

Fortnite 30−35
+3200%
1−2
−3200%

4K
High Preset

Atomic Heart 12−14
+1100%
1−2
−1100%
Counter-Strike 2 7−8 0−1
Grand Theft Auto V 27−30
+80%
14−16
−80%
Metro Exodus 10−12 0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 20−22 0−1
Valorant 80−85
+1950%
4−5
−1950%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 21−24 0−1
Counter-Strike 2 7−8 0−1
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7 0−1
Dota 2 50−55
+2550%
2−3
−2550%
Far Cry 5 16−18
+1500%
1−2
−1500%
Forza Horizon 4 24−27
+2500%
1−2
−2500%
Forza Horizon 5 12−14 0−1
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 14−16
+600%
2−3
−600%

4K
Epic Preset

Fortnite 14−16
+600%
2−3
−600%

This is how GTX 960 and HD Graphics 3000 compete in popular games:

  • GTX 960 is 622% faster in 1080p
  • GTX 960 is 2800% faster in 4K

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

  • in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, with 1440p resolution and the High Preset, the GTX 960 is 5400% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, GTX 960 surpassed HD Graphics 3000 in all 36 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 15.83 0.66
Recency 22 January 2015 1 February 2011
Chip lithography 28 nm 32 nm

GTX 960 has a 2298.5% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 3 years, and a 14.3% more advanced lithography process.

The GeForce GTX 960 is our recommended choice as it beats the HD Graphics 3000 in performance tests.

Be aware that GeForce GTX 960 is a desktop card while HD Graphics 3000 is a notebook one.

Vote for your favorite

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
GeForce GTX 960
Intel HD Graphics 3000
HD Graphics 3000

Other comparisons

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

Community ratings

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


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Questions & comments

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