NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 in 2025: Is It Worth Buying?

Analyzing the legendary graphics card a decade after its release

Introduction

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960, released in 2015, became a popular choice for gamers due to its balance between price and performance. But in 2025, when the market is filled with cards that support ray tracing and AI technologies, is it still relevant? Let's determine who might find this model useful today.

Architecture and Key Features

Maxwell Architecture

The GTX 960 is built on Maxwell architecture (GM206) and manufactured using a 28nm process. Compared to modern 5nm chips (like those in the RTX 40 series), this seems archaic, but in its time, Maxwell was renowned for its energy efficiency.

Lack of RTX and DLSS

The card does not support ray tracing (RTX) or DLSS—NVIDIA's key technologies for modern gaming. Instead, it features proprietary technologies from the 2010s:

- MFAA (Multi-Frame Anti-Aliasing, resource-efficient smoothing);

- VXAO (improved shading in games like Rise of the Tomb Raider).

Conclusion: The GTX 960 is a purely rasterization card, aimed at DirectX 12 Feature Level 11_0. Compatibility with Vulkan and OpenGL is limited to outdated versions.

Memory: A Weak Point?

- Type and Size: GDDR5, 2GB (4GB models are rare).

- Bus Width: 128-bit, providing a bandwidth of 112GB/s (compared to 448GB/s for the budget RTX 3050 with GDDR6).

Problems in 2025:

- 2GB of video memory is insufficient even for minimum settings in games like Cyberpunk 2077 or Starfield.

- 4GB models perform slightly better, but experience FPS drops at 1440p and 4K due to memory limitations.

Advice: For comfortable gameplay at 1080p, stick to games released before 2020 (e.g., The Witcher 3, GTA V).

Gaming Performance: The Numbers

Testing in 2025 reveals modest results:

- 1080p / Low Settings:

- Fortnite: 45–55 FPS (without DLSS support);

- Apex Legends: 50–60 FPS;

- Elden Ring: 30–35 FPS (with frequent stutters).

- 1440p and 4K: Not recommended—FPS rarely exceeds 25 frames.

Ray Tracing: No hardware support. Software solutions (like Reshade) reduce performance by 40–50%.

Professional Tasks: Not the Best Choice

- Video Editing: In Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve, the card can handle 1080p editing, but rendering 4K will take 3–4 times longer than on the RTX 3050.

- 3D Modeling: In Blender or Maya, basic scenes are processed slowly due to the small number of CUDA cores (1024 vs. 2560 in RTX 3050).

- Scientific Calculations: CUDA and OpenCL support exists, but for serious tasks, it’s better to choose a card with more memory (8GB or more).

Conclusion: The GTX 960 is only suitable for basic tasks. For professionals, it's an outdated option.

Power Consumption and Cooling

- TDP: 120W—modest even for 2025.

- Power Supply Recommendations: A 400W power supply (e.g., EVGA 400 N1).

- Cooling:

- The reference cooler can handle the load, but it becomes noisy at 75–80°C.

- In compact cases (Mini-ITX), overheating may occur—better to use models with 2-3 fans.

Advice: Regularly clean the card of dust—the thermal paste may have dried up over 10 years.

Comparison with Competitors

In 2025, the GTX 960 competes not with the AMD R9 380 (its contemporary), but with modern budget models:

- NVIDIA RTX 3050 (6GB, $199): +200% performance, supports DLSS 3.5.

- AMD RX 6500 XT (4GB, $159): +120% FPS in DX12, but weak driver support.

- Intel Arc A380 (6GB, $129): Better in Vulkan games but issues with optimization.

Conclusion: Even new budget cards outperform the GTX 960. Its only advantage is price (if you find a new one for $80–100).

Practical Advice

1. Power Supply: 400–450W with 80+ Bronze certification.

2. Compatibility:

- Works with PCIe 3.0/4.0;

- Requires a UEFI motherboard for Windows 11 support.

3. Drivers: Official NVIDIA support ended in 2023. The community releases patches (e.g., via NVCleanstall), but stability is not guaranteed.

Important: The card does not support HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 2.0—the maximum resolution is 4K@60Hz via HDMI 2.0.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

- Low power consumption;

- Quiet operation (in models with improved cooling);

- Affordable price on the second-hand market ($50–70).

Cons:

- Limited video memory;

- No RTX/DLSS support;

- Outdated drivers.

Final Verdict: Who Is the GTX 960 Suitable For?

This card is suitable for:

1. Budget gamers playing older titles (pre-2018).

2. Owners of PCs with outdated power supplies where a powerful GPU cannot be installed.

3. Enthusiasts building retro systems.

Alternative: If the budget allows $150–200, it’s better to purchase a new RTX 3050 or RX 6600—they will last longer and provide comfort in modern games.

The GTX 960 in 2025 is an example of a "workhorse" of the past that can still be useful, but it no longer meets the demands of the ray tracing and AI rendering era.