NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960

VS
Performance
GeForce RTX 4090871% better
104,598Best Performance
GeForce GTX 960
10,767.510% of 104,598

The GeForce RTX 4090 has 871% better performance than the GeForce GTX 960 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Performance per dollar
GeForce RTX 409021% better
65.4141% of 161.45
GeForce GTX 960
54.1134% of 161.45

The GeForce RTX 4090 has 21% better value for the money than the GeForce GTX 960 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Shop GeForce RTX 4090
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Summary

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About the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 GPU

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is a desktop graphics card that launched in Q4 2022 with a MSRP of $1,599. It is built on the Ada Lovelace GPU microarchitecture (codename AD102) and is manufactured on a 5 nm process.

Memory

The RTX 4090 has 24 GB of GDDR6X memory, with a 1,313 MHz memory clock and a 384 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 1.01 Tb/s, which affects how fast it can transfer data to and from memory. GPU memory stores temporary data that helps the GPU with complex math and graphics operations. More memory is generally better, as not having enough can cause performance bottlenecks.

Cores and Clock Speeds

The RTX 4090 includes 16,384 CUDA cores, the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 2,235 MHz and can dynamically boost its clock speed up to 2,520 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 512 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 176 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing. Additionally, the GPU features 512 tensor cores optimized for AI-accelerated workloads and 128 RT cores dedicated to real-time ray tracing calculations.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

The RTX 4090 is a large graphics card, occupying 3 PCIe 4.0 x16 expansion slots. It supports HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4a display connections. With a thermal design power (TDP) of 450 W and a large, 3-slot size, it is recommended to use a power supply of 850 W and a case with sufficient space to accommodate the card. Compare your card's model and your case's dimensions to verify compatibility.

Benchmark Performance & Value

The RTX 4090 has the best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. Its 104,598 score and $1,599 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 65.41. This is the 49th best in value for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

About the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 GPU

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 is an end-of-life desktop graphics card that released in Q1 2015 with a MSRP of $199. It is built on the Maxwell 2.0 GPU microarchitecture (codename GM206) and is manufactured on a 28 nm process.

Memory

The GTX 960 has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory, with a 1,753 MHz memory clock and a 128 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 112.2 Gb/s, which affects how fast it can transfer data to and from memory. GPU memory stores temporary data that helps the GPU with complex math and graphics operations. More memory is generally better, as not having enough can cause performance bottlenecks.

Cores and Clock Speeds

The GTX 960 includes 1,024 CUDA cores, the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 1,127 MHz and can dynamically boost its clock speed up to 1,178 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 64 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 32 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

The GTX 960 occupies 2 PCIe expansion slots. It supports DVI, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.2 display connections. NVIDIA recommends a power supply of at least 300 W to handle the GPU's thermal design power (TDP) of 120 W.

Benchmark Performance & Value

The GTX 960 has the 172nd best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 10.29% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 10,767.5 score and $199 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 54.11. This is the 61st best in value for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

General Info

General overview of the GPU, including details like its manufacturer, release date, launch price, and current production status.

InfoGeForce RTX 4090GeForce GTX 960
ManufacturerNVIDIANVIDIA
ArchitectureAda LovelaceMaxwell 2.0
Market SegmentDesktopDesktop
Release DateQ4 2022Q1 2015
Launch Price (MSRP)$1,599$199
Production StatusActiveEnd-of-life
ShopCheck PriceCheck Price

Gaming Performance

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Select a game to compare FPS metrics

Display FPS for Black Myth: Wukong
Black Myth: Wukong
Display FPS for Once Human
Once Human
Display FPS for The First Descendant
The First Descendant
Display FPS for F1 24
F1 24
Display FPS for Senua's Saga Hellblade 2
Senua's Saga Hellblade 2
Display FPS for Ghost of Tsushima
Ghost of Tsushima
Display FPS for Dragon's Dogma 2
Dragon's Dogma 2

FPS Benchmarks

This table showcases the average frame rate (FPS) achieved both GPUs in at various resolutions. Frame rate is a crucial indicator of how smoothly the GPU can run the game. A higher FPS generally translates to a smoother gameplay experience.

  • Frames Per Second
FPS data for Black Myth: Wukong
Black Myth: Wukong
GeForce RTX 4090GeForce GTX 960
Low - 1080p
219 FPS
--
Medium - 1080p
166 FPS
--
High - 1080p
132 FPS
--
Ultra - 1080p
85 FPS
--
QHD - 1440p
67 FPS
--
4K UHD - 2160p
42 FPS
--
FPS Source: Notebookcheck

Compare Frames Per Second (FPS)

The average frame rate (FPS) in can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative performance. Generally, higher FPS results in a smoother gameplay experience.

Choose Baseline GPU:GeForce RTX 4090 orGeForce GTX 960
GPUFrames Per Second
GeForce RTX 409042
Radeon RX 7900 XTX32-24%
GeForce RTX 309022-48%
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti13-69%

Compare Cost Per Frame

The average cost per frame in can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative value. Generally, a lower cost per frame implies better value for your money.

Choose Baseline GPU:GeForce RTX 4090 orGeForce GTX 960
GPUCost Per Frame
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti30.69-19%
Radeon RX 7900 XTX31.22-18%
GeForce RTX 409038.07
GeForce RTX 309068.14+79%

Benchmark Performance

#
Performance
GeForce RTX 4090871% better
104,598Best Performance
GeForce GTX 960
10,767.510% of 104,598

The GeForce RTX 4090 has 871% better performance than the GeForce GTX 960 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The GeForce RTX 4090 is ranked 1st with a score of 104,598, and the GeForce GTX 960 is ranked 172nd with a score of 10,767.5.

Performance per dollar
GeForce RTX 409021% better
65.4141% of 161.45
GeForce GTX 960
54.1134% of 161.45

The GeForce RTX 4090 has 21% better value for the money than the GeForce GTX 960 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The GeForce RTX 4090 is ranked 49th with a performance per dollar of 65.41, and the GeForce GTX 960 is ranked 61st with a performance per dollar of 54.11.

Relative Performance

The average score in the benchmark test can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative performance. Generally, powerful GPUs tend to have higher scores.

Choose Baseline GPU:GeForce RTX 4090 or
GPUBenchmark Performance
GeForce RTX 4090104,598
GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER87,055-17%
GeForce RTX 408086,267-18%
Radeon RX 7900 XTX83,322-20%
Radeon RX 7900 XT75,896-27%
Radeon R9 38012,191-88%
Radeon R9 280X10,792-90%
GeForce GTX 96010,767.5-90%
GeForce GTX 68010,216.5-90%
GeForce GTX 1050 Ti9,453-91%

Relative Value For Money

The average performance per dollar in the benchmark test can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative value. A higher score implies a better value for your money.

Choose Baseline GPU:GeForce RTX 4090 or

Benchmark Scores

This table showcases the average performance scores achieved by both GPUs across industry-standard benchmark tests. These scores provide a valuable insight into overall performance. Powerful GPUs tend to have higher scores.

  • Popular
BenchmarkGeForce RTX 4090GeForce GTX 960
3DMark Time Spy Graphics
36,836
--
3DMark Time Spy Score
30,977
--
3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
260,357
(+421.57%)
49,917.5
3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
73,447
(+827.89%)
7,915.5
3DMark Night Raid Graphics
209,337
--
3DMark 11 Performance Score
63,861
(+546.66%)
9,875.5
Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64 Bit
326.7
(+172.25%)
120
PassMark G3D Mark
38,576
(+534.58%)
6,079
PassMark G2D Mark
1,301
(+90.76%)
682
Benchmarks Source: Notebookcheck

Technical Specs

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Graphics Processor

General information about the graphics processing unit like their architecture, manufacturing process size, and transistor count. Newer GPU architectures generally bring efficiency improvements and may introduce technologies that enhance graphical capabilities.

SpecGeForce RTX 4090GeForce GTX 960
CodenameAD102GM206
ArchitectureAda LovelaceMaxwell 2.0
Process Size5 nm28 nm
Transistors76,300 million2,940 million

Memory Details

Memory specifications like their capacity, bandwidth, and clock speeds. GPU memory stores graphics data like frames, textures, and shadows which helps display rendered images. These specs are crucial for graphics-intense applications like gaming and 3D modeling.

SpecGeForce RTX 4090GeForce GTX 960
Memory Size24 GB2 GB
Memory TypeGDDR6XGDDR5
Memory Bandwidth1.01 Tb/s112.2 Gb/s
Memory Clock1,313 MHz1,753 MHz
Memory Interface384 bit128 bit
L1 Cache128 KB48 KB
L2 Cache72 MB1,024 KB

Board Compatibility

Compatibility information like their slot size, bus interface, power consumption, and display support. These specs are useful for verifying compatibility with your motherboard, power supply, and monitor.

SpecGeForce RTX 4090GeForce GTX 960
Slots3 slots2 slots
Bus InterfacePCIe 4.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Thermal Design Power (TDP)450 W120 W
Suggested PSU850 W300 W
Power Connectors1x 16-pin1x 6-pin
OutputsHDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4aDVI, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.2

Cores & Clock Speeds

Processing power information like its cores and clock speed. These specs impact how fast they can process graphics. Each type of core or component serves a specific computational purpose.

SpecGeForce RTX 4090GeForce GTX 960
CUDA Cores16,3841,024
Stream Multiprocessors (SM)128--
Texture Mapping Units (TMU)51264
Render Output Units (ROP)17632
Tensor Cores512--
Ray Tracing Cores128--
Core Clock Speed2,235 MHz1,127 MHz
Core Clock Speed (Boost)2,520 MHz1,178 MHz

Theoretical Performance

Theoretical performance numbers derived from the raw specifications of the different components like core count and clock speeds. While these provide a glimpse into peak processing power, they do not represent real-world performance.

SpecGeForce RTX 4090GeForce GTX 960
Pixel Fill Rate443.5 GPixel/s37.7 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate1,290 GTexel/s75.39 GTexel/s
FP32 Performance82.58 TFLOPS2.41 TFLOPS
FP64 Performance1,290 GFLOPS75.39 GFLOPS

API Support

Graphics API versions supported by these graphics cards. APIs evolve over time, introducing new features and functionalities. Older GPUs may not support recent versions.

SpecGeForce RTX 4090GeForce GTX 960
DirectX12 Ultimate (12_2)12 (12_1)
OpenCL3.03.0
OpenGL4.64.6
Shader Model6.86.8

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* Performance rating, performance per dollar, and rankings are based on the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark and MSRP.