GeForce RTX 4090 Max-Q vs GTX 960
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 338 | not rated |
| Place by popularity | 59 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 8.85 | no data |
| Power efficiency | 9.09 | no data |
| Architecture | Maxwell 2.0 (2014−2019) | Ada Lovelace (2022−2024) |
| GPU code name | GM206 | AD103 |
| Market segment | Desktop | Laptop |
| Release date | 22 January 2015 (9 years ago) | 3 January 2023 (1 year ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $199 | no data |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.
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 | 1024 | 9728 |
| Core clock speed | 1127 MHz | 930 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 1178 MHz | 1455 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 2,940 million | 45,900 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 28 nm | 4 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 120 Watt | 80 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 75.39 | 442.3 |
| Floating-point processing power | 2.413 TFLOPS | 28.31 TFLOPS |
| ROPs | 32 | 112 |
| TMUs | 64 | 304 |
| Tensor Cores | no data | 304 |
| Ray Tracing Cores | no data | 76 |
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 support | PCI Express 3.0 | no data |
| Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x16 |
| Length | 241 mm | no data |
| Height | 4.376" (11.1 cm) | no data |
| Width | 2-slot | no data |
| Recommended system power (PSU) | 400 Watt | no data |
| Supplementary power connectors | 1x 6-pin | None |
| 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 | GDDR6 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 4 GB | 16 GB |
| Memory bus width | 128 Bit | 256 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 7.0 GB/s | 1750 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 112 GB/s | 448.0 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 Connectors | Dual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2 | Portable Device Dependent |
| Multi monitor support | 4 displays | no data |
| HDMI | + | - |
| HDCP | + | - |
| Maximum VGA resolution | 2048x1536 | no data |
| G-SYNC support | + | - |
| Audio input for HDMI | Internal | no data |
Supported technologies
Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.
| GameStream | + | - |
| GeForce ShadowPlay | + | - |
| GPU Boost | 2.0 | no data |
| GameWorks | + | - |
API compatibility
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 12 (12_1) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |
| Shader Model | 6.4 | 6.7 |
| OpenGL | 4.4 | 4.6 |
| OpenCL | 1.2 | 3.0 |
| Vulkan | + | 1.3 |
| CUDA | + | 8.9 |
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 22 January 2015 | 3 January 2023 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 4 GB | 16 GB |
| Chip lithography | 28 nm | 4 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 120 Watt | 80 Watt |
RTX 4090 Max-Q has an age advantage of 7 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 600% more advanced lithography process, and 50% lower power consumption.
We couldn't decide between GeForce GTX 960 and GeForce RTX 4090 Max-Q. We've got no test results to judge.
Be aware that GeForce GTX 960 is a desktop card while GeForce RTX 4090 Max-Q is a notebook one.
Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
Comparisons with similar GPUs
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
