• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

GTX 960 Upgrade Question

Xanath2511

New Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2014
Messages
13 (0.00/day)
I recently purchased a Sapphire r9 280 Dual-X graphics card as my budget was ~$200. I typically stick with Nvidia cardsand was unaware of the coming mid-range 960 GPU until I saw the release today -- I wanted to get some opinions on whether it would be worth it to trade in my AMD card for the Nvidia or if it would be more worth my while to stick with what I have now. Thanks!
 
Joined
Jun 27, 2011
Messages
6,680 (1.43/day)
Processor 7800x3d
Motherboard Gigabyte B650 Auros Elite AX
Cooling Custom Water
Memory GSKILL 2x16gb 6000mhz Cas 30 with custom timings
Video Card(s) MSI RX 6750 XT MECH 2X 12G OC
Storage Adata SX8200 1tb with Windows, Samsung 990 Pro 2tb with games
Display(s) HP Omen 27q QHD 165hz
Case ThermalTake P3
Power Supply SuperFlower Leadex Titanium
Software Windows 11 64 Bit
Benchmark Scores CB23: 1811 / 19424 CB24: 1136 / 7687
I don't see any reason to switch. If your unhappy with your 280 you would want to go higher than a 960 anyways.
 
  • Like
Reactions: xvi

XSI

Joined
Sep 4, 2012
Messages
390 (0.09/day)
Location
Vilnius. Lithuania
System Name Mother PC/XSI PC/ Laptop
Processor I3 6100 Skylake@3.7/Intel Core2Duo E8400@3.0-3.7Ghz/Amd sempron 2100+
Motherboard B150M MSI Night ELF/ASUS P5Q PRO P45/
Cooling Cooler Master Hyper Evo 212/ X 2
Memory Kingston HyperX Fury 2x4GB DDR4@2133 Dual channel /Adata 2x2 GB DDR2@800 dual channel/ 2,5GB
Video Card(s) Gigabyte Windforce 950GTX/MSI 8800GT OC Zilent edition@660/1650/950 / ATI Radeon x1250
Storage 1pc:240GB SSD Kingston HyperX Fury/2PC:Intel 330 SSD 60GB/Samsung 500 GB/Samsung 320GB/80 GB
Display(s) LG 22MP58VQ 1920x1080/ Samsung 2232BW - 22" 1680X1050 and LG Full HDTV 50" / 15" 1280x800
Case Deepcool Tesseract Red/ Modded no name case
Audio Device(s) Realtec 1150/Creative X-FI, Xtreme Gamer + Samsung 5.1 HT + additional 4 speakers and subwoofer
Power Supply EVGA 500B Bronze 80+/ Chieftek 650W 80+.
Mouse Cheapo 5$ mouse/ trackpad :)
Keyboard Some cheap 10$
Software Windows 10/Win 10/ Win 8.1
Benchmark Scores later :)
960 should be about the same performance. maybe winning in some games and lower power consumption. there are plenty of reviews now you can run some benchmarks yourself with 280 and see how its compare to 960.
 
Joined
Mar 8, 2006
Messages
1,200 (0.18/day)
System Name Desktop / Laptop
Processor AMD Ryzen R7 5600x / Intel i5-4200U
Motherboard ASUS TUF B550-Plus / Lenovo MB
Cooling Arctic Liquid Freezer II 280 / Stock
Memory Corsair Vengeance 2x16GB DDR 3800 / 8GB DDR3-1600MHz
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon 6900XT / Intel HD 4400
Storage 2.5TB SSDs + 4TB HDD / Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB
Display(s) 34" LG Ultrawide / 12.5 " 1080p IPS Touchscreen
Case Fractal Design R6 / Lenovo X240
Audio Device(s) Onboard / Onboard
Power Supply Enermax REVOLUTION87+ 1000W / Lenovo 40W
Mouse Razer Basilisk X
Keyboard Dell Business Multimedia Keyboard
Software Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
Benchmark Scores Chicken Invaders 5 @125+ FPS
I recently purchased a Sapphire r9 280 Dual-X graphics card as my budget was ~$200. I typically stick with Nvidia cardsand was unaware of the coming mid-range 960 GPU until I saw the release today -- I wanted to get some opinions on whether it would be worth it to trade in my AMD card for the Nvidia or if it would be more worth my while to stick with what I have now. Thanks!
If you wouldn't loose any money, sure do it. It's never tech and lower power consumption / heat output and a bit faster at 1080p. If however it will cost you more than $10-20 I personally wouldn't do it.
 
Joined
Mar 21, 2009
Messages
6,176 (1.13/day)
Location
Midlands,UK
System Name Ultraman
Processor Intel core i9 13900HK
Motherboard Alienware/Dell inverted motherboard
Cooling Alienware/Dell cooling solution + IETS GT500 cooling pad
Memory Alienware/Dell 32GB 6000mhz DDR5
Video Card(s) Nvidia RTX4080 12GB
Storage 1TB Dell supplied NVME + Samsung Evo 1TB NVME
Display(s) AOC Gaming CU34G3S/BK
Case Alienware X16
Audio Device(s) onboard/Speakers: Logitech G560
Power Supply Alienware/Dell battery + 330W charger
Mouse Microsoft Pro Intellimouse - White
Keyboard Ducky One2 SF White MX cherry Red
Software Windows 11
Theres only a small difference between 280x and 960,definitely look into 970 or above if wanting upgrade from 280x.
 

XSI

Joined
Sep 4, 2012
Messages
390 (0.09/day)
Location
Vilnius. Lithuania
System Name Mother PC/XSI PC/ Laptop
Processor I3 6100 Skylake@3.7/Intel Core2Duo E8400@3.0-3.7Ghz/Amd sempron 2100+
Motherboard B150M MSI Night ELF/ASUS P5Q PRO P45/
Cooling Cooler Master Hyper Evo 212/ X 2
Memory Kingston HyperX Fury 2x4GB DDR4@2133 Dual channel /Adata 2x2 GB DDR2@800 dual channel/ 2,5GB
Video Card(s) Gigabyte Windforce 950GTX/MSI 8800GT OC Zilent edition@660/1650/950 / ATI Radeon x1250
Storage 1pc:240GB SSD Kingston HyperX Fury/2PC:Intel 330 SSD 60GB/Samsung 500 GB/Samsung 320GB/80 GB
Display(s) LG 22MP58VQ 1920x1080/ Samsung 2232BW - 22" 1680X1050 and LG Full HDTV 50" / 15" 1280x800
Case Deepcool Tesseract Red/ Modded no name case
Audio Device(s) Realtec 1150/Creative X-FI, Xtreme Gamer + Samsung 5.1 HT + additional 4 speakers and subwoofer
Power Supply EVGA 500B Bronze 80+/ Chieftek 650W 80+.
Mouse Cheapo 5$ mouse/ trackpad :)
Keyboard Some cheap 10$
Software Windows 10/Win 10/ Win 8.1
Benchmark Scores later :)
Theres only a small difference between 280x and 960,definitely look into 970 or above if wanting upgrade from 280x.
he has NON X 280. its comparable to 960.
280x version is faster almost in every situation. by a bit.
 
Joined
Aug 3, 2013
Messages
259 (0.07/day)
Location
Pakistan
System Name The N Machinima
Processor Core i5 2500 (2nd Gen)
Motherboard MSI P67A GD65 B3
Cooling CM V6 GT
Memory Corsair dominator 2x2GB 1600mhz
Video Card(s) Gigabyte GTX 760 windforce 3x
Storage Seagate 500GB/WD 500GB HDDs
Display(s) Samsung 22 Inch 1080p
Case CM 690 PLUS
Audio Device(s) Onboard
Power Supply Corsair GS 800
Software Windows 7 x64
Benchmark Scores http://i.imgur.com/0O79u7Z.jpg
280 and 960 both are comparable easily. neck to neck card. but in benchmarks 960 beating 280 by few fps, 2,3 which is not big. so it won't be a meaningful upgrade for you. unless you wantt any power efficient product. better to stick to 3GB VRAM GPU its almost same as 960 except power consumption.

gather cash and Opt for 970, its much better to upgrade.
 
Joined
Jan 25, 2014
Messages
2,068 (0.56/day)
System Name Ryzen 2023
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 7700
Motherboard Asrock B650E Steel Legend Wifi
Cooling Noctua NH-D15
Memory G Skill Flare X5 2x16gb cl32@6000 MHz
Video Card(s) Sapphire Radeon RX 6950 XT Nitro + gaming Oc
Storage WESTERN DIGITAL 1TB 64MB 7k SATA600 Blue WD10EZEX, WD Black SN850X 1Tb nvme
Display(s) LG 27GP850P-B
Case Corsair 5000D airflow tempered glass
Power Supply Seasonic Prime GX-850W
Mouse A4Tech V7M bloody
Keyboard Genius KB-G255
Software Windows 10 64bit
Stick with the 280 (More VRAM, more bandwidth) .

EDIT: I checked the pricing on it in my town and converted to dollars it's 272$
For that money I can get the AMD R9 285 (Powercolor), I even found a 760 that was cheaper.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Sep 17, 2014
Messages
20,777 (5.97/day)
Location
The Washing Machine
Processor i7 8700k 4.6Ghz @ 1.24V
Motherboard AsRock Fatal1ty K6 Z370
Cooling beQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 3
Memory 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200/C16
Video Card(s) ASRock RX7900XT Phantom Gaming
Storage Samsung 850 EVO 1TB + Samsung 830 256GB + Crucial BX100 250GB + Toshiba 1TB HDD
Display(s) Gigabyte G34QWC (3440x1440)
Case Fractal Design Define R5
Audio Device(s) Harman Kardon AVR137 + 2.1
Power Supply EVGA Supernova G2 750W
Mouse XTRFY M42
Keyboard Lenovo Thinkpad Trackpoint II
Software W10 x64
The 960 has drawbacks compared to the 280 and is very, very poorly priced at this time. It is probably one of the worst offerings for a midrange GPU currently available.

When they start selling 960's at 200 eur, they may become more interesting, until then, stay far away. 230-250 eur for 2GB with less performance than a GTX 770... yeah, nuff said.
 
  • Like
Reactions: xvi
Joined
Nov 30, 2006
Messages
1,002 (0.16/day)
Location
NorCal
System Name Modest Box
Processor i5-4690K @ 4.7 Ghz
Motherboard ASUS Z97-C
Cooling Noctua NH-D15
Memory G.Skill Ares DDR3-2400 16GB
Video Card(s) Colorful GTX 950
Storage OCZ Vertex 460A 480GB
Display(s) HP w2558hc
Case Cooler Master Stacker 830
Audio Device(s) Onboard Realtek
Power Supply Gigabyte 750W Gold
Mouse Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer
Software Windows 10 64 Bit
If you wouldn't lose any money returning it, go ahead and get the GTX 960 (since you prefer Nvidia). Its a little faster and has lower power consumption. The only reason to stick with the R9 280 is if the 10-20 bucks you'd save is tremendously important or if you think the 2GB vs 3GB of memory would be an impediment to your gaming experience.
 

eidairaman1

The Exiled Airman
Joined
Jul 2, 2007
Messages
40,435 (6.61/day)
Location
Republic of Texas (True Patriot)
System Name PCGOD
Processor AMD FX 8350@ 5.0GHz
Motherboard Asus TUF 990FX Sabertooth R2 2901 Bios
Cooling Scythe Ashura, 2×BitFenix 230mm Spectre Pro LED (Blue,Green), 2x BitFenix 140mm Spectre Pro LED
Memory 16 GB Gskill Ripjaws X 2133 (2400 OC, 10-10-12-20-20, 1T, 1.65V)
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon 290 Sapphire Vapor-X
Storage Samsung 840 Pro 256GB, WD Velociraptor 1TB
Display(s) NEC Multisync LCD 1700V (Display Port Adapter)
Case AeroCool Xpredator Evil Blue Edition
Audio Device(s) Creative Labs Sound Blaster ZxR
Power Supply Seasonic 1250 XM2 Series (XP3)
Mouse Roccat Kone XTD
Keyboard Roccat Ryos MK Pro
Software Windows 7 Pro 64
960 would be a side grade. Not worth it.
 
Joined
Nov 30, 2006
Messages
1,002 (0.16/day)
Location
NorCal
System Name Modest Box
Processor i5-4690K @ 4.7 Ghz
Motherboard ASUS Z97-C
Cooling Noctua NH-D15
Memory G.Skill Ares DDR3-2400 16GB
Video Card(s) Colorful GTX 950
Storage OCZ Vertex 460A 480GB
Display(s) HP w2558hc
Case Cooler Master Stacker 830
Audio Device(s) Onboard Realtek
Power Supply Gigabyte 750W Gold
Mouse Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer
Software Windows 10 64 Bit
Joined
Jan 3, 2015
Messages
1,224 (0.36/day)
Location
Richmond, VA, USA
System Name lazy ass
Processor Intel i5 7600k 4.2 GHz
Motherboard MSI Enthusiastic Gaming Z270 (Z270 GAMING M3)
Cooling H80i GT V1 liquid cooling
Memory CORSAIR VENGEANCE RGB PRO 32GB (4x8GB) DDR4 3600MHz
Video Card(s) Gigabyte AORUS GeForce GTX 1080 8G 11Gbps
Storage seagate 2tb HDD/boot drive SSD Samsung 960 evo M.2
Display(s) ASUS 28inch 4k
Case Corsair Graphite Series 760T
Audio Device(s) mobo
Power Supply EVGA SuperNOVA 750G1 750 watts
Mouse Razer Mamba wireless/ needs a new one razer sucks
Keyboard Corsair K68 RGB
Software Windows 10 home
Benchmark Scores to be updated soon
i had my geforce 640 3 gb card for 2 years if i got this card will it be a upgrade for me
 
Joined
Jun 27, 2011
Messages
6,680 (1.43/day)
Processor 7800x3d
Motherboard Gigabyte B650 Auros Elite AX
Cooling Custom Water
Memory GSKILL 2x16gb 6000mhz Cas 30 with custom timings
Video Card(s) MSI RX 6750 XT MECH 2X 12G OC
Storage Adata SX8200 1tb with Windows, Samsung 990 Pro 2tb with games
Display(s) HP Omen 27q QHD 165hz
Case ThermalTake P3
Power Supply SuperFlower Leadex Titanium
Software Windows 11 64 Bit
Benchmark Scores CB23: 1811 / 19424 CB24: 1136 / 7687
This thread is moot. Seems we already have come to a consensus.

i had my geforce 640 3 gb card for 2 years if i got this card will it be a upgrade for me
Any nvidea card higher than an gtx X40 would be an upgrade. A 960 would be a substantial upgrade. Amd has some good options too.
 
Top