GeForce GTX 960 vs 970M SLI

Place in performance ranking	209	318
Place by popularity	not in top-100	53
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	7.18	2.21
Architecture	Maxwell (2014−2018)	Maxwell (2014−2018)
GPU code name	no data	GM206
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	7 October 2014 (9 years ago)	22 January 2015 (9 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	no data	$199
Current price	$1326	$440 (2.2x MSRP)

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

GTX 970M SLI has 225% better value for money than GTX 960.

Detailed specifications

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	2560	1024
CUDA cores	no data	1024
Core clock speed	924 MHz	1127 MHz
Boost clock speed	1038 MHz	1178 MHz
Number of transistors	2x 5200 Million	2,940 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	162 Watt	120 Watt
Texture fill rate	no data	72 billion/sec
Floating-point performance	no data	2,413 gflops

Form factor & compatibility

Information on GeForce GTX 970M SLI and GeForce GTX 960 compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop video cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility). 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	large	no data
Bus support	no data	PCI Express 3.0
Interface	no data	PCIe 3.0 x16
Length	no data	9.5" (24.1 cm)
Height	no data	4.376" (11.1 cm)
Width	no data	2-slot
Recommended system power (PSU)	no data	400 Watt
Supplementary power connectors	no data	1x 6-pins
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	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	2x 6 GB	4 GB
Memory bus width	2x 192 Bit	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	5000 MHz	7.0 GB/s
Memory bandwidth	no data	112 GB/s
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 Connectors	no data	Dual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2
Multi monitor support	no data	4 displays
HDMI	no data	+
HDCP	no data	+
Maximum VGA resolution	no data	2048x1536
G-SYNC support	no data	+
Audio input for HDMI	no data	Internal

Supported 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	no data	2.0
GameWorks	no data	+
Optimus	+	no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12_1	12 (12_1)
Shader Model	no data	6.4
OpenGL	no data	4.4
OpenCL	no data	1.2
Vulkan	no data	+
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 970M SLI 24.35
+54.9%

GTX 960 15.72

970M SLI outperforms 960 by 55% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

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 970M SLI 18870
+75.2%

GTX 960 10768

970M SLI outperforms 960 by 75% in 3DMark 11 Performance GPU.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

GTX 970M SLI 36119
+17.5%

GTX 960 30751

970M SLI outperforms 960 by 17% in 3DMark Vantage Performance.

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 970M SLI 14760
+86.5%

GTX 960 7916

970M SLI outperforms 960 by 86% 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%

GTX 970M SLI 96944
+94.2%

GTX 960 49918

970M SLI outperforms 960 by 94% in 3DMark Cloud Gate GPU.

3DMark Ice Storm GPU

Ice Storm Graphics is an obsolete benchmark, part of 3DMark suite. Ice Storm was used to measure entry level laptops and Windows-based tablets performance. It utilizes DirectX 11 feature level 9 to display a battle between two space fleets near a frozen planet in 1280x720 resolution. Discontinued in January 2020, it is now superseded by 3DMark Night Raid.

Benchmark coverage: 8%

GTX 970M SLI 256573

GTX 960 310860
+21.2%

960 outperforms 970M SLI by 21% in 3DMark Ice Storm GPU.

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 HD	87 +33.8%	65 −33.8%
4K	40 +33.3%	30 −33.3%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

40−45

no data

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	45−50	no data
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	40−45	no data
Battlefield 5	80−85	no data
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	50−55	no data
Cyberpunk 2077	40−45	no data
Far Cry 5	55−60	no data
Far Cry New Dawn	60−65	no data
Forza Horizon 4	100−110	no data
Hitman 3	45−50	no data
Horizon Zero Dawn	95−100	no data
Metro Exodus	75−80	no data
Red Dead Redemption 2	65−70	no data
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	80−85	no data
Watch Dogs: Legion	65−70	no data

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	45−50	no data
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	40−45	no data
Battlefield 5	80−85	no data
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	50−55	no data
Cyberpunk 2077	40−45	no data
Far Cry 5	55−60	no data
Far Cry New Dawn	60−65	no data
Forza Horizon 4	100−110	no data
Hitman 3	45−50	no data
Horizon Zero Dawn	95−100	no data
Metro Exodus	75−80	no data
Red Dead Redemption 2	65−70	no data
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	80−85	no data
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	85	no data
Watch Dogs: Legion	65−70	no data

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	45−50	no data
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	40−45	no data
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	50−55	no data
Cyberpunk 2077	40−45	no data
Far Cry 5	55−60	no data
Forza Horizon 4	100−110	no data
Horizon Zero Dawn	95−100	no data
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	80−85	no data
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	48	no data
Watch Dogs: Legion	65−70	no data

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

65−70

no data

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	45−50	no data
Far Cry New Dawn	50−55	no data

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	24−27	no data
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	24−27	no data
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	30−35	no data
Cyberpunk 2077	14−16	no data
Far Cry 5	40−45	no data
Forza Horizon 4	45−50	no data
Hitman 3	27−30	no data
Horizon Zero Dawn	50−55	no data
Metro Exodus	45−50	no data
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	50−55	no data
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	30−33	no data
Watch Dogs: Legion	18−20	no data

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

40−45

no data

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	24−27	no data
Far Cry New Dawn	18−20	no data
Hitman 3	18−20	no data
Horizon Zero Dawn	27−30	no data
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	16−18	no data
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	28	no data

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16	no data
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	12−14	no data
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	14−16	no data
Cyberpunk 2077	6−7	no data
Far Cry 5	12−14	no data
Forza Horizon 4	30−35	no data
Horizon Zero Dawn	27−30	no data
Metro Exodus	21−24	no data
Watch Dogs: Legion	10−12	no data