Slashdot Mirror
NVIDIA Launches New Midrange Maxwell-Based GeForce GTX 960 Graphics Card
MojoKid writes NVIDIA is launching a new Maxwell desktop graphics card today, targeted at the sweet spot of the graphics card market ($200 or so), currently occupied by its previous gen GeForce GTX 760 and older GTX 660. The new GeForce GTX 960 features a brand new Maxwell-based GPU dubbed the GM206. NVIDIA was able to optimize the GM206's power efficiency without moving to a new process, by tweaking virtually every part of the GPU. NVIDIA's reference specifications for the GeForce GTX 960 call for a base clock of 1126MHz and a Boost clock of 1178MHz. The GPU is packing 1024 CUDA cores, 64 texture units, and 32 ROPs, which is half of what's inside their top-end GeForce GTX 980. The 2GB of GDDR5 memory on GeForce GTX 960 cards is clocked at a speedy 7GHz (effective GDDR5 data rate) over a 128-bit memory interface. The new GeForce GTX 960 is a low-power upgrade for gamers with GeForce GTX 660 class cards or older that make up a good percentage of the market now. It's usually faster than the previous generation GeForce GTX 760 card but, depending on the game title, can trail it as well, due to its narrower memory interface.
You might be able to find a Geforce 750 for $125 or so. They're adequate but definitely not ideal for 1920x1080 in most PC games. They're also ridiculously efficient; they don't even need an extra PCIe power connection.
If anyone tells me they want to game on a PC and don't immediately mention a game with a more serious demand, that's the hardware I use.
I generally prefer ATI hardware because I think nVidia's stock cooling kills graphics cards and I'd rather deal with crappy drivers, but the current ATI hardware is a complete non-starter. There's really no level at all where it can be justified.
-- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
Tom's a whore, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the ranking or quality of the product in his reviews is impacted by the amount of money he was paid. Some of the recommended products he's had over the years to me indicate that the site's "approval" is for sale. I haven't been there is years so it might have changed but once someone sells out you shouldn't trust them again.