NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 vs NVIDIA TITAN V CEO Edition Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data presents an unusual confrontation: the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 and the NVIDIA TITAN V CEO Edition land in the same percentile bracket, yet their architectural pedigrees could hardly be more different. The GTX 960, a Maxwell 2.0 part from the GeForce 900 generation, posts an average benchmark score of 9273 across four tests. The TITAN V CEO Edition, a Volta-based behemoth from the GeForce 10 generation, counters with an average score of 9037 across two tests. That difference is a mere 2.6% in favor of the older card, a statistical hair-split that defies the raw specifications.

Looking at individual workloads, the GTX 960's strongest showing comes in Geekbench OpenCL, where it scores 18925. That is more than double its Geekbench Metal score of 8773 and its Geekbench Vulkan score of 9231. The TITAN V CEO Edition, meanwhile, delivers a Passmark G3D score of 16988 but only a Passmark G2D score of 1086. The G3D result is the TITAN V's headline win, representing the kind of sustained 3D rendering throughput that the GTX 960 cannot approach in the same test—the GTX 960 has no Passmark G3D score in the data to compare directly.

In terms of direct rival positioning, the GTX 960 sits closest to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465 (average score 9294, delta -0.2%), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M (9302, -0.3%), and the AMD Radeon R7 M380 (9313, -0.4%). Its only positive delta among nearest rivals is against the AMD Radeon Vega 8, which scores 9221, putting the GTX 960 0.6% ahead. The TITAN V CEO Edition, by contrast, finds its nearest rival in the AMD Radeon 890M (9210), where it trails by 1.9%. It leads the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 (9058) by 0.2%, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 (9022) by 0.2%, and the AMD Radeon 550X (8918) by 1.3%.

The arithmetic is stark. The GTX 960 has 1024 shading units, 64 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs, clocked at 1127 MHz base and 1178 MHz boost. The TITAN V CEO Edition packs 5120 shading units, 320 TMUs, and 128 ROPs, with a 1200 MHz base and 1455 MHz boost. That is a 5x difference in shader count and a 4x difference in both TMUs and ROPs. Yet the average benchmark scores are nearly identical. The data suggests that the TITAN V's massive compute resources are not translating into proportionally higher scores in the specific benchmarks available, while the GTX 960's modest configuration punches far above its weight class in the Geekbench suite.

Memory bandwidth tells a similar story of divergence. The GTX 960 uses 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 112.2 GB/s. The TITAN V CEO Edition uses 32 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus, delivering 868.4 GB/s—over 7.7x the bandwidth. Pixel fill rate favors the TITAN V at 186.2 GPixel/s versus 37.70 GPixel/s for the GTX 960, and texture rate is 465.6 GTexel/s versus 75.39 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 14.90 TFLOPS against 2.413 TFLOPS. These are not close numbers. And yet, the benchmark averages barely move.

The Verdict

The data does not support a clear winner based on average scores alone. The GTX 960 holds a 2.6% edge in average benchmark score, but that edge is built on a broader test suite (four benchmarks versus two) and on workloads that favor its architecture. The TITAN V CEO Edition, despite its towering specifications, lands at the same 45th percentile among all GPUs as the GTX 960. That percentile tie is the single most important fact in this comparison: both cards sit squarely in the middle of the GPU performance distribution, and neither is positioned as a top-tier part by the aggregate metrics.

For users who prioritize OpenCL compute workloads, the GTX 960 is the clear choice from the data. Its score of 18925 in Geekbench OpenCL is the highest single-test result across both cards' available benchmarks. For users who prioritize pure 3D rasterization, the TITAN V CEO Edition's Passmark G3D score of 16988 is the standout figure. The TITAN V also offers 32 GB of HBM2 memory, which is 16x the GTX 960's 2 GB GDDR5—a capacity advantage that matters for large datasets, though the benchmark scores do not directly reflect it.

The verdict from the numbers is that these two cards occupy the same performance tier in aggregate, but they achieve that position through opposite strategies. The GTX 960 is a small, efficient part that overachieves in OpenCL. The TITAN V CEO Edition is a massive, power-hungry part that underachieves in the available benchmark mix relative to its specs. Neither card is a clear winner; the choice depends entirely on the specific workload.

Where Each One Wins

The GTX 960 wins in OpenCL compute, posting 18925 in Geekbench OpenCL—a score that dwarfs its own Metal (8773) and Vulkan (9231) results by 2.2x and 2.1x, respectively. This suggests that the Maxwell 2.0 architecture is particularly well-tuned for OpenCL execution. The GTX 960 also wins on efficiency metrics: it has a 120 W TDP with a 300 W suggested PSU, compared to the TITAN V's 250 W TDP and 600 W suggested PSU. The GTX 960 is also a smaller card at 241 mm (9.5 inches) in length versus the TITAN V's 267 mm (10.5 inches). Its 2 GB memory footprint is a limitation, but the benchmark scores do not penalize it for that.

The TITAN V CEO Edition wins on raw specification density. It has 5120 shading units, 640 tensor cores, and 128 ROPs. It supports FP16 at 29.80 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio), a capability the GTX 960 lacks entirely. Memory bandwidth of 868.4 GB/s is over 7.7x the GTX 960's 112.2 GB/s. The TITAN V also offers 32 GB of memory, which is 16x the capacity. In the Passmark G3D test, it scores 16988, which is its only direct 3D benchmark in the data, and it leads its nearest rival—the AMD Radeon 890M at 9210—by a wide margin in that specific test.

In the nearest-rival comparisons, the TITAN V shows positive deltas against three of its four nearest rivals, including a 1.3% lead over the AMD Radeon 550X. The GTX 960 shows positive delta against only one of its four nearest rivals (0.6% over the AMD Radeon Vega 8). This indicates that the TITAN V's benchmark profile is more competitive within its peer group, even though its absolute average score is slightly lower.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 has an average benchmark score of 9273, which is 2.6% higher than the NVIDIA TITAN V CEO Edition's average of 9037.

Q: What is the biggest single-test score difference between the two cards?

A: The GTX 960's Geekbench OpenCL score of 18925 is the highest single-test result across both cards. The TITAN V's highest is its Passmark G3D score of 16988. These are not directly comparable tests, but they are the standout figures for each card.

Q: How do the memory configurations differ?

A: The GTX 960 uses 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus with 112.2 GB/s bandwidth. The TITAN V CEO Edition uses 32 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus with 868.4 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Do both cards support the same APIs?

A: Yes, both cards support DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Q: Which card has more shading units?

A: The TITAN V CEO Edition has 5120 shading units, which is 5x the GTX 960's 1024 shading units.

Q: What is the percentile ranking of each card among all GPUs?

A: Both cards rank at the 45th percentile among all GPUs, indicating they sit in the same middle tier of overall performance.

Architecture Differences

The two cards are built on fundamentally different architectures, process nodes, and design philosophies. The GTX 960 uses the GM206 chip based on Maxwell 2.0 architecture, fabricated on a 28 nm TSMC process. It contains 2,940 million transistors on a 228 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 12.9M per mm². The TITAN V CEO Edition uses the GV100 chip based on Volta architecture, fabricated on a 12 nm TSMC process. It contains 21,100 million transistors on an 815 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 25.9M per mm²—double the density of the GTX 960.

The clock speeds are surprisingly close given the architectural gap. The GTX 960 runs at 1127 MHz base and 1178 MHz boost, while the TITAN V runs at 1200 MHz base and 1455 MHz boost. The TITAN V's boost clock is 277 MHz higher, but its base clock is only 73 MHz higher. Memory clocks differ significantly: the GTX 960 runs at 1753 MHz (7 Gbps effective), while the TITAN V runs at 848 MHz (1696 Mbps effective). The TITAN V compensates with a 4096-bit bus versus the GTX 960's 128-bit bus, resulting in 868.4 GB/s versus 112.2 GB/s bandwidth.

The TITAN V CEO Edition includes 640 tensor cores, which are absent from the GTX 960. It also supports FP16 compute at 29.80 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio), while the GTX 960 has no FP16 capability listed. The TITAN V has 128 ROPs versus 32, and 320 TMUs versus 64. Pixel rate is 186.2 GPixel/s versus 37.70 GPixel/s, and texture rate is 465.6 GTexel/s versus 75.39 GTexel/s.

Power and physical specifications also diverge sharply. The GTX 960 has a 120 W TDP with a single 6-pin power connector and a 300 W suggested PSU. The TITAN V has a 250 W TDP with a 6-pin plus 8-pin configuration and a 600 W suggested PSU. The TITAN V is longer at 267 mm (10.5 inches) versus 241 mm (9.5 inches), and it is also taller and wider, with dimensions of 112 mm x 40 mm compared to no height or width data for the GTX 960. Both are dual-slot cards.

Display outputs differ in one key aspect: the GTX 960 offers 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, and 3x DisplayPort 1.2, while the TITAN V offers 1x HDMI 2.0 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a—no DVI. The GTX 960 was released on 2015-01-21, and the TITAN V CEO Edition on 2018-06-20, making the latter more than three years newer. Both are end-of-life products. The GTX 960 had a launch MSRP of 199 USD; the TITAN V has no launch MSRP listed.