GeForce GTX 950 vs GTX 1060 3 GB

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB and GeForce GTX 950, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

GTX 1060 3 GB
2016
3 GB GDDR5, 120 Watt
24.88
+79.6%

GTX 1060 3 GB outperforms GTX 950 by an impressive 80% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking217375
Place by popularity19not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation22.578.75
Power efficiency14.2110.55
ArchitecturePascal (2016−2021)Maxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)
GPU code nameGP106GM206
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date18 August 2016 (8 years ago)20 August 2015 (9 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$199 $159

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

GTX 1060 3 GB has 158% better value for money than GTX 950.

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores1152768
Core clock speed1506 MHz1024 MHz
Boost clock speed1708 MHz1188 MHz
Number of transistors4,400 million2,940 million
Manufacturing process technology16 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)120 Watt90 Watt
Texture fill rate123.057.02
Floating-point processing power3.935 TFLOPS1.825 TFLOPS
ROPs4832
TMUs7248

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Bus supportno dataPCI Express 3.0
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Length250 mm202 mm
Heightno data4.376" (11.1 cm)
Width2-slot2-slot
Recommended system power (PSU)no data350 Watt
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin1x 6-pin
SLI options-+

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount3 GB2 GB
Memory bus width192 Bit128 Bit
Memory clock speed2002 MHz6.6 GB/s
Memory bandwidth192.2 GB/s105.6 GB/s
Shared memory--

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display Connectors1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPortDual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2
Multi monitor supportno data4 displays
HDMI++
HDCP-+
Maximum VGA resolutionno data2048x1536
G-SYNC support-+
Audio input for HDMIno dataInternal

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

GameStream-+
GeForce ShadowPlay-+
GPU Boostno data2.0
GameWorks-+

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX12 (12_1)12 (12_1)
Shader Model6.46.4
OpenGL4.64.5
OpenCL1.21.2
Vulkan+1.1.126
CUDA6.1+

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

GTX 1060 3 GB 24.88
+79.6%
GTX 950 13.85

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

GTX 1060 3 GB 9588
+79.7%
GTX 950 5337

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

Full HD85−90
+70%
50
−70%
4K35−40
+66.7%
21
−66.7%

Cost per frame, $

1080p2.343.18
4K5.697.57

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Battlefield 5 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Far Cry 5 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 90−95
+0%
90−95
+0%
Hitman 3 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Metro Exodus 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 75−80
+0%
75−80
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Battlefield 5 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Far Cry 5 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 90−95
+0%
90−95
+0%
Hitman 3 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Metro Exodus 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 108
+0%
108
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 75−80
+0%
75−80
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Far Cry 5 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 90−95
+0%
90−95
+0%
Hitman 3 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 21
+0%
21
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 75−80
+0%
75−80
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Far Cry 5 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Hitman 3 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Metro Exodus 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 85−90
+0%
85−90
+0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Hitman 3 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%
Metro Exodus 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 13
+0%
13
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Far Cry 5 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%

This is how GTX 1060 3 GB and GTX 950 compete in popular games:

  • GTX 1060 3 GB is 70% faster in 1080p
  • GTX 1060 3 GB is 67% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 72 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 24.88 13.85
Recency 18 August 2016 20 August 2015
Maximum RAM amount 3 GB 2 GB
Chip lithography 16 nm 28 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 120 Watt 90 Watt

GTX 1060 3 GB has a 79.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 11 months, a 50% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 75% more advanced lithography process.

GTX 950, on the other hand, has 33.3% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 950 in performance tests.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB
GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950
GeForce GTX 950

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


4.1 8813 votes

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Questions & comments

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