GeForce GTX 960 vs Radeon R9 380X
Aggregate performance score
We've compared Radeon R9 380X and GeForce GTX 960, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.
Contents
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 386 | 388 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | 61 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 6.71 | 7.66 |
| Power efficiency | 5.89 | 9.29 |
| Architecture | GCN 3.0 (2014−2019) | Maxwell 2.0 (2014−2019) |
| GPU code name | Antigua | GM206 |
| Market segment | Desktop | Desktop |
| Design | reference | no data |
| Release date | 19 November 2015 (9 years ago) | 22 January 2015 (10 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $229 | $199 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
The higher the ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices.
GTX 960 has 14% better value for money than R9 380X.
Performance to price scatter graph
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 | 2048 | 1024 |
| Compute units | 32 | no data |
| Core clock speed | no data | 1127 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 970 MHz | 1178 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 5,000 million | 2,940 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 28 nm | 28 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 190 Watt | 120 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 124.2 | 75.39 |
| Floating-point processing power | 3.973 TFLOPS | 2.413 TFLOPS |
| ROPs | 32 | 32 |
| TMUs | 128 | 64 |
| L1 Cache | 512 KB | 384 KB |
| L2 Cache | 512 KB | 1024 KB |
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 support | PCIe 3.0 | PCI Express 3.0 |
| Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |
| Length | 221 mm | 241 mm |
| Height | no data | 4.376" (11.1 cm) |
| Width | 2-slot | 2-slot |
| Form factor | full height / full length | no data |
| Recommended system power (PSU) | no data | 400 Watt |
| Supplementary power connectors | 2 x 6-pin | 1x 6-pin |
| SLI options | - | + |
| Bridgeless CrossFire | + | - |
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 |
| High bandwidth memory (HBM) | - | no data |
| Maximum RAM amount | 4 GB | 4 GB |
| Memory bus width | 256 Bit | 128 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 970 MHz | 7.0 GB/s |
| Memory bandwidth | 182.4 GB/s | 112 GB/s |
| Shared memory | - | - |
Connectivity and outputs
This section shows the types and number of video connectors on each GPU. The data applies specifically to desktop reference models (for example, NVIDIA’s Founders Edition). OEM partners often modify both the number and types of ports. On notebook GPUs, video‐output options are determined by the laptop’s design rather than the graphics chip itself.
| Display Connectors | 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort | Dual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2 |
| Multi monitor support | no data | 4 displays |
| Eyefinity | + | - |
| Number of Eyefinity displays | 6 | no data |
| HDMI | + | + |
| HDCP | - | + |
| Maximum VGA resolution | no data | 2048x1536 |
| DisplayPort support | + | - |
| G-SYNC support | - | + |
| 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.
| CrossFire | + | - |
| FRTC | + | - |
| FreeSync | + | - |
| HD3D | + | - |
| LiquidVR | + | - |
| PowerTune | + | - |
| TrueAudio | + | - |
| ZeroCore | + | - |
| VCE | + | - |
| DDMA audio | + | no data |
| GameStream | - | + |
| GeForce ShadowPlay | - | + |
| GPU Boost | no data | 2.0 |
| GameWorks | - | + |
API and SDK support
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | DirectX® 12 | 12 (12_1) |
| Shader Model | 6.3 | 6.4 |
| OpenGL | 4.5 | 4.4 |
| OpenCL | 2.0 | 1.2 |
| Vulkan | + | + |
| Mantle | + | - |
| CUDA | - | + |
Synthetic benchmarks
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.
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.
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 | 65−70
+0%
| 65
+0%
|
| 4K | 27−30
−7.4%
| 29
+7.4%
|
Cost per frame, $
| 1080p | 3.52
−15.1%
| 3.06
+15.1%
|
| 4K | 8.48
−23.6%
| 6.86
+23.6%
|
- GTX 960 has 15% lower cost per frame in 1080p
- GTX 960 has 24% lower cost per frame in 4K
FPS performance in popular games
Full HD
Low
| Counter-Strike 2 | 80−85
+0%
|
80−85
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 30−35
+0%
|
30−35
+0%
|
| Hogwarts Legacy | 27−30
+0%
|
27−30
+0%
|
Full HD
Medium
| Battlefield 5 | 60−65
+0%
|
60−65
+0%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 80−85
+0%
|
80−85
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 30−35
+0%
|
30−35
+0%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 45−50
+0%
|
45−50
+0%
|
| Fortnite | 80−85
+0%
|
80−85
+0%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 60−65
+0%
|
60−65
+0%
|
| Forza Horizon 5 | 45−50
+0%
|
45−50
+0%
|
| Hogwarts Legacy | 27−30
+0%
|
27−30
+0%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 55−60
+0%
|
55−60
+0%
|
| Valorant | 120−130
+0%
|
120−130
+0%
|
Full HD
High
| Battlefield 5 | 60−65
+0%
|
60−65
+0%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 80−85
+0%
|
80−85
+0%
|
| Counter-Strike: Global Offensive | 190−200
+0%
|
190−200
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 30−35
+0%
|
30−35
+0%
|
| Dota 2 | 90−95
+0%
|
90−95
+0%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 45−50
+0%
|
45−50
+0%
|
| Fortnite | 80−85
+0%
|
80−85
+0%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 60−65
+0%
|
60−65
+0%
|
| Forza Horizon 5 | 45−50
+0%
|
45−50
+0%
|
| Grand Theft Auto V | 49
+0%
|
49
+0%
|
| Hogwarts Legacy | 27−30
+0%
|
27−30
+0%
|
| Metro Exodus | 30−35
+0%
|
30−35
+0%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 55−60
+0%
|
55−60
+0%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 50
+0%
|
50
+0%
|
| Valorant | 120−130
+0%
|
120−130
+0%
|
Full HD
Ultra
| Battlefield 5 | 60−65
+0%
|
60−65
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 30−35
+0%
|
30−35
+0%
|
| Dota 2 | 90−95
+0%
|
90−95
+0%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 45−50
+0%
|
45−50
+0%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 60−65
+0%
|
60−65
+0%
|
| Hogwarts Legacy | 27−30
+0%
|
27−30
+0%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 55−60
+0%
|
55−60
+0%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 28
+0%
|
28
+0%
|
| Valorant | 120−130
+0%
|
120−130
+0%
|
Full HD
Epic
| Fortnite | 80−85
+0%
|
80−85
+0%
|
1440p
High
| Counter-Strike 2 | 27−30
+0%
|
27−30
+0%
|
| Counter-Strike: Global Offensive | 110−120
+0%
|
110−120
+0%
|
| Grand Theft Auto V | 24−27
+0%
|
24−27
+0%
|
| Metro Exodus | 18−20
+0%
|
18−20
+0%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 140−150
+0%
|
140−150
+0%
|
| Valorant | 150−160
+0%
|
150−160
+0%
|
1440p
Ultra
| Battlefield 5 | 40−45
+0%
|
40−45
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 12−14
+0%
|
12−14
+0%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 30−35
+0%
|
30−35
+0%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 35−40
+0%
|
35−40
+0%
|
| Hogwarts Legacy | 16−18
+0%
|
16−18
+0%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 21−24
+0%
|
21−24
+0%
|
1440p
Epic
| Fortnite | 30−35
+0%
|
30−35
+0%
|
4K
High
| Counter-Strike 2 | 10−12
+0%
|
10−12
+0%
|
| Grand Theft Auto V | 27−30
+0%
|
27−30
+0%
|
| Hogwarts Legacy | 9−10
+0%
|
9−10
+0%
|
| Metro Exodus | 10−12
+0%
|
10−12
+0%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 20−22
+0%
|
20−22
+0%
|
| Valorant | 80−85
+0%
|
80−85
+0%
|
4K
Ultra
| Battlefield 5 | 21−24
+0%
|
21−24
+0%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 10−12
+0%
|
10−12
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 5−6
+0%
|
5−6
+0%
|
| Dota 2 | 50−55
+0%
|
50−55
+0%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 16−18
+0%
|
16−18
+0%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 24−27
+0%
|
24−27
+0%
|
| Hogwarts Legacy | 9−10
+0%
|
9−10
+0%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 14−16
+0%
|
14−16
+0%
|
4K
Epic
| Fortnite | 14−16
+0%
|
14−16
+0%
|
This is how R9 380X and GTX 960 compete in popular games:
- A tie in 1080p
- GTX 960 is 7% faster in 4K
All in all, in popular games:
- there's a draw in 66 tests (100%)
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 13.89 | 13.84 |
| Recency | 19 November 2015 | 22 January 2015 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 190 Watt | 120 Watt |
R9 380X has a 0.4% higher aggregate performance score, and an age advantage of 9 months.
GTX 960, on the other hand, has 58.3% lower power consumption.
Given the minimal performance differences, no clear winner can be declared between Radeon R9 380X and GeForce GTX 960.
Other comparisons
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
