Old Mainstream GPU: GeForce GTX 960 vs. GTX 1660 & RTX 2060

When we recently tested the new GeForce GTX 1660 nosotros noted that Nvidia was making a bold claim in the review guide saying that the 1660 was a whopping 113% faster than the GTX 960, making it a perfect upgrade option for owners of the old mid-range Maxwell GPU.

Considering the GeForce GTX 960 is the fifth almost popular GPU amidst Steam users -- and that's a very representative sample of PC gamers -- seems there are plenty of you using it, so we thought we'd investigate what truth in that location is to Nvidia'due south words.

Before we become to the benchmarks, a few quick stats. We first reviewed the GTX 960 back in January 2022 aiming at the $200-$250 subclass. It came packing 1024 CUDA cores, 27% less than the 1660 and they're clocked 34% lower. There's also 33 fewer ROPs and while both make use of GDDR5 retention the GTX 960 has 42% less memory bandwidth due to lower clocked memory and more than crucially a narrower 128-flake wide memory jitney.

For this test the focus will be on 1080p operation, looking at a dozen titles closely before jumping to a 33 game breakdown comparing the GTX 1660 and 960 head to head. All tests were performed in our GPU examination bed which includes a Core i9-9900K clocked at 5 GHz with 32GB of DDR4-3200 retention. We relied on Adrenalin 2022 Edition xix.ii.three drivers for the Radeon GPUs and Game Ready 419.35 WHQL for the GeForce GPUs.

Gaming Benchmarks

Playing Noon Legends at 1080p with the high quality preset isn't much fun with a GTX 960. Yous're looking at frame rates that are consistently well beneath 60 fps, far from ideal when playing a fast paced showtime person shooter. Those not wanting to reduce visual quality will have to upgrade and the new GTX 1660 offers a healthy 136% functioning heave with 106 fps on average.

Moving on to the recently released 'The Partitioning 2' and we find a dire situation with the GTX 960.

Simply 27 fps on average, the games is nearly unplayable using the ultra quality preset at 1080p. Absolutely the game is quite enervating with these quality settings, just those looking to upgrade to a GTX 1660 can look frontward to a 152% functioning boost, not that bad. Though if you lot're only looking at playing The Segmentation ii then the RX 590 might be a better choice.

Nosotros observe a similar state of affairs when testing with Shadow of the Tomb Raider, using the highest quality preset the old GeForce GPU spat out just 34 fps on average and with frame dips into the twenty'southward. Meanwhile the 124% performance bump offered by the GTX 1660 meant that the game could now be enjoyed in all of its glory at 1080p.

The GTX 960 does do a decent job in Forza Horizon four, as long as you have the 4GB model. Even so the GTX 1660 still offered a 126% functioning boost hitting 95 fps on average and with over twice as many frames pumped out each 2d it did offer significantly smoother gaming experience.

Hitman 2 was also playable with the GeForce GTX 960 and it wouldn't take much to dial back the quality settings to achieve lx fps. That said, if you want to enjoy Hitman with the ultra quality settings enabled and then something similar the GTX 1660 is the style to become as it spat out a much more than impressive 93 fps on average.

Testing with Just Cause iv saw the new budget Turing GPU deliver just over twice as many frames when compared to the GTX 960.

The jump upwards from 32 fps on average to 65 fps is massive and it makes leaping and flying around while you attack enemies much easier and perchance more chiefly, much more than enjoyable.

We see a pretty consistent tendency here, testing with Resident Evil 2 saw the GTX 1660 providing 129% more performance at 1080p with the maximum quality preset enabled. More than doubling the frame rate obviously leads to significant improvements in gameplay and while this isn't a game that necessarily needs big frame rates, the smoother motion certain adds to the experience.

Of all the games we've benchmarked so far, Fortnite is by far the least demanding. As such the GTX 960 was good for 52 fps on average and we are using the Epic quality preset, and then with competitive settings the GTX 960 would exist pushing over sixty fps at 1080p. However if yous want 144 fps+ with competitive settings the GTX 1660 will be required and fifty-fifty with the Ballsy preset enabled it still averaged 113 fps.

Metro Exodus is a new and very enervating title. The GTX 1660 tin can't reach a lx fps average at 1080p with the ultra preset enabled. That said information technology'due south a darn sight amend than the 27 fps on average y'all'd be getting with the aging GTX 960, then in that location'south that.

We must acknowledge we were expecting the GTX 960 to practice quite well in Rainbow Six Siege. While 48 fps on average is playable we did expected more, though come up to call up of it we're not exactly certain why given the RX 570 only renders 69 fps on average. This means the upgrade to the GTX 1660 would net you a healthy 146% performance boost, hitting 118 fps on boilerplate.

Battleground V is an interesting result as it's one of the smallest deltas nosotros found for the 1660 over the 960, across the 33 games tested. Here the Turing GPU was 81% faster. Still a big margin but given we've typically seen more than than double the functioning out of the 1660, this is a bit of a surprise.

Although World of Tanks has recently received a major overhaul and we are testing with the Hd client, it'due south even so very well optimized for older hardware. For case, the GTX 960 was good for 55 fps on average and that's very playable performance in this title. However if yous seek more performance and so the GTX 1660 tin can help you out with a nice 91% performance bump.

The GTX 960 also has just enough grunt to play Far Cry New Dawn at 1080p using the ultra quality preset. Pretty impressive and it really speaks to how well optimized this title is.

Still, if you want to continue frame rates well above 60 fps at all times than the 98% operation boost you lot'll get for the GTX 1660 will exist very welcomed.

Power

When it comes to power consumption we see but how impressive the Turing-based GTX 1660 is in terms of efficiency. Despite ofttimes offering twice equally much operation as the GTX 960, information technology pushed total system usage just 16% higher, hitting 262 watts. Even by today's standards the GTX 960 isn't terrible and you'll become abroad with a very minor ability supply.

Putting Information technology All Together

Four years later, we've seen how the GTX 960 performs in mod titles at 1080p using dialed up quality settings. Information technology's non great, but it's likewise most what you lot'd await from a mid-range graphics carte that no uncertainty is still serviceable unless you lot crave summit graphics fidelity.

The GTX 960 went on sale for $200 for the 2GB models, and typically effectually $forty-50 more for the 4GB version that nosotros tested today. If you are running a 2GB model and then the performance uplift is going to be fifty-fifty greater that we saw today.

Based on the 13 games that nosotros just looked at, the GTX 1660 is about twice every bit fast as the GTX 960. At 1080p nosotros're looking at a 117% performance heave on boilerplate. That'south massive and it means Nvidia were right on the money.

Granted, the GeForce GTX 1660 today will cost you ~$280 but that's non unreasonable to ask in today's marketplace and has in fact fabricated other GPUs below or above information technology adjust accordingly. The more affordable Radeon RX 580 8GB costs $190 at the moment, placing it roughly on par with the GTX 1660 in terms of toll per frame if you're going for ultimate value for your buck.

This does mean GTX 960 owners have had a somewhat similar value selection in the RX 580 for some fourth dimension, making the GTX 1660 a petty less exciting. Notwithstanding, at that place is now a number of solid upgrade options for those still using a GTX 960 or something of similar functioning. You tin can cheque out our contempo 33 game test of mainstream GPUs here, or if you're using a GTX 980 instead, we revisited that i a few weeks dorsum, also.