NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 Gaming Performance Previewed – AMD Calls It “Unappealing”, On Par With A Rade

Mei · 20 Jan 2015 at 21:47

CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
So basicasly the same performance as the GTX760 and R9 280 which can be had as low as £130 recently. Meh. Think I will need to look at spending £200+ to get a decent boost over my GTX660 which cost me £135 20 months ago with a free pre-release copy of Metro:Last Light worth nearly £30.

yeh mean while you need to read more about this is a good card from people that have $1000 cards lol
if those numbers are real you maybe better off with the 660, unless you really really need hdmi2, i get the feeling they going to coil whine like little bitches too

nvidia's midrange

Orangey · 20 Jan 2015 at 21:52

Maybe tout the top Ti model for enthusiasts and keep the rest for OEMs. Not really a worthwhile product.

Disco_P · 20 Jan 2015 at 21:53

Anyone finding mid range cards are kinda unappealing nowadays?

GTX 660(ti) and AMD HD7870/7950 were super good value for money.

Whereas nobody talks about the 760/285.

MoonBoots · 20 Jan 2015 at 21:55

Mei said:
yeh mean while you need to read more about this is a good card from people that have $1000 cards lol
if those numbers are real you maybe better off with the 660, unless you really really need hdmi2, i get the feeling they going to coil whine like little bitches too

nvidia's midrange

Whine is my biggest concern - the performance is a bit naff but with the low TDP it could be virtually silent. But if it's noisy too then what's the point!

bru · 20 Jan 2015 at 21:57

Those figures do make it look a bit underwhelming, but then in the earlier leak wasn't there one 960 that looked a bit like a wet lettuce. hopefully there will be a better variant in the pipeline soon.

Also I cannot help but notice that these things keep getting put up against the 280, rather than the 285 which I thought replaced the 280.

arc@css · 20 Jan 2015 at 21:58

Disco_P said:
Whereas nobody talks about the 760/285.

Much more so, the 285.

Orangey · 20 Jan 2015 at 21:59

Disco_P said:
Anyone finding mid range cards are kinda unappealing nowadays?

GTX 660(ti) and AMD HD7870/7950 were super good value for money.

Whereas nobody talks about the 760/285.

I think that's because the market skews older these days. More money. On reddit and other places people still argue about 260 vs 760 etc.

setter · 20 Jan 2015 at 22:01

760 was about as pointless as an ashtray on a motorbike, a worse card than the 670 it replaced.

MoonBoots · 20 Jan 2015 at 22:03

setter said:
760 was about as pointless as an ashtray on a motorbike, a worse card than the 670 it replaced.

You could arguably say the same about the 285 compared to the 280 given the cut down vram. What frustrating times!

Telecaster · 20 Jan 2015 at 22:09

If that benchmark table from weeks ago is anything to go by then the only card in this range that looked anything like interesting was the 965ti, I think it outperformed a 780, which if they price it right could be the card to have.

This vanilla 960 is completely underwhelming.

Mei · 20 Jan 2015 at 22:14

the 285 was pretty much a needed update for freesync/trueaudio
its harder to justify the 960 with hdmi2 update when it will not be able to handle 4k at 60fps anyway

MoonBoots said:
Whine is my biggest concern - the performance is a bit naff but with the low TDP it could be virtually silent. But if it's noisy too then what's the point!

its clocked a lot higher so more chance of whine and double headache of trying to return it

Telecaster · 20 Jan 2015 at 22:21

I'm just wondering where the market is for this, the mainstream 1080p gamers probably already have something like a 660 or similar, are the gains anywhere near enough to convince the non enthusiasts that the 960 is worth the outlay? Or could this be aimed at those who have skipped a generation and are still on Fermi?

Marine-RX179 · 20 Jan 2015 at 22:24

A 950Ti being pushed up and branded as 960 with a price to match is what this is...

If this card was a successor of 750Ti with similar launch price...or may be plus £10~£20 at around £120-£130, I don't think it would be as disappointing as at £170 price range, where people would certainly have higher expectation.

eddyr · 20 Jan 2015 at 22:55

Disco_P said:
Anyone finding mid range cards are kinda unappealing nowadays?

GTX 660(ti) and AMD HD7870/7950 were super good value for money.

Whereas nobody talks about the 760/285.

They are just not very exiting, the 285 just feels overpriced. With the 7870/660ti you felt you were getting good value against what was available and had gone before.
The 660ti was the third rung down. The 760 is the fourth. The 960 looks to be the fifth.

There is this compression of their product range into the x60-80 naming gap. In part no doubt because it makes a card sound better but also because they seem to be comparing and fitting the performance against previous gen GPU's/chips still in supply. Over a long term it would devalue the x60/70/80 name but since Nvidia has run out of numbers I guess they will be on a fresh nomenclature for the next round.

Eatchipz · 20 Jan 2015 at 23:00

The only reason I am getting this card is because it will be my cheapest option for a card that has HDMI 2.0 which I need to drive my new Dell Display at 60 Hertz. I don't even game that much anymore :/.

McGraw · 20 Jan 2015 at 23:08

Telecaster said:
I'm just wondering where the market is for this, the mainstream 1080p gamers probably already have something like a 660 or similar, are the gains anywhere near enough to convince the non enthusiasts that the 960 is worth the outlay? Or could this be aimed at those who have skipped a generation and are still on Fermi?

Could be a good replacement for my dad's mildly overclocked 470 that is now probably holding back his 760 @ 4ghz.

He'll probably want the same as me though knowing him.

fewfe3 · 20 Jan 2015 at 23:21

I think everyone might be missing something here. With such a low tdp these may be great overclocking cards. If some manufacturers stick 2 6 pins on these you should be able to get some great clock speeds and fps.

I'm just thinking of the 460.I have got in my computer and how much overclocking I managed on it.

I hope this is the case with the 960, otherwise it will be a real flop.

pgi947 · 20 Jan 2015 at 23:36

Mei said:
the 285 was pretty much a needed update for freesync/trueaudio
its harder to justify the 960 with hdmi2 update when it will not be able to handle 4k at 60fps anyway

its clocked a lot higher so more chance of whine and double headache of trying to return it

The difference is nvidia made all other cards around the 960 performance region EOL, giving those looking in that performance bracket only the one option. Amd shot them selves in the foot a little bit in this area by trying to sandwich it between the 280 & 280x, smaller bus, less vram, slightly slower yet more feature packed 285. They could have had a real winner if they'd given it more vram (not necessarily a larger bus) and killed off their own cards around it.

Of course the simple reply to the 960 from amd would be a 4gb 285, 256bit should be mostly a none issue at the target resolution while providing breathing room for any vram heavy titles.

It's quite an interesting situation, amd could really put the boot in if the 960 ends up well north of £160

Jamielicious · 20 Jan 2015 at 23:54

Overclocking made the 460 shine. I suspect the 960 will be limited on purpose. The right price for a card in 2015 that is no better than a 760 or a 280/7950 is £120.

Really for any meaningful sense of progress a £150 card in 2015 should at least manage 770 level performance, and £180 for 780/290 performance.

JediFragger · 21 Jan 2015 at 00:02

Hmmmmmm, slight 290 price-cut incoming perhaps? To appeal to the £200 crowd? Would be ideal to start clearing stock if need be...