NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
VS
AMD Radeon RX 550
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
VS
AMD Radeon RX 550

General info

The general info section in the graphics cards comparison list contains information about the date of release, type, overall rating and other useful data for identifying winner between NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960  vs  AMD Radeon RX 550.

223
Place in performance rating
398
60.47
Value for money (0-100)
32.72
Maxwell
Architecture
GCN 4.0
GM206
Code name
Lexa
Desktop
Type
Desktop
22 January 2015 (6 years ago)
Release date
20 April 2017 (4 years ago)
$199
Launch price (MSRP)
$79
$444 (2.2x MSRP)
Price now
$851 (10.8x MSRP)
10.46
Value for money
2.89
GM206
GPU code name
Lexa
Desktop
Market segment
Desktop

Technical specs

Which GPU is better between NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960  vs  AMD Radeon RX 550 in the fabrication process, power consumption, and also base and turbo frequency of the GPU is the most important part containing in the graphics cards hierarchy.

1024
Pipelines
512
1127 MHz
Core clock speed
1100 MHz
1178 MHz
Boost Clock
1183 MHz
2,940 million
Transistor count
2,200 million
28 nm
Manufacturing process technology
14 nm
120 Watt
Power consumption (TDP)
50 Watt
72 billion/sec
Texture fill rate
37.86
2,413 gflops
Floating-point performance
1,211 gflops
1024
CUDA cores
no data
1024
Pipelines / CUDA cores
512
1178 MHz
Boost clock speed
1183 MHz
2,940 million
Number of transistors
2,200 million
120 Watt
Thermal design power (TDP)
50 Watt

Compatibility, dimensions and requirements

Let’s discuss how graphics cards NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 and AMD Radeon RX 550 come in different sizes (length), connector types and types of interfaces.

PCIe 3.0 x16
Interface
PCIe 3.0 x8
9.5" (24.1 cm)
Length
145 mm
1x 6-pins
Supplementary power connectors
None
+
SLI options
no data
400 Watt
Recommended system power (PSU)
no data
PCI Express 3.0
Bus support
no data
4.376" (11.1 cm)
Height
no data

Memory

Graphics cards memory plays important role both in gaming and in applications for graphics. The card will perform much quicker and better, if it has more memory capacity and right memory type. What is the difference between NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 vs AMD Radeon RX 550.

GDDR5
Memory type
GDDR5
2 GB
Maximum RAM amount
4 GB
128 Bit
Memory bus width
128 Bit
7.0 GB/s
Memory clock speed
7000 MHz
112 GB/s
Memory bandwidth
112.0 GB/s
-
Shared memory
no data

Video outputs and ports

Let’s find out the difference in extra ports between two graphics cards. What's the difference between NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 vs AMD Radeon RX 550.

Dual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2
Display Connectors
1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
+
G-SYNC support
no data
4 displays
Multi monitor support
no data
+
HDCP
no data
2048x1536
Maximum VGA resolution
no data
Internal
Audio input for HDMI
no data
+
HDMI
+

Technologies

Let’s have a look what is the difference. It is worthwhile to note that NVIDIA and AMD are using different technologies.

+
3D Vision
no data
2.0
GPU Boost
no data
+
CUDA
no data
+
GeForce Experience
no data
+
Surround
no data
+
Adaptive Vertical Sync
no data
+
GameStream
no data
+
GeForce ShadowPlay
no data
+
GameWorks
no data

API support

The confrontation between the two contenders NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 and AMD Radeon RX 550 is practically over. The hardware support (API) does not greatly affect the overall performance, it is not considered in synthetic benchmarks and other performance tests. 

12 (12_1)
DirectX
12 (12_0)
4.4
OpenGL
4.6
+
Vulkan
no data
6.4
Shader Model
no data
1.2
OpenCL
no data

Gaming performance

Select form the list the required name to identify gaming performance for NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 and AMD Radeon RX 550 graphics cards. The result shows how fast the game will run and whether it can be run on this computer. The different monitor resolutions – from low to 4K – are used for testing. Find out is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 or AMD Radeon RX 550 good for gaming.


low
1280x720
med.
1920x1080
high
1920x1080
ultra
1920x1080
QHD
2560x1440
4K
3840x2160
Horizon Zero Dawn (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
AMD Radeon RX 550
Death Stranding (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
AMD Radeon RX 550
F1 2020 (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
AMD Radeon RX 550
Gears Tactics (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
AMD Radeon RX 550
Doom Eternal (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
AMD Radeon RX 550
Legend
5 Stutters – This game is very likely to stutter and have poor frame rates. Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, average frame rates are expected to fall below 25fps
May Stutter – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, stutters and poor frame rates are expected.
30 Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 25fps
40 Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 35fps
60 Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 58fps
May Run Fluently – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, fluent frame rates are expected.
? Uncertain – This graphics card experienced unexpected performance issues during testing for this game. A slower card may be able to achieve better and more consistent frame rates than this particular GPU running the same benchmark scene.
Uncertain – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game and no reliable interpolation can be made based on the performances of surrounding cards of the same class or family.
The value in the fields displays the average frame rate of all values in the database. Move your cursor over the value to see individual results.

Advantages of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960

16.41% faster in synthetic tests

Cheaper ($444 (2.2x MSRP) vs $851 (10.8x MSRP))

More pipelines (1024 vs 512)

G-SYNC support

Advantages of AMD Radeon RX 550

Finer manufacturing process technology (14 nm vs 28 nm)

Less power consumption (50 Watt vs 120 Watt)

More maximum RAM amount (4 GB vs 2 GB)

So, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 or AMD Radeon RX 550?

Judging by the results of synthetic and gaming tests, we recommend NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 .

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 versus AMD Radeon RX 550 performance benchmarks comparison

Overall benchmark performance

3DMark Ice Storm GPU

Benchmark 3DMark Ice Storm GPU: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark Ice Storm GPU test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

Unigine Heaven 4.0

Benchmark Unigine Heaven 4.0: Graphic cards performance test result. Check Unigine Heaven 4.0 test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Benchmark 3DMark Cloud Gate GPU: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark Cloud Gate GPU test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

3DMark Fire Strike Score

Benchmark 3DMark Fire Strike Score: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark Fire Strike Score test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Benchmark 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

Benchmark 3DMark 11 Performance GPU: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark 11 Performance GPU test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

3DMark Vantage Performance

Benchmark 3DMark Vantage Performance: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark Vantage Performance test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

Octane Render OctaneBench

Benchmark Octane Render OctaneBench: Graphic cards performance test result. Check Octane Render OctaneBench test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

Passmark

Benchmark Passmark: Graphic cards performance test result. Check Passmark test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

User rating

4.1 Out of 271 Hitesti Score
4.0 Out of 297 Hitesti Score