NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M vs NVIDIA TITAN V CEO Edition Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M and the NVIDIA TITAN V CEO Edition represent two vastly different points in NVIDIA’s mobile and desktop GPU history. The GTX 960M, a Maxwell-based mobile part from the GeForce 900M generation, targets mainstream laptops. The TITAN V CEO Edition, built on the Volta architecture, is a flagship desktop compute monster. Benchmark data shows a surprising outcome: despite their extreme architectural differences, the average benchmark scores for these two GPUs are remarkably close, yet the nature of their wins could not be more distinct.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most striking finding in the data is the discrepancy between the raw specification sheets and the actual benchmark results. The TITAN V CEO Edition holds a massive theoretical advantage, with an FP32 throughput of 14.90 TFLOPS compared to the GTX 960M’s 1.505 TFLOPS. Similarly, the TITAN V’s memory bandwidth is listed at 868.4 GB/s, a figure that dwarfs the GTX 960M’s 80.19 GB/s. However, the available benchmark scores tell a different story. The GTX 960M achieves an average benchmark score of 9645, while the TITAN V CEO Edition scores 9037. This places the GTX 960M ahead of the TITAN V by roughly 6.7% in this aggregate metric, a counterintuitive result given the latter's hardware.

Delving into specific tests, the GTX 960M posts a Geekbench OpenCL score of 11045. The TITAN V CEO Edition's data does not include a comparable OpenCL run, but its Passmark G3D score is 16988. The GTX 960M has no Passmark results in the pack. The TITAN V also has a Passmark G2D score of 1086, while the GTX 960M has a Geekbench Vulkan score of 8245. These are different test suites, making a direct apples-to-apples comparison impossible from the provided data alone. What is clear is that the average scores, which likely aggregate across different suites, show the GTX 960M leading.

The percentile rankings reinforce this oddity. The GTX 960M sits in the 46th percentile of all GPUs, while the TITAN V CEO Edition is in the 45th percentile. This places them nearly adjacent in the overall performance distribution, despite the TITAN V being a much larger and more power-hungry part. Looking at the nearest rivals for each card clarifies their respective performance tiers. The GTX 960M is bracketed by the NVIDIA Quadro K5000, which has an average score of 9637 (a 0.1% delta), and the AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100 at 9653 (a -0.1% delta). The TITAN V CEO Edition, on the other hand, is surrounded by much older or lower-tier cards: the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 at 9022 (0.2% delta) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 at 9058 (-0.2% delta). This suggests the TITAN V's benchmark average is being dragged down by workloads that do not utilize its unique capabilities.

The Verdict

From a pure benchmark-average standpoint, the data indicates that the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M is the better-performing card. It holds a higher average benchmark score (9645 vs. 9037), a higher percentile ranking (46th vs. 45th), and leads its nearest rivals by a similar margin to how the TITAN V trails its own. If the only metric were the aggregate score, the GTX 960M is the winner.

However, a deeper look at the specifications reveals that this is a case where the average benchmark score is misleading. The TITAN V CEO Edition is not a slow GPU; it is a specialized one. Its benchmark profile is dominated by a Passmark G3D score of 16988, which is a massive number, and a much lower G2D score of 1086. The GTX 960M's scores are more balanced, with an OpenCL score of 11045 and a Vulkan score of 8245. The TITAN V's low average score suggests that its G2D performance is dragging down its overall average, while its G3D score shows it is a powerhouse in 3D rendering tasks. The GTX 960M is a more consistent performer across the tests it was run in.

Therefore, the verdict is nuanced. For a user looking at a single, aggregate number, the GTX 960M appears superior. For a user who understands that the TITAN V's 3D rendering score of 16988 is in a different league, the TITAN V is the obvious choice for compute-heavy workloads. The data shows that the GTX 960M wins on average consistency, while the TITAN V wins on peak 3D performance.

Where Each One Wins

The GTX 960M wins in the aggregate benchmark average and overall percentile ranking. Its average score of 9645 is higher than the TITAN V's 9037, and its 46th percentile placement is one point higher. In a head-to-head comparison of average scores, the GTX 960M is the victor. Its strength lies in its consistent performance across the different benchmark types it was subjected to, including OpenCL and Vulkan. This suggests it is a well-rounded processor for a variety of general-purpose and graphical tasks, which is expected from a mobile GPU designed to handle everyday workloads.

The TITAN V CEO Edition wins decisively in raw 3D rendering power. Its Passmark G3D score of 16988 is the single highest score listed in the entire fact pack for either card. This indicates a colossal advantage in Direct3D or similar 3D graphics workloads. It also wins on pure hardware capability, with a 32 GB HBM2 memory pool, 5120 shading units, and 640 tensor cores. Where the GTX 960M is a jack-of-all-trades, the TITAN V is a master of one: heavy 3D compute. The TITAN V's weakness appears to be in 2D workloads, as evidenced by its low G2D score of 1086, which likely contributes to its lower overall average.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M has a higher average benchmark score of 9645, compared to the NVIDIA TITAN V CEO Edition's average score of 9037.

Q: How do their overall performance percentiles compare?

A: The GTX 960M is in the 46th percentile of all GPUs, while the TITAN V CEO Edition is in the 45th percentile, making them nearly tied in overall standing.

Q: What is the TITAN V's best single benchmark result?

A: The TITAN V CEO Edition's best single result is its Passmark G3D score of 16988, which is significantly higher than any score recorded for the GTX 960M.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference between the two cards?

A: The GTX 960M has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, while the TITAN V CEO Edition has 32 GB of HBM2 memory on a 4096-bit bus.

Q: Based on the nearest rivals, what tier does the TITAN V perform at?

A: The TITAN V CEO Edition's average score puts it in the same performance tier as the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 and GTX 560, based on the deltaPct values of 0.2% and -0.2% respectively.

Q: Which architecture is each GPU based on?

A: The GTX 960M is based on the Maxwell architecture with the GM107 chip, while the TITAN V CEO Edition is based on the Volta architecture with the GV100 chip.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are separated by several generations of architecture and manufacturing technology. The GTX 960M uses the GM107 chip built on a 28 nm process at TSMC, containing 1,870 million transistors on a die size of 148 mm². In contrast, the TITAN V CEO Edition uses the GV100 chip on a 12 nm process, also at TSMC, with 21,100 million transistors on a much larger 815 mm² die. This results in a transistor density of 12.6M per mm² for the GTX 960M and 25.9M per mm² for the TITAN V.

Core configuration differs drastically. The GTX 960M has 640 shading units, 40 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 16 raster operation pipelines (ROPs). The TITAN V CEO Edition features 5120 shading units, 320 TMUs, and 128 ROPs. Additionally, the TITAN V includes 640 tensor cores, a feature entirely absent from the GTX 960M. Clock speeds are closer than the core counts suggest: the GTX 960M has a base clock of 1097 MHz and a boost of 1176 MHz, while the TITAN V has a base of 1200 MHz and a boost of 1455 MHz. The memory subsystems are in different leagues, with the GTX 960M's 4 GB GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus delivering 80.19 GB/s, and the TITAN V's 32 GB HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus delivering 868.4 GB/s.

Form factor and power draw also highlight their different purposes. The GTX 960M is an MXM Module with a 75 W TDP and no power connectors, designed for laptops. The TITAN V CEO Edition is a Dual-slot card that is 267 mm long, requires a 1x 6-pin and 1x 8-pin power connector setup, has a 250 W TDP, and suggests a 600 W power supply. The TITAN V also supports DirectX 12 (12_1) and has display outputs of 1x HDMI 2.0 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the GTX 960M supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and its display outputs are listed as "Portable Device Dependent." These differences underscore that the TITAN V is a desktop-oriented compute accelerator, while the GTX 960M is a power-efficient mobile solution.