Gigabyte GeForce GTX 950 Xtreme Gaming Review

[kcarbotte]

Nvidia's GeForce GTX 950 offers great value, performing nearly as well as the 960 for less money. Can Gigabyte's aggressively overclocked GeForce GTX 950 Xtreme Gaming outperform the more expensive GPU?

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 950 Xtreme Gaming Review : Read more

 

[chaosmassive]

for future benchmark, please set to 1366x768 instead of 720p as bare minimum
because 720p panel pretty rare nowadays, game with resolution 720p scaled up for bigger screen, its really blur or small (no scaled up)

 

[kcarbotte]

for future benchmark, please set to 1366x768 instead of 720p as bare minimum
because 720p panel pretty rare nowadays, game with resolution 720p scaled up for bigger screen, its really blur or small (no scaled up)

All of the tests were done at 1366x768.
Where do you see 720p?

 

[rush21hit]

I have been comparing test result for 950 from many sites now and that leaves me to a solid decision; GTX 750Ti. I'm having the aging HD6670 right now.

Even the bare bone version still needed 6pin power and still rated 90Watt, let alone the overbuilt. As someone who uses a mere Seasonic's 350Watt PSU, I find the 950 a hard sell for me. Add in CPU OC factor and my 3 HDD, I believe my PSU is constrained enough and only have a little bit more headroom to give for GPU.

If only it doesn't require any additional power pin and a bit lower TDP.
Welp, that's it. Ordering the 750Ti now...whoa! it's $100 now? yaayyy

 

[ozicom]

I decided to buy a 750Ti past but my needs have changed. I'm not a gamer but i want to buy a 40" UHD TV and use it as screen but when i dig about this i saw that i have to use a graphics card with HDMI 2.0 or i have to buy a TV with DP port which is very rare. So this need took me to search for a budget GTX 950 - actually i'm not an Nvidia fan but AMD think to add HDMI 2.0 to it's products in 2016. When we move from CRT to LCD TV's most of the new gen LCD TV had DVI port but now they create different ports which can't be converted and it makes us think again and again to decide what to buy.

 

[padremaronno]

> mid-low end card
> extreme gaming

 

[InvalidError]

now they create different ports which can't be converted

There are adapters between HDMI, DP and DVI. HDMI to/from DVI is just a passive dongle either way.

 

[Larry Litmanen]

Obviously these companies know their buying base far better than i do, but to me the appeal of 750TI was that you did not need to upgrade your PSU. So if you have a regular HP or Dell you can upgrade and game better.

I guess these companies feel like most people who buy a dedicated GPU probably have a good PSU.

 

[TechyInAZ]

Looks great! Right off the bat it was my favorite GTX 950 card since Gigabyte put some excellent aesthetics into the card, but I will still go with EVGA.

 

[matthoward85]

Anyone know what the SLI equivalent would be comparable to? greater or less than a gtx 980?

 

[silverblue]

How is the texture fillrate of the Strix ahead of the higher clocked Xtreme?

 

[Eximo]

Scaling isn't perfect, but in terms of raw silicon this is what you have. So a pair of 950 would be about a GTX970.

GTX950 = 6 SM units
GTX960 = 8 SM Units
GTX970 = 13 SM Units
GTX980 = 16 SM Units
GTX980 TI = 22 SM Units
Titan X = 24 SM Units

 

[logainofhades]

I have been comparing test result for 950 from many sites now and that leaves me to a solid decision; GTX 750Ti. I'm having the aging HD6670 right now.

Even the bare bone version still needed 6pin power and still rated 90Watt, let alone the overbuilt. As someone who uses a mere Seasonic's 350Watt PSU, I find the 950 a hard sell for me. Add in CPU OC factor and my 3 HDD, I believe my PSU is constrained enough and only have a little bit more headroom to give for GPU.

If only it doesn't require any additional power pin and a bit lower TDP.
Welp, that's it. Ordering the 750Ti now...whoa! it's $100 now? yaayyy

GTX 950 only requires a 350w PSU, just as an FYI. What CPU do you have?

 

[none12345]

Hrm i paid only $10 more then this card for a gigabyte r9 380 4gig 2-3 weeks ago. I think that was the better deal.

 

[spentshells]

Again with the itx based 380, there were enough complaints last time to actually do something about that. The slanted playing field is slanted

 

[kcarbotte]

Again with the itx based 380, there were enough complaints last time to actually do something about that. The slanted playing field is slanted

The ITX 380 is the only R9 380 that I have.
Nothing I can really do about that until another vendor decides they want to send one.

 

[kcarbotte]

Anyone know what the SLI equivalent would be comparable to? greater or less than a gtx 980?

I've done some test with SLI GTX 950s. Raw performance falls somewhere between a GTX 970 and a GTX 980, but in games that have high memory demands two 950s fall on thier face due to the 2GB frame buffer.

 

[TechyInAZ]

Anyone know what the SLI equivalent would be comparable to? greater or less than a gtx 980?

I've done some test with SLI GTX 950s. Raw performance falls somewhere between a GTX 970 and a GTX 980, but in games that have high memory demands two 950s fall on thier face due to the 2GB frame buffer.

Makes sense. The only advantage to adding a 2nd gtx 950 in SLI would be going from a 60hz 1080P monitor to a 144hz+ refresh rate monitor.

 

[kcarbotte]

Anyone know what the SLI equivalent would be comparable to? greater or less than a gtx 980?

agreed.
If 1080p high refresh is your setup, then two 950s is potentially a very econoical setup.

 

[Onus]

Looking at the game settings, you were at or near "ultra," so the GTX950 looks like a great choice for 1080p. I could not help but notice that the GTX750Ti also appeared to be playable (imho) on these settings as well, or so close that only one or two of them might need to be turned down one notch; that's pretty good for ~$45 less money. Those not able or willing to upgrade their PSUs (possibly in OEM boxes) will not be suffering if they have to game on a GTX750Ti.

 

[kcarbotte]

Looking at the game settings, you were at or near "ultra," so the GTX950 looks like a great choice for 1080p. I could not help but notice that the GTX750Ti also appeared to be playable (imho) on these settings as well, or so close that only one or two of them might need to be turned down one notch; that's pretty good for ~$45 less money. Those not able or willing to upgrade their PSUs (possibly in OEM boxes) will not be suffering if they have to game on a GTX750Ti.

I agree. I bought a GTX 750 Ti last spring and paired it with an i3. The combination did very well and I was more than happy playing games on that setup. That system was meant to be sold but I ended up keeping it for myself. I now use it as a living room gaming PC/ media center.

The GTX 950 far outperforms it, but there's a reason the 750ti is still in the lineup. It's a great product for the money.

 

[knowom]

If your going to get a GTX960 get a 4GB version or don't bother and OC the memory to about 8GHz they don't really show there true muscle until you do that.

 

[spentshells]

Again with the itx based 380, there were enough complaints last time to actually do something about that. The slanted playing field is slanted

The ITX 380 is the only R9 380 that I have.
Nothing I can really do about that until another vendor decides they want to send one.

Yes but this is a hardware site and the crowd has already spoken on this and found it's not a fair shake and it skewed the results so again please find the money for a 380 in regular format or borrow one.

 

[rush21hit]

GTX 950 only requires a 350w PSU, just as an FYI. What CPU do you have?

I know it does. But with 3 HDD and CPU OC with big fan cooler. Also add many other stuff that need power from my PC, lead to this decision.
My CPU is a very old Q6600 OC @3,6ghz.

 

[Novakane_]

Whats the difference between this and the SC version?