
Gigabyte GTX 960 G1 Gaming 2 GB Review
Packaging & Contents »Introduction

Last week, NVIDIA launched their GeForce GTX 960, which brought their super power-efficient Maxwell architecture to the mainstream.
This card is based on a brand-new silicon codenamed GM206. NVIDIA's third chip based on the "Maxwell", the GM206 is supposed to be a successor to the GK106 on which NVIDIA built the GeForce GTX 660. The new GTX 960, however, is meant to replace the GTX 660 and GTX 760 in the product stack as it offers slightly higher performance at much less power draw and noise, with greater room for price-cuts. It also brings some of the new features introduced with "Maxwell" to the masses, such as real-time voxel illumination, MFAA (multi-frame sampled anti-aliasing), Dynamic Super-Resolution, VR Direct, Turf Effects, and PhysX Flex, along with community favorites like G-Sync and ShadowPlay.

In this review, we have with us the Gigabyte GTX 960 G1 Gaming, a highly overclocked custom-design GTX 960. It features the company's triple-fan WindForce cooler to ensure the card stays cool at all times. A new feature is that the fans will turn off in idle and light gaming, which results in the perfect noise-free experience.
Gigabyte's GeForce GTX 960 G1 Gaming currently retails at $230, which is a significant $30 price premium over the reference design.
GeForce GTX 660 | GeForce GTX 660 Ti | GeForce GTX 760 | GeForce GTX 670 | GeForce GTX 960 | Gigabyte GTX 960 G1 Gaming | Radeon HD 7970 | Radeon R9 285 | GeForce GTX 770 | GeForce GTX 680 | Radeon R9 280X | GeForce GTX 780 | Radeon R9 290 | GeForce GTX 970 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Shader Units | 960 | 1344 | 1152 | 1344 | 1024 | 1024 | 2048 | 1792 | 1536 | 1536 | 2048 | 2304 | 2560 | 1664 |
ROPs | 24 | 24 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 48 | 64 | 64 |
Graphics Processor | GK106 | GK104 | GK104 | GK104 | GM206 | GM206 | Tahiti | Tonga | GK104 | GK104 | Tahiti | GK110 | Hawaii | GM204 |
Transistors | 2540M | 3500M | 3500M | 3500M | 2940M | 2940M | 4310M | unknown | 3500M | 3500M | 4310M | 7100M | 6200M | 5200M |
Memory Size | 2048 MB | 2048 MB | 2048 MB | 2048 MB | 2048 MB | 2048 MB | 3072 MB | 2048 MB | 2048 MB | 2048 MB | 3072 MB | 3072 MB | 4096 MB | 4096 MB |
Memory Bus Width | 192 bit | 192 bit | 256 bit | 256 bit | 128 bit | 128 bit | 384 bit | 256 bit | 256 bit | 256 bit | 384 bit | 384 bit | 512 bit | 256 bit |
Core Clock | 980 MHz+ | 915 MHz+ | 980 MHz+ | 915 MHz+ | 1127 MHz+ | 1241 MHz+ | 925 MHz | 918 MHz | 1046 MHz+ | 1006 MHz+ | 1000 MHz | 863 MHz+ | 947 MHz | 1051 MHz+ |
Memory Clock | 1502 MHz | 1502 MHz | 1502 MHz | 1502 MHz | 1753 MHz | 1753 MHz | 1375 MHz | 1375 MHz | 1753 MHz | 1502 MHz | 1500 MHz | 1502 MHz | 1250 MHz | 1750 MHz |
Price | $140 | $260 | $210 | $270 | $200 | $230 | $350 | $210 | $300 | $340 | $220 | $300 | $270 | $330 |