NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960A Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records a single OpenCL benchmark comparison between the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960A and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A. The results are decisive: the GTX 960A scores 11,998 points, while the GTX 950A trails at 10,273 points. That difference translates to a 16.8% advantage for the GTX 960A, which wins the only matched test in the record.

Looking at the broader benchmark landscape, the GTX 960A sits in the 51st percentile of all GPUs, placing it just above the midpoint of the database. Its nearest rivals confirm this positioning. The GTX 960A is 0.3% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080, which averages 11,960 points. It also leads the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT by 1.3% (11,842 points), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 by 2.7% (11,680 points), and the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT by 3.2% (11,627 points). The clustering of these scores, all within roughly three percentage points, indicates that the GTX 960A performs in a tightly contested tier.

The GTX 950A, meanwhile, lands in the 48th percentile of all GPUs, slightly below the GTX 960A's standing. Its nearest rivals paint a mixed picture. The GTX 950A trails the AMD Radeon RX 6500M by 0.9% (10,362 points) and the NVIDIA Tesla C2075 by 1.2% (10,400 points). It sits ahead of the AMD Radeon R9 M375 by 2% (10,070 points) and behind the AMD Radeon RX 550X by 2% (10,481 points). These deltas, all within two percentage points, show a GPU that is competitive within its immediate neighborhood but clearly a step below the GTX 960A.

The head-to-head delta of 16.8% is substantial in this context. It is more than five times larger than any delta observed among the GTX 960A's nearest rivals, which max out at 3.2%. Similarly, it dwarfs the deltas around the GTX 950A, the largest of which is 2%. This suggests that the performance gap between these two cards is not a marginal one; the GTX 960A occupies a distinctly higher performance band.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins the OpenCL benchmark in the database?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960A wins the geekbench_opencl test with a score of 11,998, against 10,273 for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A. The margin is 16.8%.

Q: How does the GTX 960A compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GTX 960A edges out the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 by 0.3%, the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT by 1.3%, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 by 2.7%, and the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT by 3.2%.

Q: Where does the GTX 950A rank among its closest competitors?

A: The GTX 950A is 0.9% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6500M, 1.2% behind the NVIDIA Tesla C2075, and 2% behind the AMD Radeon RX 550X. It is 2% ahead of the AMD Radeon R9 M375.

Q: What are the percentile rankings for these two cards?

A: The GTX 960A sits in the 51st percentile of all GPUs, while the GTX 950A sits in the 48th percentile.

Q: Do both cards use the same memory type?

A: No. The GTX 960A uses GDDR5 memory, while the GTX 950A uses DDR3 memory. Both have 2 GB capacity and a 128-bit bus width.

Q: What is the clock speed difference between the two cards?

A: The GTX 960A has a base clock of 1097 MHz and a boost clock of 1176 MHz. The GTX 950A has a base clock of 993 MHz and a boost clock of 1124 MHz.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear choice for users who prioritize raw computational throughput. The GTX 960A is the stronger card by every measurable metric in the database. Its 16.8% lead in OpenCL performance is significant, and it holds a percentile advantage as well, ranking in the 51st percentile versus the 48th percentile for the GTX 950A.

For users seeking the higher-performing mobile GPU in this pairing, the GTX 960A is the selection. It delivers a score that places it within striking distance of much more modern and expensive hardware, as evidenced by its near-parity with the GTX 1080 (0.3% delta) and its lead over the RX 7800 XT (3.2% delta). The GTX 950A, by contrast, finds itself competing with a different class of hardware, trading blows with the RX 6500M and Tesla C2075.

The GTX 950A may still be a reasonable option for scenarios where the exact performance difference is not critical, since its nearest rivals are all within a 2% band. However, when the choice is strictly between these two, the benchmark record is unambiguous. The GTX 960A wins the only direct comparison, and it does so by a wide margin. Users who need the extra performance headroom should opt for the GTX 960A without hesitation.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs share a great deal of fundamental hardware, but the differences that exist are meaningful. Both use the GM107 chip and the Maxwell architecture, and both are built on a 28 nm process at TSMC. Transistor counts are identical at 1,870 million, and the die size is the same at 148 mm², yielding the same transistor density of 12.6M / mm².

The clock speeds differ. The GTX 960A runs at a 1097 MHz base clock and a 1176 MHz boost clock. The GTX 950A runs at a 993 MHz base clock and a 1124 MHz boost clock. The memory clocks diverge even more sharply: the GTX 960A operates at 1253 MHz with 5 Gbps effective speed, while the GTX 950A operates at 1001 MHz with 2 Gbps effective speed.

Memory type is a major divergence. The GTX 960A uses GDDR5, while the GTX 950A uses DDR3. Both have 2 GB capacity and a 128-bit bus width, but the resulting bandwidth is vastly different. The GTX 960A achieves 80.19 GB/s, while the GTX 950A manages only 32.03 GB/s. That is a 2.5x difference in memory bandwidth, which likely explains much of the performance gap.

The compute resources are identical on paper. Both cards have 640 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 16 raster output units. However, the higher clocks on the GTX 960A push its pixel rate to 18.82 GPixel/s versus 17.98 GPixel/s for the GTX 950A. Similarly, the texture rate is 47.04 GTexel/s for the GTX 960A and 44.96 GTexel/s for the GTX 950A. The FP32 throughput is 1.505 TFLOPS for the GTX 960A, compared to 1,438.7 GFLOPS for the GTX 950A.

Power consumption is identical at 75 W TDP. Both cards use an MXM Module slot width, have no power connectors, and use an MXM-B (3.0) bus interface. Display outputs are listed as portable device dependent for both. The API support is also the same: DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Architecture Differences

Both the GTX 960A and GTX 950A are built on NVIDIA's Maxwell architecture using the GM107 chip. The architecture itself is identical between the two, so the performance difference does not stem from a generational or design change. Instead, the differences lie in how the architecture is configured and clocked.

The most consequential architectural difference is the memory subsystem. The GTX 960A is paired with GDDR5 memory, which provides a much higher effective data rate of 5 Gbps compared to the 2 Gbps of the GTX 950A's DDR3 memory. This is not a minor tweak; it fundamentally changes the memory bandwidth available to the compute units. The GTX 960A's 80.19 GB/s bandwidth is more than double the GTX 950A's 32.03 GB/s. For memory-intensive workloads, this alone can account for a substantial portion of the 16.8% performance delta.

Clock speeds also differentiate the two cards. The GTX 960A's base clock is 104 MHz higher than the GTX 950A's, and its boost clock is 52 MHz higher. While these are modest differences in isolation, they compound with the memory speed advantage to produce a meaningful overall performance gap.

The core configuration, including the 640 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 16 ROPs, is identical. Neither card has dedicated ray tracing or tensor cores, and both lack FP16 support. The absence of these features places both cards firmly in the Maxwell era, but the GTX 960A extracts more from the same silicon through higher clocks and faster memory.

The manufacturing details are shared as well. Both are produced on a 28 nm process at TSMC, with 1,870 million transistors on a 148 mm² die. The production status for both is end-of-life, and both were released on the same date in March 2015. The predecessor for both is the GeForce 800A, and neither has a recorded successor.

In summary, the architecture is the same, but the implementation differs. The GTX 960A is the more aggressively configured variant, with higher clocks and a superior memory type. The GTX 950A, while architecturally identical, is hamstrung by DDR3 memory and lower clock speeds. The data shows that these differences matter, translating directly into the 16.8% performance advantage seen in the benchmark results.