NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
VS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
VS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M

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 960M  vs  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M.

337
Place in performance rating
372
3.43
Value for money (0-100)
no data
Maxwell
Architecture
Maxwell
GM107
Code name
GM107
Laptop
Type
Laptop
12 March 2015 (6 years ago)
Release date
12 March 2014 (7 years ago)
$799
Price now
$875
2.15
Value for money
1.01
N16P-GX
GPU code name
N15P-GX
Laptop
Market segment
Laptop

Technical specs

Which GPU is better between NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M  vs  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 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.

640
Pipelines
640
1096 MHz
Core clock speed
797 MHz
1176 MHz
Boost Clock
1085 MHz
1,870 million
Transistor count
1,870 million
28 nm
Manufacturing process technology
28 nm
75 Watt
Power consumption (TDP)
75 Watt
47.04
Texture fill rate
43.40
1,505 gflops
Floating-point performance
1,389 gflops
640
CUDA cores
1152 or 640
640
Pipelines / CUDA cores
640
1202 MHz
Boost clock speed
915 MHz
1,870 million
Number of transistors
1,870 million
75 Watt
Thermal design power (TDP)
75 Watt

Compatibility, dimensions and requirements

Let’s discuss how graphics cards NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M come in different sizes (length), connector types and types of interfaces.

MXM-B (3.0)
Interface
MXM-B (3.0)
no data
Supplementary power connectors
None
medium sized
Laptop size
medium sized
+
SLI options
+
PCI Express 3.0
Bus support
PCI Express 2.0, PCI Express 3.0

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 960M vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M.

GDDR5
Memory type
GDDR5
4 GB
Maximum RAM amount
4 GB
128 Bit
Memory bus width
128 Bit
2500 MHz
Memory clock speed
no data
80 GB/s
Memory bandwidth
80.0 GB/s
-
Shared memory
-
no data
Standard memory configuration
GDDR5

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 960M vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M.

No outputs
Display Connectors
No outputs
+
HDMI
+
+
VGA аnalog display support
Up to 2048x1536
+
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support
Up to 3840x2160
no data
eDP 1.2 signal support
Up to 3840x2160
no data
LVDS signal support
Up to 1920x1200
no data
HDCP content protection
+
no data
7.1 channel HD audio on HDMI
+
no data
TrueHD and DTS-HD audio bitstreaming
+

Technologies

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

2.0
GPU Boost
+
+
CUDA
+
+
GeForce Experience
+
+
Optimus
+
+
Ansel
+
+
GameStream
no data
+
GeForce ShadowPlay
+
+
GameWorks
no data
+
BatteryBoost
+
+
H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder
+
no data
FXAA
+
no data
TXAA
+
+
Adaptive VSync
+
+
DSR
no data
no data
3D Blu-Ray
+
no data
Direct Compute
+

API support

The confrontation between the two contenders NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 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 (11_0)
DirectX
12 (11_0)
4.5
OpenGL
4.5
1.1.126
Vulkan
1.1.126
5.1
Shader Model
5.1
1.2
OpenCL
1.1

Gaming performance

Select form the list the required name to identify gaming performance for NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 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 960M or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M good for gaming.


low
1280x720
med.
1920x1080
high
1920x1080
ultra
1920x1080
QHD
2560x1440
4K
3840x2160
Horizon Zero Dawn (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M
Death Stranding (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M
F1 2020 (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M
Gears Tactics (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M
Doom Eternal (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M
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 960M

1.14% faster in synthetic tests

Cheaper ($799 vs $875)

Advantages of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M

There is no accountable advantage

So, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M?

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

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M versus NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 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

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

SPECviewperf 12 - Solidworks

Benchmark SPECviewperf 12 - Solidworks: Graphic cards performance test result. Check SPECviewperf 12 - Solidworks test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

Unigine Heaven 3.0

Benchmark Unigine Heaven 3.0: Graphic cards performance test result. Check Unigine Heaven 3.0 test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

SPECviewperf 12 - Siemens NX

Benchmark SPECviewperf 12 - Siemens NX: Graphic cards performance test result. Check SPECviewperf 12 - Siemens NX test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

SPECviewperf 12 - Showcase

Benchmark SPECviewperf 12 - Showcase: Graphic cards performance test result. Check SPECviewperf 12 - Showcase 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

SPECviewperf 12 - Medical

Benchmark SPECviewperf 12 - Medical: Graphic cards performance test result. Check SPECviewperf 12 - Medical test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

SPECviewperf 12 - Maya

Benchmark SPECviewperf 12 - Maya: Graphic cards performance test result. Check SPECviewperf 12 - Maya test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

SPECviewperf 12 - Energy

Benchmark SPECviewperf 12 - Energy: Graphic cards performance test result. Check SPECviewperf 12 - Energy test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

SPECviewperf 12 - Creo

Benchmark SPECviewperf 12 - Creo: Graphic cards performance test result. Check SPECviewperf 12 - Creo test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

SPECviewperf 12 - Catia

Benchmark SPECviewperf 12 - Catia: Graphic cards performance test result. Check SPECviewperf 12 - Catia 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

3.8 Out of 89 Hitesti Score
4.2 Out of 59 Hitesti Score