With IDF over, we get back to our usual programming, and this time, it’s all about the GPUs. NVIDIA’s latest release is the more budget-orientated GTX 950. This is another member of the GM206 Maxwell 2 family, and is effectively a cut-back GTX 960.
Being cut from the same cloth is actually a good thing in this case, as the GM206 is no slouch. The GTX 960 was launched at the beginning of the year, so there has been quite some time for refinement. The new GTX 950 is the usual mix of less cores, clocked slightly lower, but lower power and lower price to boot. General details marked in the table below.
NVIDIA GeForce Series |
Cores |
Core MHz |
Memory |
Mem MHz |
Mem Bus |
TDP |
GeForce GTX TITAN X |
3072 |
1000 |
12288MB |
7000 |
384-bit |
250W |
GeForce GTX 980 Ti |
2816 |
1000 |
6144MB |
7000 |
384-bit |
250W |
GeForce GTX 980 |
2048 |
1126 |
4096MB |
7000 |
256-bit |
165W |
GeForce GTX 970 |
1664 |
1050 |
4096MB |
7000 |
256-bit |
145W |
GeForce GTX 960 |
1024 |
1126 |
2048MB |
7010 |
128-bit |
120W |
GeForce GTX 950 |
768 |
1024 |
2048MB |
6600 |
128-bit |
90W |
GeForce GTX 750 Ti |
640 |
1020 |
2048MB |
5400 |
128-bit |
60W |
Yes, the GTX 750 Ti is still relevant, despite being over a year old – but that’s not what’s important right now. The GTX 950 looks to be interesting from a technical standpoint because there are a few oddities thrown in the mix. Its base clock is lower, but the boost clock is higher (it can scale up to a higher speed, but with fewer cores, suggesting it is making the most of a thermal envelope). The memory speed is little odd too, as it’s a non-standard speed, which means there might be some overclocking room.
With a launch price of $159, it’s going to be enticing for budget gamers, and possible HTPC users after something with a little more grunt – although, the card is hardly compact. In fact, most of the solutions seen so far are dual fan; 90Watts of power is still quite toasty when trying to dissipate it over a small area. However, it’s one of the few cards on the market that supports both HDMI 2.0 and HEVC video decoding (that’s H.265, the super video compression codec).
Our review has been delayed, like many others, because of IDF, so we’ll get on that as soon as we’re back. The GTX 950 should be an interesting, budget-friendly gaming card.