GeForce RTX 5090 vs GTX 960M
Aggregate performance score
We've compared GeForce GTX 960M with GeForce RTX 5090, including specs and performance data.
RTX 5090 outperforms GTX 960M by a whopping 1082% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Contents
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 508 | 2 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | 13 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | no data | 11.18 |
| Power efficiency | 7.95 | 12.27 |
| Architecture | Maxwell (2014−2017) | Blackwell 2.0 (2025) |
| GPU code name | GM107 | GB202 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Desktop |
| Release date | 13 March 2015 (10 years ago) | 30 January 2025 (less than a year ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | no data | $1,999 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
The higher the performance-to-price ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices for comparison.
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 cores | 640 | 21760 |
| Core clock speed | 1096 MHz | 2017 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 1176 MHz | 2407 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 1,870 million | 92,200 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 28 nm | 5 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 75 Watt | 575 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 47.04 | 1,637 |
| Floating-point processing power | 1.505 TFLOPS | 104.8 TFLOPS |
| ROPs | 16 | 176 |
| TMUs | 40 | 680 |
| Tensor Cores | no data | 680 |
| Ray Tracing Cores | no data | 170 |
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).
| Laptop size | medium sized | no data |
| Bus support | PCI Express 3.0 | no data |
| Interface | MXM-B (3.0) | PCIe 5.0 x16 |
| Length | no data | 304 mm |
| Width | no data | 2-slot |
| Supplementary power connectors | no data | 1x 16-pin |
| 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 type | GDDR5 | GDDR7 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 4 GB | 32 GB |
| Memory bus width | 128 Bit | 512 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 2500 MHz | 1750 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 80 GB/s | 1.79 TB/s |
| Shared memory | - | - |
| Resizable BAR | - | + |
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 Connectors | No outputs | 1x HDMI 2.1b, 3x DisplayPort 2.1b |
| VGA аnalog display support | + | no data |
| DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support | + | no data |
| HDMI | + | + |
Supported technologies
Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.
| GameStream | + | - |
| GeForce ShadowPlay | + | - |
| GPU Boost | 2.0 | no data |
| GameWorks | + | - |
| H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder | + | - |
| Optimus | + | - |
| BatteryBoost | + | - |
| Ansel | + | no data |
API and SDK compatibility
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 12 (11_0) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |
| Shader Model | 5.1 | 6.8 |
| OpenGL | 4.5 | 4.6 |
| OpenCL | 1.2 | 3.0 |
| Vulkan | 1.1.126 | 1.4 |
| CUDA | + | 10.1 |
| DLSS | - | + |
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.
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.
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
−1058%
| 1100−1150
+1058%
|
| Full HD | 35
−580%
| 238
+580%
|
| 1440p | 15
−1247%
| 202
+1247%
|
| 4K | 14
−1021%
| 157
+1021%
|
Cost per frame, $
| 1080p | no data | 8.40 |
| 1440p | no data | 9.90 |
| 4K | no data | 12.73 |
FPS performance in popular games
Full HD
Low Preset
| Counter-Strike 2 | 40−45
−690%
|
300−350
+690%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 16−18
−1365%
|
240−250
+1365%
|
| Hogwarts Legacy | 14−16
−1027%
|
160−170
+1027%
|
Full HD
Medium Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 38
−418%
|
190−200
+418%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 40−45
−690%
|
300−350
+690%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 16−18
−1365%
|
240−250
+1365%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 28
−675%
|
210−220
+675%
|
| Fortnite | 99
−205%
|
300−350
+205%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 35
−883%
|
300−350
+883%
|
| Forza Horizon 5 | 24−27
−988%
|
260−270
+988%
|
| Hogwarts Legacy | 14−16
−1027%
|
160−170
+1027%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 35
−406%
|
170−180
+406%
|
| Valorant | 80−85
−719%
|
650−700
+719%
|
Full HD
High Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 31
−535%
|
190−200
+535%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 40−45
−690%
|
300−350
+690%
|
| Counter-Strike: Global Offensive | 120−130
−117%
|
270−280
+117%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 16−18
−1365%
|
240−250
+1365%
|
| Dota 2 | 60−65
−1048%
|
700−750
+1048%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 25
−768%
|
210−220
+768%
|
| Fortnite | 40
−655%
|
300−350
+655%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 31
−1010%
|
300−350
+1010%
|
| Forza Horizon 5 | 24−27
−988%
|
260−270
+988%
|
| Grand Theft Auto V | 31
−461%
|
170−180
+461%
|
| Hogwarts Legacy | 14−16
−1027%
|
160−170
+1027%
|
| Metro Exodus | 12
−475%
|
69
+475%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 29
−510%
|
170−180
+510%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 24
−1725%
|
400−450
+1725%
|
| Valorant | 80−85
−719%
|
650−700
+719%
|
Full HD
Ultra Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 26
−658%
|
190−200
+658%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 16−18
−1365%
|
240−250
+1365%
|
| Dota 2 | 60−65
−1048%
|
700−750
+1048%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 23
−843%
|
210−220
+843%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 25
−1276%
|
300−350
+1276%
|
| Hogwarts Legacy | 14−16
−1007%
|
166
+1007%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 18
−883%
|
170−180
+883%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 14
−2457%
|
358
+2457%
|
| Valorant | 80−85
−719%
|
650−700
+719%
|
Full HD
Epic Preset
| Fortnite | 31
−874%
|
300−350
+874%
|
1440p
High Preset
| Counter-Strike 2 | 14−16
−2129%
|
300−350
+2129%
|
| Counter-Strike: Global Offensive | 60−65
−719%
|
500−550
+719%
|
| Grand Theft Auto V | 10−12
−1436%
|
160−170
+1436%
|
| Metro Exodus | 9−10
−2144%
|
202
+2144%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 40−45
−317%
|
170−180
+317%
|
| Valorant | 90−95
−427%
|
450−500
+427%
|
1440p
Ultra Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 17
−1053%
|
190−200
+1053%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 7−8
−2171%
|
150−160
+2171%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 15
−1267%
|
200−210
+1267%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 18
−1600%
|
300−350
+1600%
|
| Hogwarts Legacy | 9−10
−1678%
|
160
+1678%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 12−14
−2625%
|
327
+2625%
|
1440p
Epic Preset
| Fortnite | 18
−739%
|
150−160
+739%
|
4K
High Preset
| Counter-Strike 2 | 1−2
−8600%
|
87
+8600%
|
| Grand Theft Auto V | 20
−835%
|
180−190
+835%
|
| Hogwarts Legacy | 3−4
−4433%
|
136
+4433%
|
| Metro Exodus | 3−4
−5467%
|
167
+5467%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 10
−3760%
|
386
+3760%
|
| Valorant | 40−45
−688%
|
300−350
+688%
|
4K
Ultra Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 3
−4433%
|
130−140
+4433%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 1−2
−15700%
|
150−160
+15700%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 3−4
−2600%
|
80−85
+2600%
|
| Dota 2 | 30−33
−1067%
|
350−400
+1067%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 7
−2329%
|
170−180
+2329%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 12−14
−2246%
|
300−350
+2246%
|
| Hogwarts Legacy | 3−4
−3300%
|
102
+3300%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 8−9
−1100%
|
95−100
+1100%
|
4K
Epic Preset
| Fortnite | 5
−1480%
|
75−80
+1480%
|
This is how GTX 960M and RTX 5090 compete in popular games:
- RTX 5090 is 1058% faster in 900p
- RTX 5090 is 580% faster in 1080p
- RTX 5090 is 1247% faster in 1440p
- RTX 5090 is 1021% faster in 4K
Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:
- in Counter-Strike 2, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RTX 5090 is 15700% faster.
All in all, in popular games:
- Without exception, RTX 5090 surpassed GTX 960M in all 63 of our tests.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 7.54 | 89.15 |
| Recency | 13 March 2015 | 30 January 2025 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 4 GB | 32 GB |
| Chip lithography | 28 nm | 5 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 75 Watt | 575 Watt |
GTX 960M has 666.7% lower power consumption.
RTX 5090, on the other hand, has a 1082.4% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 9 years, a 700% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 460% more advanced lithography process.
The GeForce RTX 5090 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 960M in performance tests.
Be aware that GeForce GTX 960M is a notebook card while GeForce RTX 5090 is a desktop one.
Other comparisons
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
