MSI GeForce GTX 960 GAMING Video Card Review

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FrgMstr

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MSI GeForce GTX 960 GAMING Video Card Review - NVIDIA is today launching a GPU aimed at the "sweet spot" of the video card market. With an unexpectedly low MSRP, we find out if the new GeForce GTX 960 has what it takes to compete with the competition. The MSI GTX 960 GAMING reviewed here today is a retail card you will be able to purchase. No reference card in this review.


I have updated this review with a [H] Editor's Choice Silver award. We literally did not get all the data and review written till about 7am this morning, and I had not had time to get through all of the data by 8am embargo time. After spending a few hours with all the data, I have decided to move this to a Silver award, so you will see that update if you go back through. Given its performance, overclocking abilities, and power and noise profiles, I really like what I am seeing here. Brent had suggested a Silver as well, but I simply needed more time to make the call. Just FYI.

Update 2: Since publication this morning, the Newegg price on the MSI GeForce GTX 960 GAMING 2G has dropped to $219.99 with $5.92 shipping. Amazon has also now listed the MSI card for $224.99 with Free shipping.
 
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This is relevant to my interests.
I wonder how what kind of performance I would get on my Q6700 system (thats right DDR2!).
 
It's not really specified but does the new video engine support fixed hardware HEVC decoding main 10 profile (both 8 and 10 bit)? Or is it just 8 bit only?
 
For kids' systems that run 1080p and hardly get turned off, I can see these being beneficial. I watch every watt of electricity used since I'm solar powered, and anything that can drop the amount used at full speed is always a plus. Also, since they never get new cards and complain, this would be a good way to break that cycle. :D
 
2GB :(

My 660 already cant run very high textures in some games with 2GB. Same performance 4GB $229 id probably bite, but not at 2GB.
 
I'm glad to be able to put some hard numbers to all of the speculation surrounding the GTX 960. Dropping down to a 128-bit bus doesn't seem to hurt it, especially since the limiting factor appears to be the amount of VRAM, not its speed or ability to be fed. Still, at $199.99, I can see this card making sense for some people, while I might recommend some people hold out for a Ti version, since it appears that there is now room in NVIDIA's lineup for a $250 - $275 card. Perhaps a simple bump to 3GB of VRAM and a 192-bit bus would eke a bit more performance out of these for a few dollars more?
 
Not bad. Not bad at all. I was expecting worse - as in performance somewhere between a 270X and 280. It's clearly a faster card than a 280, trades shots with the 285, and is a tiny bit slower than the 280X. That's a $180 - $230 MSRP range there, and the 960 is right in the middle @ $200.

TR's report has more numbers to look at, but they noted that the 99th frame percentile numbers for the 960 were consistently better than that of the 285 which they equate to a "smoother" gaming experience.

All i know is that AMD has serious work to do with their GPU architecture optimization. I am not sure how much long they can survive on the "bigger n hotter" approach against Nvidia.
 
Cali3350 said:
2GB :(

My 660 already cant run very high textures in some games with 2GB. Same performance 4GB $229 id probably bite, but not at 2GB.
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This. I have a 660TI in my main rig with 3gb, and a stock 660 in my HTPC with 2gb, both at 1080p. WHile I am looking to upgrade for the $200-$250 price tag, I'm really looking for something that has more vram. The price is right, but that vram is too low. I suspect in about 4 months we'll see some other board partners pumping out 3gb versions and I'll bite, particularly on these new cards with nearly silent fan setups.

THis review reminds me of the one for the Nvidia 9600 back in the day, where there were a lot of people disappointed in the memory bus and vram speed, but in the end it turned out to be a very decent card.
 
I wonder what SLI/Crossfire setups would pull in terms of FPS at higher res/quality, 960 vs 285. I bet that 128 bit memory bus turns into a bottleneck at higher res. Also cant do 3GB, it will have to be a 4GB card with the 128bit bus, but clocked that high im not sure they will be able to run the RAM that high doubled up.
 
You should have tossed the 280X in for comparison, it's sitting right around the same price point as the 960 currently.

(Eg. 229.99 after MIR for Sapphire & Holy Hell 290 is $249 after MIR, 269 Retail.)
 
I wouldn't SLI a low end card. That's just silly.

I would be surprised if we don't see 4GB variants. Overall pretty solid.
 
Oh well i'll just have to wait until 960 ti.with 4gb.
also i don't know why [H] was surprised with the price. 128 bit 2gb. priced just right
 
Apparently whatever mantle issue was encountered with BF4 was short-lived and you just happened to hit the window when there was one? You're the only site reporting BF4 issues with it that I saw in the comparisons. Then again, you're also the only site that I'd believe actually retests things with new card reviews and doesn't just haul out 4-6 month old test results and call it good.

That being said... :)

At what point was the 285 *ever* hands down faster than a 280? From this very site's review in the 285 vs 280 head-to-head, they were largely dead even, with the 285 being better in Crysis 3, the 280 being better in TR@1600p and the 280, overall, having better minimum frame rates.

The 285 was pushed because the 280 was no longer being produced and the 285 was a decent replacement and people were worried that a smaller bus and chopping out 1/3 of the ram would cripple the mid-range card. It was never about the 285 being faster, it just needed to be as fast as the 280 (which it largely was).

Have driver updates affected the 285 so dramatically as to make it definitively better across the board now? Just curious. My 7870xt is still doing just fine @ 1080p, so it's more of an academic question here.

edit: I ask because the 280/285 prices are so much lower now, reliably so, than is reported here. 280s can be found for as little as $170 after MiR and 285s for $180 after MiR. Sales push those even lower (newegg has the example 280 on sale right now, pushing it down to $150 after MiR).
 
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From the questionable game selection to odd award I was originally not going to comment on this review, which is not the best I have read here I to say, but ...

shad0w4life said:
@ $239 it's a terrible value you can get a 290 for $10 more.
Click to expand...

This sums it up. +1
 
Glancing through reviews published so far, it's a bit of a disappointment for me. I've been waiting for this card to see if this card would fit my HTPC need better, but I'm not sure if there is enough power saving advantage compared to performance hit compared to GTX970. I don't think I'll bother waiting for 960ti and just go with 970. 970 is a bit of a overkill for 1080p gaming but I doubt i'd save much more than $50 by going with 960ti any way.
 
Yakk said:
From the questionable game selection to odd award I was originally not going to comment on this review, which is not the best I have read here I to say, but ...
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Well it's a mid range card so that's why it got silver instead of gold. Don't be too disappointed.
 
Can I suggest that you emphasise a bit more that this is a factory-overclocked card? I expect you didn't have time, but it would have been nice to have seen results from the card at standard settings. Or at least some comment on how much faster in games it is than standard settings?
 
shad0w4life said:
@ $239 it's a terrible value you can get a 290 for $10 more.
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The 290 using considerably more power. So add to that $249 the price of a decent 650W PSU and it's not looking good for the power saving consensus.
 
Fun said:
The 290 using considerably more power. So add to that $249 the price of a decent 650W PSU and it's not looking good for the power saving consensus.
Click to expand...

Plus, the noise and card length of the 290.
 
shad0w4life said:
@ $239 it's a terrible value you can get a 290 for $10 more.
Click to expand...

The price in the Newegg link in Kyle's article is now back down to the $219 it was supposed to be. Just a momentary price inflation due to all the interest I bet.

I'm going to wait to see what the GTX 960 Ti brings to the table and make a decision then...anyone have any idea when it will be launched?

Despite the memory limit I am intrigued for that price, and ASUS has an 8.7" STRIX board that wil fit my case easily (that MSI monster is 10.5 inches...for a 120w card!) I don't game at 1080p, and I need a replacement for my GTX 460 1GB, but I'm not quite sold that 2GB is enough for the 3-4 years I expect to get out of it.
 
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Yakk said:
Can't see how the 960 price makes sense, the Asus R9 290 DCII is $239.
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Shows $260 for me, AFTER MIR:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...1842&cm_re=ASUS_R9_290-_-14-121-842-_-Product

EDIT:
Also, the ASUS and EVGA versions have higher OCs and lower prices ($209) on the 960.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121913
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487091

The 960 is also much shorter. The longest one is ~10.5, but most are 10".
The 290 is over 11".

IMHO, different tools for different uses. And for $50-60 less and significant power savings, the 960 just fits a different niche.
 
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Yakk said:
Can't see how the 960 price makes sense, the Asus R9 290 DCII is $239.
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Because the card itself uses 2.5x the power when gaming, making it hard to build a silent PC. I would have to buy a new quiet case at $100+ to handle the power quietly, not to mention the immense 11.4" card size that I also can't fit in my current case. I'm also lucky enough to have a quality 600w PSU, but most people out there are not so lucky, so that would be an additional $75 upgrade cost.

Or, you can just buy this purpose-built 8.8" GTX 960 for ~$200? Or wait for the Ti version that will probably be released soon?
 
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I'm disappointed with both manufacturer's skimping on VRAM capacity on the mid-range this generation. 2GB really isn't enough. I have a 285 and it does okay at 1920x1080 most of the time with texture quality, but only just barely. This is likely to change this year.

Assuming that power and card length aren't a problem for you, the heavily discounted 290s with a custom cooler seem like a much better buy.
 
Yakk said:
Can't see how the 960 price makes sense, the Asus R9 290 DCII is $239.
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that price isn't because AMD want to put that price, that price its offered by AIB as promotions, do you remember the launch price of the 290 and 290X? the 200$ price of the 960 at launch while still doesn't make a lot of sense to me (I was expecting a 180$ card).. the actual price of the 290(X) cards is FORCED by the price of the 970... just waiting to see a 192bit bus with 3GB and a few more shaders 960TI at 250$.
 
Modred189 said:
Shows $260 for me, AFTER MIR:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...1842&cm_re=ASUS_R9_290-_-14-121-842-_-Product

EDIT:
Also, the ASUS and EVGA versions have higher OCs and lower prices ($209) on the 960.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121913
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487091

The 960 is also much shorter. The longest one is ~10.5, but most are 10".
The 290 is over 11".

IMHO, different tools for different uses. And for $50-60 less and significant power savings, the 960 just fits a different niche.
Click to expand...

PRIME1 said:
Because many people would have to buy a new power supply just to use a 290. It uses nearly twice as much power :eek:

http://techreport.com/review/27702/nvidia-geforce-gtx-960-graphics-card-reviewed/11
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Modred189 said:
Plus, the noise and card length of the 290.
Click to expand...

Fun said:
The 290 using considerably more power. So add to that $249 the price of a decent 650W PSU and it's not looking good for the power saving consensus.
Click to expand...


I was unaware this was a review for a SFF system build then.

Otherwise:

I have an 800W Power supply, so $0 factored in there, and most people would have decent power supplies on here I'd imagine.

Electricity is dirt cheap and I play games on my PC about 3-5 hours per week, I'd rather have actual performance than a card struggling to play 1080P with full details for the $10-$30 more

It's a gaming site, I want performance for price. If I was to not bother looking and buy a 960, I would feel like a total idiot if I found out I could have spent a few $ more and had better performance.

Noise, PC is below me and I have my speakers quite loud/headphones on, even a fan that had a cable touching it wasn't noticed.

You can counter mention the length, heat and power but don't justify it as an excuse to leave off better value cards.
 
shad0w4life said:
I was unaware this was a review for a SFF system build then.

Otherwise:

I have an 800W Power supply, so $0 factored in there, and most people would have decent power supplies on here I'd imagine.

Electricity is dirt cheap and I play games on my PC about 3-5 hours per week, I'd rather have actual performance than a card struggling to play 1080P with full details for the $10-$30 more

It's a gaming site, I want performance for price. If I was to not bother looking and buy a 960, I would feel like a total idiot if I found out I could have spent a few $ more and had better performance.

Noise, PC is below me and I have my speakers quite loud/headphones on, even a fan that had a cable touching it wasn't noticed.

You can counter mention the length, heat and power but don't justify it as an excuse to leave off better value cards.
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You might want to look into some of the recent reviews done here on [H].
From low profile, fanless PSUs, to micro ATX cases and mobs, SFF systems and HTPC applications are very much a part of the [H] community. Would you knock the 520 Nightjar psu because it doesn't compete with similarly priced but standard configuration PSUs?
Nope.

Every GPU has a set of use cases, and its construction and price point will reflect that. To ignore them is to discount the purpose of the card, and comparing it to products meant for different use cases just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. After all, that "value" you reference, is based on a particular use.

Bottom line: Is the 960 a slower card than the $60 more expensive 290? Sure. But do they compete? Nope.
 
shad0w4life said:
I was unaware this was a review for a SFF system build then.

Otherwise:

I have an 800W Power supply, so $0 factored in there, and most people would have decent power supplies on here I'd imagine.
Click to expand...

An 800w power supply for a mid range system? :confused:

Seriously people buying $200 video cards most likely won't have a power supply that can handle a 290. You could put a 960 in a Dell system. Either way the 290 is more expensive. You could just as easily push someone towards a 970 that's faster and also uses less power than a 290. But we are talking about a mid range $200 part here. The 960 is better overall that it's competition the 285.
 
Cali3350 said:
2GB :(

My 660 already cant run very high textures in some games with 2GB. Same performance 4GB $229 id probably bite, but not at 2GB.
Click to expand...

I was going to recommend this to a friend for casual games but 2GB is absolute failure in 2015.
 
My guess is that they slot a 960 Ti or 965 branded product in the gap between the $200 960 and $330 970. The question is, how much RAM and does it use GM204 or GM206?
 
PRIME1 said:
An 800w power supply for a mid range system? :confused:

Seriously people buying $200 video cards most likely won't have a power supply that can handle a 290. You could put a 960 in a Dell system. Either way the 290 is more expensive. You could just as easily push someone towards a 970 that's faster and also uses less power than a 290. But we are talking about a mid range $200 part here. The 960 is better overall that it's competition the 285.
Click to expand...

Maybe worth noting, lots of times you cannot put anything extra in a Dell system, I just had to swap out the PSU in my nieces Dell because it has literally no extra power supply connections for anything. Literally not one extra connection.

What I find sad and AMD is at fault here as well with their craptastic 285 is that I had the same performance about 3 years ago from my Sapphire 7950 OC that I got for $269. Although at least the 7950 had 3GB of ram where the 960 is a pathetic 2GB. I personally think that the 960 is overpriced by $50, but I agree what it offers certainly has a place. But as a consumer that wants bang for my buck at $200-250 a R9 290 at $239 (AR) makes way more sense as it is vastly superior in performance. I say this because I was this consumer just a few weeks ago for my son and got his DCII 290 for $220.
 
Rizen said:
I'm disappointed with both manufacturer's skimping on VRAM capacity on the mid-range this generation. 2GB really isn't enough. I have a 285 and it does okay at 1920x1080 most of the time with texture quality, but only just barely. This is likely to change this year.
Click to expand...

I read somewhere that Samsung has their 8 Gbit VRAM modules ready so I think that should help. Just four chips will give you 4 GB so I imagine that would make it a bit easier to lay out the PCB (and probably cheaper overall).
 
128-bit memory bus and 2GB memory is flying way too close to the sun imho, I can't bring myself to accept such sacrifices on a mid-range product I'm afraid.

nVidia went a bit too far, but at least they got the 970 priced to sell. Hoping AMD comes out with something that forces 970 levels of performance down to 960 prices by next year, now that would be progress.
 
The amount of bitching and QQing across the interwebz about this card and nvidia hate going on is almost classical.

Its not designed or priced to be a high end GPU people, thats the 980. You get what you pay for. :rolleyes:

Or just go to AMD and please stuff it already....
 
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