GeForce GTX 965M SLI vs GTX 1060 Mobile

Place in the ranking	275	311
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	26.13	no data
Power efficiency	17.57	no data
Architecture	Pascal (2016−2021)	Maxwell (2014−2017)
GPU code name	GP106	no data
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	15 August 2016 (8 years ago)	5 January 2015 (9 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$237.11	no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

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 cores	1280	2048
Core clock speed	1506 MHz	924 MHz
Boost clock speed	1708 MHz	950 MHz
Number of transistors	4,400 million	2x 5200 Million
Manufacturing process technology	16 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	80 Watt	no data
Maximum GPU temperature	94 °C	no data
Texture fill rate	133.6	no data
Floating-point processing power	4.275 TFLOPS	no data
ROPs	48	no data
TMUs	80	no data

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).

Laptop size	large	large
Bus support	PCIe 3.0	no data
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	no data
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 type	GDDR5	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	6 GB	2x 4 GB
Memory bus width	192 Bit	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	2002 MHz	5000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	192 GB/s	no data
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 Connectors	DP 1.43, HDMI 2.0b, Dual Link-DVI	no data
Multi monitor support	+	no data
HDCP	2.2	-
G-SYNC support	+	-

Supported technologies

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

GameStream	+	-
GPU Boost	3.0	no data
Optimus	-	+
VR Ready	+	no data
Ansel	+	no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_1)	12_1
Shader Model	6.4	no data
OpenGL	4.5	no data
OpenCL	1.2	no data
Vulkan	1.2.131	-
CUDA	+	+

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 Mobile 19.68
+13.5%

GTX 965M SLI 17.34

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

GTX 1060 Mobile 14693
+1.8%

GTX 965M SLI 14428

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

GTX 1060 Mobile 11558
+13.2%

GTX 965M SLI 10207

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.

GTX 1060 Mobile 74605
+45.8%

GTX 965M SLI 51182

3DMark Ice Storm GPU

Ice Storm Graphics is an obsolete benchmark, part of 3DMark suite. Ice Storm was used to measure entry level laptops and Windows-based tablets performance. It utilizes DirectX 11 feature level 9 to display a battle between two space fleets near a frozen planet in 1280x720 resolution. Discontinued in January 2020, it is now superseded by 3DMark Night Raid.

GTX 1060 Mobile 298378
+19.2%

GTX 965M SLI 250259

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 HD	67 −6%	71 +6%
1440p	41 +17.1%	35−40 −17.1%
4K	30 +25%	24−27 −25%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

37
+37%

27−30

−37%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	62 +59%	35−40 −59%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	53 +82.8%	27−30 −82.8%
Battlefield 5	78 +36.8%	55−60 −36.8%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	61 +74.3%	35−40 −74.3%
Cyberpunk 2077	30 +11.1%	27−30 −11.1%
Far Cry 5	75 +87.5%	40−45 −87.5%
Far Cry New Dawn	76 +61.7%	45−50 −61.7%
Forza Horizon 4	229 +108%	110−120 −108%
Hitman 3	54 +63.6%	30−35 −63.6%
Horizon Zero Dawn	136 +58.1%	85−90 −58.1%
Metro Exodus	81 +37.3%	55−60 −37.3%
Red Dead Redemption 2	74 +57.4%	45−50 −57.4%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	119 +109%	55−60 −109%
Watch Dogs: Legion	137 +61.2%	85−90 −61.2%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	91 +133%	35−40 −133%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	45 +55.2%	27−30 −55.2%
Battlefield 5	69 +21.1%	55−60 −21.1%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	55 +57.1%	35−40 −57.1%
Cyberpunk 2077	25 −8%	27−30 +8%
Far Cry 5	59 +47.5%	40−45 −47.5%
Far Cry New Dawn	58 +23.4%	45−50 −23.4%
Forza Horizon 4	210 +90.9%	110−120 −90.9%
Hitman 3	51 +54.5%	30−35 −54.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn	134 +55.8%	85−90 −55.8%
Metro Exodus	70 +18.6%	55−60 −18.6%
Red Dead Redemption 2	62 +31.9%	45−50 −31.9%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	80 +40.4%	55−60 −40.4%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	122 +205%	40−45 −205%
Watch Dogs: Legion	133 +56.5%	85−90 −56.5%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	37 −5.4%	35−40 +5.4%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	38 +31%	27−30 −31%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	40 +14.3%	35−40 −14.3%
Cyberpunk 2077	23 −17.4%	27−30 +17.4%
Far Cry 5	43 +7.5%	40−45 −7.5%
Forza Horizon 4	71 −54.9%	110−120 +54.9%
Hitman 3	45 +36.4%	30−35 −36.4%
Horizon Zero Dawn	66 −30.3%	85−90 +30.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	68 +19.3%	55−60 −19.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	39 −2.6%	40−45 +2.6%
Watch Dogs: Legion	28 −204%	85−90 +204%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

59
+25.5%

45−50

−25.5%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	41 +24.2%	30−35 −24.2%
Far Cry New Dawn	40 +53.8%	24−27 −53.8%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	27 +58.8%	16−18 −58.8%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	27 +80%	14−16 −80%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	27 +42.1%	18−20 −42.1%
Cyberpunk 2077	12−14 +44.4%	9−10 −44.4%
Far Cry 5	28 +40%	20−22 −40%
Forza Horizon 4	173 +84%	90−95 −84%
Hitman 3	24−27 +25%	20−22 −25%
Horizon Zero Dawn	48 +37.1%	35−40 −37.1%
Metro Exodus	45 +45.2%	30−35 −45.2%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	40−45 +33.3%	30−35 −33.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	24−27 +31.6%	18−20 −31.6%
Watch Dogs: Legion	129 +24%	100−110 −24%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

40
+42.9%

27−30

−42.9%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	22 +29.4%	16−18 −29.4%
Far Cry New Dawn	21 +61.5%	12−14 −61.5%
Hitman 3	16−18 +23.1%	12−14 −23.1%
Horizon Zero Dawn	59 −50.8%	85−90 +50.8%
Metro Exodus	22 +22.2%	18−20 −22.2%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	26 +52.9%	16−18 −52.9%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	18 +80%	10−11 −80%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	10 +25%	8−9 −25%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	13 +44.4%	9−10 −44.4%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 +33.3%	3−4 −33.3%
Far Cry 5	14 +55.6%	9−10 −55.6%
Forza Horizon 4	35 +52.2%	21−24 −52.2%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	24−27 +33.3%	18−20 −33.3%
Watch Dogs: Legion	9−10 +28.6%	7−8 −28.6%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

20
+33.3%

14−16

−33.3%

This is how GTX 1060 Mobile and GTX 965M SLI compete in popular games:

GTX 965M SLI is 6% faster in 1080p
GTX 1060 Mobile is 17% faster in 1440p
GTX 1060 Mobile is 25% faster in 4K

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1080p resolution and the High Preset, the GTX 1060 Mobile is 205% faster.
in Watch Dogs: Legion, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GTX 965M SLI is 204% faster.

All in all, in popular games: