@@shanekyle528 many thanks! That's actually still good CPU ok my idea can come true 😊(high end sort of sleeper for 4k) 3770K + GTX 980 well that will be sweet
@@theanglerfish GPU support is a lot more strict. Most modern nvidia would be the GTX 960. From AMD, the R9 270x. Most modern with multi-GPU support seems to fall to the gtx 590 and hd 6990. CPU's is a little more up in the air. I recall evga had custom xp drivers for their x299 dark entirely because enough buying the board were competitive SuperPi overclockers, and Windows xp is _still_ the fatest operating system to run that benchmark.
As an owner of the 4gb Variant of this card I'm glad to see it's still getting driver support and that the games I want to run are running, and doing so consistently on the slightly weaker card.
@@RandomGaminginHD you can actually modify 960 drivers to support up to a GTX 980 Ti on XP, I even seen people try it with a Titan X, you should look it up it's very interesting 😅
You've been uploading regularly for months and UA-cam has only just now decided to show me a new video of yours. I was in full believe that you had just stopped making content
This is very convenient! I have a 2GB GTX 960 on the way coming in tomorrow and I'm happy to see it performing so well! It's gonna be paired with my "new" Dell Optiplex's i7-3770 and 12GB DDR3!
@@kodokuj That will be a great combo & as @greymatter6834 said a 1060 either 3GB or 6GB would also be a good performance pairing for 3770, I have built many of these for my friends kids to get into PC Gaming. You mentioned not being sure about size 🤔is your Optiplex ATX or SFF? For that age of Optiplex if it is ATX no problem with width but length can interfere with the bottom front 2x HDD BAY with for some bigger 2x Fan models (260mm+) also Cooler Shroud Design interfere with the SATA Sockets/cables on the Mobo. if it is an SFF neither 960 or 1060 will fit you will need a LP 1050/1050Ti/1650 For PSU if it is an ATX case you can upgrade to a regular PSU with 6/8pin PCIe power as the DELL Motherboards used 24pin + 4pin EPS.
I had the EVGA 2GB 960. It did serve me well for several years. Sold it for 80 bucks cash in 2021 to a coworker making a Minecraft pc for his 6 year old nephew. It should still do good for that at least.
Starfield looking and running some of the worst out of this whole lineup, despite being one of the newest titles, is peak Creation Engine shenanigans from Todd. Great video, though. Would not have expected the 960 2GB to be holding up that well either.
That area of the game is one of the most demanding though. That's just "modern gaming" in general though. Optimization is thrown out of the window and everything looks and play worse than most games released in the last decade.
@@exia7684 Not really, Bethesda optimization is never really known to be that great. Starfield isnt even that big of a game, RDR2 is a bigger game and it plays better, Starfield has pre-rendered areas you're confined to while RDR2 allows you anywhere within the massive map's inner boundary
I have an old MSI 960 2GB kicking around, currently sitting in an old machine in the basement that's basically just used for occasional web browsing. It worked well for the roughly 3 years I used it as my primary card in my main box but was glad to upgrade to a 1070 right when I did. I was always annoyed that I got stuck with the 2GB version, my previous card was a 560ti that died quite suddenly on me so I had to grab the best replacement I could reasonably afford on short notice right during that awkward period after the 2GB models were released but before the 4GB models came along. If my old card had held out an extra month or two I would have gladly spent an extra few dollars to double the VRAM. The fact that the 4GB models hadn't even been officially announced at the time but were widely rumoured to be on their way made me annoyed even as I was making the purchase, but I just didn't have the scratch to step up to a 970 or the time to wait to see those rumours pan out.
Maxwell and devil's canyon were the new hotness when I was first getting into PCs. I think both of them have aged pretty well. Hard to believe it's been almost a decade!
I helped a friend to build a 4690K + GTX 960 2GB system in 2015. In 2016 he upgraded to a 1070 and I bought his old 960. I used the GTX 960 as my main card until February 2023 when I bought a used GTX 1080
Great card. I used my Asus GTX 960 until 2020 when I got a 3060 Ti. My son built his first computer that year and bought a used 960 as a placeholder since finding a graphics card that wasn’t absurdly priced was difficult. In 2020, he and I spent 2000 hours…yes 2,000…searching for GPU deals at less than 15% above MSRP. All that work provided us with a trio of 3080 Ti cards (one for each of us and a nephew) and a 3080 waterblocked (the fever had taken over our senses). Expensive backup should one of the cards die.
I am in the process of finding repair parts for my 2014 laptop with the GTX 980M w4GB. If I remember correctly depending on the game the GTX 980M and the GTX 960 were about the same with a slight advantage of the GTX 980M in some games. I haven't used the laptop since 2018 when it broke down, but as my main computer now is just an overheating 2014 GTX860M laptop, I am looking forward to hopefully repairing the GTX 980M laptop. Seeing the numbers in this video of the GTX 960, gives me some hope for at least some games. I mean the GTX860M (4GB) is not that bad all things considered, so it will be a nice boost. But for 2024...well, we will see lol. I know the GTX 9XX series did not get the love of the 10XX series, most people just ignore them, but IMO they are pretty good. Thankfully Nvidia still supports them with drivers. Do you hear that Intel and AMD?
I recently acquired one of these for 30€ (Asus variant) used for my old mini PC with an I7 5500u and I was pleasantly surprised as to how well it ran. I was able to play Stray with the high setting at around 30 to 50 fps and Tropico 6 at a constant 45 fps.
Stuff like that is why I still laugh at people who lose their shit when a game won't run at several-hundred frames at 12K resolution. 720, 30 frames, good to go.
my first pc build was using this gpu back in 2015, then i upgraded it to gtx 1060 in 2018, then upgrade it again to rtx 2060 in 2021. i love 60-series, it sit right in the middle. well, lo and behold, curently i'm using RTX 3060.
I had the 4GB version from when it came out until march of this year, so quite a long time. From march till last week I had a 6700XT and now a 7800XT. Must say, I miss the days of good fps and low power usage lmao. (All 3 cards are great though)
As an EVGA GTX960 AERO ITX user (4GB Vram, maxed boost clocks) - i approve :> the graphics card series is actually not too bad at all! Though the one i use is definetly buffed but tiny - it can run Cyberpunk at high settings at around 52fps without FSR , and BeamNG at high at around 60, both at 1080p. My gpu does pull about a peak power of 130W however, which is a quite bit higher than observed here. Setup for those curious: Ryzen 5 5500 (12 Logical Core, 6 Physical) @4.2GHZ 32gb Corsair 3200MHZ DDR4 Ram Motherboard : MSI b550 gen3 GPU : EVGA GTX960 Aero ITX -> Afterburner OC : Core clock +119mhz (highest before instability) , powerlimit 110%, temp limit 60°C (would set this to 50 but it doesnt let me, it rarely wants to go above 55 with max load) -> Peak speed: 1250MHZ clock, 3510MHZ mem -> Peak Draw: 130W @ 1.14V (no volt mods)
Those are some insane temps, i have a Sapphire Tri-X Radeon R9 290 OC and commonly hit 90+ in most games (sometimes getting to the point of thermal throttling at 94)
@@denz8ty648 i am planning to make my case's airflow even nicer so i get even more performance out of it, but i doubt swapping some fans out for higher flow rate noctuas will make an impact on the gpu, moreso the CPU
I think the Pre GTX10 and RX400 cards are underappreciated because of how dominant and cheap those cards were between the mining/scalping crisis. The 960 is also a good card to use in prebuilds with a adapter (if the PSU has no 6pin but enough power on 12v AND a decent quality like FSP), a lot of people seem to spend a fair amount of money on cards that don't require a 6pin connector but lack performance even compared to the 960. I'm currently waiting for a KFA 960 2GB to be delivered for just above 15€, usually they go for 20-30€+shipping, which is still reasonable relative to their price. I also still think very highly of the HD7950/7970 / R9 280/X (with NImez drivers) which can be found fairly cheap, but I'd have to splurge on PSUs to sell PCs with them, which makes it not worth the hassle.
My old asus screen supports both dvi, hdmi and dp. And all ports works differently. hdmi only 60 hz, dp does not work properly idk, but i get 144 hz iirc, and dvi 144 hz no issues on my old 970. After 10 series no DVI :)
I have this very specific problem that my screen Benq 2411XL (the old old old model) has only DVI 144hz support. I have 1070Ti and best upgrade for me are some very specific RTX 2060 Super or RTX 2070 models. So if I wanted more GPU horsepower I would have to upgrade my monitor too D: CPU R5 3600 and have upgrade path to 5700X3D.
I used this until July 29th this year and finally upgraded to a 4090. When I built my system back in 2020 with a ryzen 3900X it was basically impossible to get a new GPU. So I decided to pick up this one for 40 bucks and upgrade it later. Turned out that I didn't even need an upgrade. Switching from a 960 to a 4090 is quite an upgrade though.
its nice to see that many people are still using these old but perfectly acceptable gpus and it makes the following upgrade even more worth (like in your case), so thats a win-win in my book
@@schl1910 Honestly I'd wait until they get a bit cheaper a while after launch, you should still be able to game with that 3900x pretty well even if it is the bottleneck. I just bought a 5900x since it was on sale for 220 dollars. Was it that big an upgrade over the 5800x I was using? No and I really shouldn't have done it tbh but I have never owned any Ryzen 9s so I wanted to give it a shot. Good CPU but I think mine runs a bit hot, opposite of my 5800x which runs a lot cooler than the average 5800x since people have told me in the past the 5800x runs hotter then the 5900x due to the heat being more concentrated. (8 cores 1 CCD vs 6 cores 2 CCDs)
Not sure if you know this already, but in Elden Ring you should equip lighter armor until you get to medium equip load. Then your rolls will be a lot more effective!
I just bought a 4GB 960 and paired it with a 5600X. Like you the results in my usual games blew me away. Such a fun card. And the Gaming X is dead quiet, too!
thanks a lot for videos like these. It really puts things into perspective, I mean, I've got a 6700xt and love it to bits, but sometimes when I think that at some point I might have to upgrade it, I'm also reminded that what with things like FSR, etc, it may be able to hold its own quite well in the future, all things considered
I have a serious bond with this card. It was my third GPU, switched form a 1030 and i used it for quite some time. It never led me down, partly cuz i know it's limits. I lately acquired one yet again to resummon the build I used first with it. For the money it can be had and looking at it's limitations I think it can be a solid pick as a starting point.
Thanks FSR for basically adding a generation worth of viable lifetime for the older cards. 9:42 but damn, Doom 1 really had a glow up, I don't remember that level though
i bought this gpu literally 1 day before u uploaded for 30 bucks, its a great gpu and a massive upgrade from my gtx 1030 only games i play are like singleplayer titles, it even runs cyberpunk with fsr !!
I was using a 4GB 960 in my media PC until about a year ago, I didn't carry it over to the new system instead opting for a GTX 1660S I had around. People said I was stupid when I got the 4GB 960 but I called it future proofing. It was primarily used for upscaling and post processing and some decode work. I never gamed with it much on the TV, certainly nothing demanding. The EVGA card was massively over cooled for what power it could consume but it was whisper quiet at all times.
Got this card on launch and it's still being used. £160 well spent. Always suprises me with what it can pull off these days. It managed Calisto Protocol which absolutely murders the Seam Deck for some reason. Only game I've seen bring it to it's knees is Baldurs Gate 3, but I don't image the 4th gen i5 is helping much there. I picked up a 4gb variant for a housemates PC as it was very cheap. Not seen any title struggle at all but he does tend to stick to older titles. Might have to push the boat out on it at some point.
Oh, that's interesting. I have completely looked past Baldurs Gate thinking an old card running it is just out of the question. So I guess an old dog like the 1070 has a chance after all
It's funny that you mention the 960 holding up in today's games... back in the day i had a 960 and my experience was overall disappointing... tho it started its life in my amd fx 8150...so that maybe have been why... but when i upgraded to a 6700k it still seemd not good enough.. i sold it and bough an asus rog strix 108ti oc on releaze and man... that card was one of the best purchaes of my life.
This Maxwell series generation of GPUs and the gt8800 were the gpus that made Nvidia destroy all the competition. The jump in performance to power ratio was insane in maxwell generation compared to the Fermi architecture.
This is the exact model I have had since 2015 as my first graphics card! Funnily enough I booted this card up only a couple of days ago to see how things were running and to try some overclocking. Having never replaced the thermal paste or cleaned the card it was running at 85+ degrees under load but after giving it some TLC it runs at 70 under load inside my old case which has next to 0 airflow.
If anything this is a great advertisement for FSR technology, such a wonderful gift from AMD (to it's own user base as well as NVidia users that were left behind by NVidia). Chip Chip Hooray....
@@wyterabitt2149 DLSS is not actually aimed at older 2GB cards though it's designed for new low-mid tier cards (it's made for RTX not GTX). NVidia wants people to buy newer cards, they don't care about preservation for people with older cards.
@@RoCkShaDoWWaLkEr I am not talking about DLSS. In the Nvidia control panel there is a standard upscaling option, just like how Intel's version and FSR work. it's been there for a long time. It has nothing to do with DLSS. It's not as easy or convenient to use and you need to mess around with it to work, so I get why people don't use it. But I would have thought it would get a mention occasionally.
@@wyterabitt2149 My comment still stands, NVidia is not trying to preserve the experience for people with older cards, they want people to buy new cards.
You're honestly better off not even bothering to benchmark Starfield. It's so unoptimized that anything older than an RTX 3000 series is going to struggle. So the 2GB (or 4GB) 960 was never going to perform well.
Still, just incase anybody out there was wondering. I personally use a gtx970 and I wouldn't even try, but it's good to know that indeed it would not be playable.
@@elvsrbad2Its only crap from performance perpective .gameplay wise its just mediocre or so so because starfield , sorry starlag is just ridiculously overhyped
The 2gb gtx 960 is what I call the Minecraft graphics card. I have a friend group that runs nothin but old Intel CPUs and gtx 960s because they only play Minecraft so they've had 0 reason for an upgrade.
I know it's obscene to pay so much for a mouse, but buying a logitech superlight and a large mousepad was the best QOL change to my computing experience by far, and I barely game these days. Amazed how good this card still holds up. I think my RTX 2060 will be serviceable for a long time.
I bought one a few months ago for a small pc i was putting together for my daughter. I was really happy with how it performed. But then immediately upgraded to a 1050ti for that pc.
GTX 960 is still a solid budget option, especially if you are realistic with your gaming choices, i.e. low detail at 1080P. I have an idea for a video for you - the low profile RTX3050 6GB. It apparently uses 70 Watts of power, so no external power connector. I saw an MSI one on Amazon for around £150 new, so it could be a viable option. There was also a Gigabyte variant at around £170 too. This is pretty similar money to the RX6400 low profile card, so a comparison between the two could be another video idea!
Im running a 2gb varient myself currently. One of the EVGA ones with the acx 2.0 cooling. Works fairly well still considering im still on a i5 6500. Started planning a new build soon for myself for the inevitable kill switch on windows 10 updates.
PLEASE revisit the GTX 680 in both variants, had to use a 680 2GB with a 3440x1440p monitor, whilst waiting for return of my Replacement 4080, it did hold up way better than I thought, and the VRAM definitely held it back a fair bit.
A perfect example of why it's not worth saving money on VRAM when the price difference is as small as it was with the 960 4GB. The GPU itself is capable of playing a lot of games, but it's often limited by VRAM (you can see that), and high textures are such an easy way to make a game look much better.
Been rocking an EVGA 960SC model since 2019 which I got for $30. It was an absolute steal and I'll be keeping it for another year or two! While kepler sure has stayed strong over the year, these 900 cards are not a bad choice for budget builds
Imho the 970 was one of the best value cars for years to come, with a 970 you could skip the 1060, you could play all the way through to a 2060 or maybe even 3060. That Card was SO GOOD...... maybe even still is.
I'm actually using one right now, had to sell my 3080 because of financial reasons. The card is still decent, handles online and indie titles well, currently even playing Path of Exile, albeit at 720p on the lowest settings.
This card will usually be paired with a ddr3 machine methinks. Without the bandwidth extra ddr4 buffer provides, I'm pretty sure performance would be lower.
I had (still do, but don't use it) a STRIX 960 2GB, i got it it 2021 as i needed a gpu but couldnt afford a better one at the time, and let me tell you, it was amazing, it ran everything i threw to it (well, excluding TLOU, but expected lol) it overclocked like a CHAMP, had 1800 MHz on the core and around 7500 MHz on the VRAM using afterburner and never went over 70 on summer I now replaced it with a 3060Ti but plan to hold on to it just in case
Actually i currently use this on one PC. It runs valheim and Fortnite (medium) really well with a nice overclock (+175/+550 - no extra voltage). The 2gb version, from my experience, overclocks more than the 4gb version. My card is asus strix rog and peaks around 61 degrees (regardless of overclock settings) When i get more time i mighty adding extra voltage to see if it will run at higher core clock (and obviously measure the effect - overclocking without a meaningful Fps impact is kind of dumb)
I think it's cool how these older cards can still be made to play modern titles albeit with proper settings and tempered expectations. I have 2 960 cards both are the 4gb models. I also have 2 GTX 770 2gb cards that I'm thinking of bench testing for kicks.
I still have my 950 from 2015 and was going to use it as a temp gpu in a modern 2024 build, kind of wish I did instead of spending on a modern card, little card that could and still sort of does!
I have a 970 sitting in storage if you want to test that, probably cost more than it's worth to send it across the pond but it's yours if you want it haha
You got seagulls where you live? I got some living at my town too somehow, except we're 600m high and 130km away from the nearest sea, across a small mountain range. Go figure.
FYI This is the last modern GPU that has official Windows XP driver support
That gives me an idea...what about CPU?
@@theanglerfish official intel support - Ivy Bridge, so best is 3770K
@@theanglerfishi7-3770k that's the most high end cpu that still support windows xp if im not mistaken
@@shanekyle528 many thanks! That's actually still good CPU ok my idea can come true 😊(high end sort of sleeper for 4k) 3770K + GTX 980 well that will be sweet
@@theanglerfish GPU support is a lot more strict. Most modern nvidia would be the GTX 960. From AMD, the R9 270x. Most modern with multi-GPU support seems to fall to the gtx 590 and hd 6990.
CPU's is a little more up in the air. I recall evga had custom xp drivers for their x299 dark entirely because enough buying the board were competitive SuperPi overclockers, and Windows xp is _still_ the fatest operating system to run that benchmark.
Careful, Nvidia is going to see this and make 2GB 5060.
With dlss 4.20
1.5gb* the North remembers.
@@El_Domin generating not 9 pixels for each real one, but all pixels and all possible pixels in the future, for the Ultimate acid trip experience.
@@El_Domin with ntc , you never know,
gddr5 :D
As an owner of the 4gb Variant of this card I'm glad to see it's still getting driver support and that the games I want to run are running, and doing so consistently on the slightly weaker card.
Me with a 960m, grateful to still getting updates
@@Mcjuanse04wow especially the mobile variant. I would have thought the 10 series would be EOL by now much more the 9
liar i cant play on my gtx 1060 fortnite a 6gb card 2 gb wont play music
It is the last card from nVidia that had Windows XP drivers.
Oh really? Sounds like I need to try xp again!
@@RandomGaminginHD you can actually modify 960 drivers to support up to a GTX 980 Ti on XP, I even seen people try it with a Titan X, you should look it up it's very interesting 😅
better stick to gtx 580 or older for the dx5/6 support
@@RandomGaminginHD Ultimate XP Build?
970/980/980ti support can be added in by modifying the inf file.
You've been uploading regularly for months and UA-cam has only just now decided to show me a new video of yours. I was in full believe that you had just stopped making content
Ah welcome back!
If you just set the Subscriptions tab as your homepage you get every video you are subbed to.
@@RandomGaminginHD are you heterosexual
should of
This is very convenient! I have a 2GB GTX 960 on the way coming in tomorrow and I'm happy to see it performing so well!
It's gonna be paired with my "new" Dell Optiplex's i7-3770 and 12GB DDR3!
Try to get a Gtx 1060 3/6 gb card next. Same power draw for weak power supplies, and much better graphics.
@@greymatter6834 if I have to send it back cause the size doesn’t fit my case then I’ll def keep that in mind
@@kodokuj cool, might need to get a 6 or 8 pin adapter. Glhf.
@@greymatter6834 my dell (7010 MT) has a standard 24 pin power do I was lucky to not need an adapter! Already have my 750 watt psu in!
@@kodokuj That will be a great combo & as @greymatter6834 said a 1060 either 3GB or 6GB would also be a good performance pairing for 3770, I have built many of these for my friends kids to get into PC Gaming.
You mentioned not being sure about size 🤔is your Optiplex ATX or SFF?
For that age of Optiplex if it is ATX no problem with width but length can interfere with the bottom front 2x HDD BAY with for some bigger 2x Fan models (260mm+)
also Cooler Shroud Design interfere with the SATA Sockets/cables on the Mobo.
if it is an SFF neither 960 or 1060 will fit you will need a LP 1050/1050Ti/1650
For PSU if it is an ATX case you can upgrade to a regular PSU with 6/8pin PCIe power as the DELL Motherboards used 24pin + 4pin EPS.
I had the EVGA 2GB 960. It did serve me well for several years. Sold it for 80 bucks cash in 2021 to a coworker making a Minecraft pc for his 6 year old nephew. It should still do good for that at least.
Oh man. Nostalgia trip. lol Had the MSI 960 2gb OC version for 7 years. Upgraded to the 6800xt back in 2022.
Had the 4 gig version untill christmas last year, even managed to get me through cyberpunks story a couple of times.
Good to hear you calling the gtx 960 power effiecent.
Not everyone praises the old cards these days.
It's extremely power inefficient
8:32 Phantom horses catch me unprepared in RDR2 😵💫
A few months back I also tested out this card against many modern games, I'm still impressed by it's performance even with the low amount of vram!
Starfield looking and running some of the worst out of this whole lineup, despite being one of the newest titles, is peak Creation Engine shenanigans from Todd. Great video, though. Would not have expected the 960 2GB to be holding up that well either.
That area of the game is one of the most demanding though.
That's just "modern gaming" in general though. Optimization is thrown out of the window and everything looks and play worse than most games released in the last decade.
@@exia7684 Not really, Bethesda optimization is never really known to be that great. Starfield isnt even that big of a game, RDR2 is a bigger game and it plays better, Starfield has pre-rendered areas you're confined to while RDR2 allows you anywhere within the massive map's inner boundary
My daughter has a 3GB 970m, which is pretty much a 960, in a SFF PC and it still does her well :)
I have an old MSI 960 2GB kicking around, currently sitting in an old machine in the basement that's basically just used for occasional web browsing. It worked well for the roughly 3 years I used it as my primary card in my main box but was glad to upgrade to a 1070 right when I did. I was always annoyed that I got stuck with the 2GB version, my previous card was a 560ti that died quite suddenly on me so I had to grab the best replacement I could reasonably afford on short notice right during that awkward period after the 2GB models were released but before the 4GB models came along. If my old card had held out an extra month or two I would have gladly spent an extra few dollars to double the VRAM. The fact that the 4GB models hadn't even been officially announced at the time but were widely rumoured to be on their way made me annoyed even as I was making the purchase, but I just didn't have the scratch to step up to a 970 or the time to wait to see those rumours pan out.
Maxwell and devil's canyon were the new hotness when I was first getting into PCs. I think both of them have aged pretty well. Hard to believe it's been almost a decade!
Yeah I know time sure flies!
Hard to believe it has been a couple of decades since I've seen or heard the expression "new hotness".
My first PC was a 4790k and GTX 970. Good times
I helped a friend to build a 4690K + GTX 960 2GB system in 2015. In 2016 he upgraded to a 1070 and I bought his old 960. I used the GTX 960 as my main card until February 2023 when I bought a used GTX 1080
i'm in awe of your production quality, top-notch!
Love this GPU
Yeah same :)
@@RandomGaminginHD me too
Great card. I used my Asus GTX 960 until 2020 when I got a 3060 Ti. My son built his first computer that year and bought a used 960 as a placeholder since finding a graphics card that wasn’t absurdly priced was difficult. In 2020, he and I spent 2000 hours…yes 2,000…searching for GPU deals at less than 15% above MSRP. All that work provided us with a trio of 3080 Ti cards (one for each of us and a nephew) and a 3080 waterblocked (the fever had taken over our senses). Expensive backup should one of the cards die.
I am in the process of finding repair parts for my 2014 laptop with the GTX 980M w4GB. If I remember correctly depending on the game the GTX 980M and the GTX 960 were about the same with a slight advantage of the GTX 980M in some games. I haven't used the laptop since 2018 when it broke down, but as my main computer now is just an overheating 2014 GTX860M laptop, I am looking forward to hopefully repairing the GTX 980M laptop. Seeing the numbers in this video of the GTX 960, gives me some hope for at least some games. I mean the GTX860M (4GB) is not that bad all things considered, so it will be a nice boost. But for 2024...well, we will see lol.
I know the GTX 9XX series did not get the love of the 10XX series, most people just ignore them, but IMO they are pretty good. Thankfully Nvidia still supports them with drivers. Do you hear that Intel and AMD?
I have a name for these "new to be obsolete but bad enough to be obsolete" The Nephew Special
My old GTX 960 sitting somewhere in a drawer: "Don't do that. Don't give me hope"
? Throw it! Sell it!
I recently acquired one of these for 30€ (Asus variant) used for my old mini PC with an I7 5500u and I was pleasantly surprised as to how well it ran. I was able to play Stray with the high setting at around 30 to 50 fps and Tropico 6 at a constant 45 fps.
Stuff like that is why I still laugh at people who lose their shit when a game won't run at several-hundred frames at 12K resolution. 720, 30 frames, good to go.
my first pc build was using this gpu back in 2015, then i upgraded it to gtx 1060 in 2018, then upgrade it again to rtx 2060 in 2021. i love 60-series, it sit right in the middle. well, lo and behold, curently i'm using RTX 3060.
I had the 4GB version from when it came out until march of this year, so quite a long time. From march till last week I had a 6700XT and now a 7800XT. Must say, I miss the days of good fps and low power usage lmao. (All 3 cards are great though)
As an EVGA GTX960 AERO ITX user (4GB Vram, maxed boost clocks) - i approve :> the graphics card series is actually not too bad at all!
Though the one i use is definetly buffed but tiny - it can run Cyberpunk at high settings at around 52fps without FSR , and BeamNG at high at around 60, both at 1080p.
My gpu does pull about a peak power of 130W however, which is a quite bit higher than observed here.
Setup for those curious:
Ryzen 5 5500 (12 Logical Core, 6 Physical) @4.2GHZ
32gb Corsair 3200MHZ DDR4 Ram
Motherboard : MSI b550 gen3
GPU : EVGA GTX960 Aero ITX
-> Afterburner OC : Core clock +119mhz (highest before instability) , powerlimit 110%, temp limit 60°C (would set this to 50 but it doesnt let me, it rarely wants to go above 55 with max load)
-> Peak speed: 1250MHZ clock, 3510MHZ mem
-> Peak Draw: 130W @ 1.14V (no volt mods)
Those are some insane temps, i have a Sapphire Tri-X Radeon R9 290 OC and commonly hit 90+ in most games (sometimes getting to the point of thermal throttling at 94)
I was confused for a good minute by your cpu spec until I realized you were giving us the logical core count instead of physical.
woops, edited the info, so no more confusions
@@denz8ty648 i am planning to make my case's airflow even nicer so i get even more performance out of it, but i doubt swapping some fans out for higher flow rate noctuas will make an impact on the gpu, moreso the CPU
though i must say, for a tiny gpu, this thing is hauling alot.
I think the Pre GTX10 and RX400 cards are underappreciated because of how dominant and cheap those cards were between the mining/scalping crisis.
The 960 is also a good card to use in prebuilds with a adapter (if the PSU has no 6pin but enough power on 12v AND a decent quality like FSP), a lot of people seem to spend a fair amount of money on cards that don't require a 6pin connector but lack performance even compared to the 960.
I'm currently waiting for a KFA 960 2GB to be delivered for just above 15€, usually they go for 20-30€+shipping, which is still reasonable relative to their price.
I also still think very highly of the HD7950/7970 / R9 280/X (with NImez drivers) which can be found fairly cheap, but I'd have to splurge on PSUs to sell PCs with them, which makes it not worth the hassle.
I'm impressed that Starfield even launched
The good ol' DVI connector.
Yep don’t see it too often these days!
My old asus screen supports both dvi, hdmi and dp. And all ports works differently. hdmi only 60 hz, dp does not work properly idk, but i get 144 hz iirc, and dvi 144 hz no issues on my old 970. After 10 series no DVI :)
I have this very specific problem that my screen Benq 2411XL (the old old old model) has only DVI 144hz support. I have 1070Ti and best upgrade for me are some very specific RTX 2060 Super or RTX 2070 models. So if I wanted more GPU horsepower I would have to upgrade my monitor too D: CPU R5 3600 and have upgrade path to 5700X3D.
@@Jomenaa Couldn't you just use a hdmi to DVI cable?
@@RandomGaminginHD There is at least one ""modern"" card, the 3050 6gb, where some variants has it (and also the less modern original 3050)
Always enjoy the self deprecating humor of your CS2 skill lol
Ur videos are a breathe of fresh air while everyone else is pushing 4060s nkt!love ur content bruv
I used this until July 29th this year and finally upgraded to a 4090.
When I built my system back in 2020 with a ryzen 3900X it was basically impossible to get a new GPU. So I decided to pick up this one for 40 bucks and upgrade it later. Turned out that I didn't even need an upgrade.
Switching from a 960 to a 4090 is quite an upgrade though.
Night and day difference lol
Massive CPU-GPU gap lol
Massive bottleneck
Glad it worked well while you used it though
its nice to see that many people are still using these old but perfectly acceptable gpus and it makes the following upgrade even more worth (like in your case), so thats a win-win in my book
@@nesyboi9421 And now the GPU is way too strong for the cpu. I will upgrade my CPU when ryzen 9000 launches.
@@schl1910 Honestly I'd wait until they get a bit cheaper a while after launch, you should still be able to game with that 3900x pretty well even if it is the bottleneck. I just bought a 5900x since it was on sale for 220 dollars. Was it that big an upgrade over the 5800x I was using?
No and I really shouldn't have done it tbh but I have never owned any Ryzen 9s so I wanted to give it a shot. Good CPU but I think mine runs a bit hot, opposite of my 5800x which runs a lot cooler than the average 5800x since people have told me in the past the 5800x runs hotter then the 5900x due to the heat being more concentrated. (8 cores 1 CCD vs 6 cores 2 CCDs)
it's 2024, Im running a evga gtx 960 4GB paired with a Ryzen 5 1600 for my gaming needs. Works well.
Not sure if you know this already, but in Elden Ring you should equip lighter armor until you get to medium equip load. Then your rolls will be a lot more effective!
I just bought a 4GB 960 and paired it with a 5600X.
Like you the results in my usual games blew me away. Such a fun card.
And the Gaming X is dead quiet, too!
I have this card in my old desktop tower. Time to dust it off!
2 years and my man still does not know you get medium roll by simply removing the halberd in his second right hand slot. Never change you crazy Brit
3:37 here we go !
thanks a lot for videos like these. It really puts things into perspective, I mean, I've got a 6700xt and love it to bits, but sometimes when I think that at some point I might have to upgrade it, I'm also reminded that what with things like FSR, etc, it may be able to hold its own quite well in the future, all things considered
I have a serious bond with this card. It was my third GPU, switched form a 1030 and i used it for quite some time. It never led me down, partly cuz i know it's limits. I lately acquired one yet again to resummon the build I used first with it. For the money it can be had and looking at it's limitations I think it can be a solid pick as a starting point.
Thanks FSR for basically adding a generation worth of viable lifetime for the older cards. 9:42 but damn, Doom 1 really had a glow up, I don't remember that level though
Seagull fighting for bacon... Seems like you played some Fallout London, LOL!
i bought this gpu literally 1 day before u uploaded for 30 bucks, its a great gpu and a massive upgrade from my gtx 1030 only games i play are like singleplayer titles, it even runs cyberpunk with fsr !!
the 900 series is sorta like Geralt before making the mutations. Humbling, but still a beast. o what was to come next is revolutionary.
I was using a 4GB 960 in my media PC until about a year ago, I didn't carry it over to the new system instead opting for a GTX 1660S I had around. People said I was stupid when I got the 4GB 960 but I called it future proofing. It was primarily used for upscaling and post processing and some decode work. I never gamed with it much on the TV, certainly nothing demanding. The EVGA card was massively over cooled for what power it could consume but it was whisper quiet at all times.
Got this card on launch and it's still being used. £160 well spent. Always suprises me with what it can pull off these days. It managed Calisto Protocol which absolutely murders the Seam Deck for some reason. Only game I've seen bring it to it's knees is Baldurs Gate 3, but I don't image the 4th gen i5 is helping much there.
I picked up a 4gb variant for a housemates PC as it was very cheap. Not seen any title struggle at all but he does tend to stick to older titles. Might have to push the boat out on it at some point.
had the same card since 2021 to March 2024, truly the 🐐 in my heart
since I upgraded, I gave it away free to a friend
The fact that this thing from 2015 runs CYBERPUNK is a miracle
As always, great video.
Thanks again!
Aah, the Zotac GTX 960 2GB! I still have one of those in a secondary system.
Oh, that's interesting.
I have completely looked past Baldurs Gate thinking an old card running it is just out of the question.
So I guess an old dog like the 1070 has a chance after all
ive had a gtx 960 4gb , what a good card at the time. could play anything, had really good fun with it
I’ve got one of these! MSI/OEM blower model with the red PCB came as part of a Lenovo Gaming Prebuilt. Rocked as my main well into 2021
It's funny that you mention the 960 holding up in today's games... back in the day i had a 960 and my experience was overall disappointing... tho it started its life in my amd fx 8150...so that maybe have been why... but when i upgraded to a 6700k it still seemd not good enough.. i sold it and bough an asus rog strix 108ti oc on releaze and man... that card was one of the best purchaes of my life.
This Maxwell series generation of GPUs and the gt8800 were the gpus that made Nvidia destroy all the competition. The jump in performance to power ratio was insane in maxwell generation compared to the Fermi architecture.
I’ve still got this card laying around, maxwell was a beast
This is the exact model I have had since 2015 as my first graphics card! Funnily enough I booted this card up only a couple of days ago to see how things were running and to try some overclocking. Having never replaced the thermal paste or cleaned the card it was running at 85+ degrees under load but after giving it some TLC it runs at 70 under load inside my old case which has next to 0 airflow.
If anything this is a great advertisement for FSR technology, such a wonderful gift from AMD (to it's own user base as well as NVidia users that were left behind by NVidia). Chip Chip Hooray....
Yeah FSR has been great for keeping old cards alive
Nvidia has upscale software in the drivers and has for a long time. Nobody uses it, I've never seen a comparison between it and fsr even.
@@wyterabitt2149 DLSS is not actually aimed at older 2GB cards though it's designed for new low-mid tier cards (it's made for RTX not GTX). NVidia wants people to buy newer cards, they don't care about preservation for people with older cards.
@@RoCkShaDoWWaLkEr I am not talking about DLSS. In the Nvidia control panel there is a standard upscaling option, just like how Intel's version and FSR work. it's been there for a long time. It has nothing to do with DLSS. It's not as easy or convenient to use and you need to mess around with it to work, so I get why people don't use it. But I would have thought it would get a mention occasionally.
@@wyterabitt2149 My comment still stands, NVidia is not trying to preserve the experience for people with older cards, they want people to buy new cards.
You're honestly better off not even bothering to benchmark Starfield. It's so unoptimized that anything older than an RTX 3000 series is going to struggle. So the 2GB (or 4GB) 960 was never going to perform well.
I enjoy being reminded what a piece of crap that game is, I say keep it in for the chuckle
Still, just incase anybody out there was wondering. I personally use a gtx970 and I wouldn't even try, but it's good to know that indeed it would not be playable.
@@elvsrbad2Its only crap from performance perpective .gameplay wise its just mediocre or so so because starfield , sorry starlag is just ridiculously overhyped
@@elvsrbad2there are far worse games out there that was not worth playing at all even for free
The 2gb gtx 960 is what I call the Minecraft graphics card. I have a friend group that runs nothin but old Intel CPUs and gtx 960s because they only play Minecraft so they've had 0 reason for an upgrade.
I know it's obscene to pay so much for a mouse, but buying a logitech superlight and a large mousepad was the best QOL change to my computing experience by far, and I barely game these days. Amazed how good this card still holds up. I think my RTX 2060 will be serviceable for a long time.
Different variant but the 960 2gb was my first gpu in 2015! Good memories
I had the GTX 960 4GB SuperClocked, amazing GPU with amazing performance for the money for the time.
I bought one a few months ago for a small pc i was putting together for my daughter. I was really happy with how it performed. But then immediately upgraded to a 1050ti for that pc.
I was pleasantly surprised that gpu I still using since 2015 is being reviewed in 2024. this card is holding on better than i thought
I upgraded from this thing to a 7900XT
GTX 960 is still a solid budget option, especially if you are realistic with your gaming choices, i.e. low detail at 1080P.
I have an idea for a video for you - the low profile RTX3050 6GB. It apparently uses 70 Watts of power, so no external power connector. I saw an MSI one on Amazon for around £150 new, so it could be a viable option. There was also a Gigabyte variant at around £170 too. This is pretty similar money to the RX6400 low profile card, so a comparison between the two could be another video idea!
Who won the fight for the bacon? Don't leave us hanging, I'm invested now!
I like watching videos like this to see how older gpus hold up now
P.S any chance you can a video on the palit gtx 1070 jetstream.
Im running a 2gb varient myself currently. One of the EVGA ones with the acx 2.0 cooling. Works fairly well still considering im still on a i5 6500. Started planning a new build soon for myself for the inevitable kill switch on windows 10 updates.
Of course you should buy one if you are building retro Win XP computer. 970 is overkill but 960 IS the sweet spot.
I still have my 2GB Strix, it's served me well, and is still running fine.
PLEASE revisit the GTX 680 in both variants, had to use a 680 2GB with a 3440x1440p monitor, whilst waiting for return of my Replacement 4080, it did hold up way better than I thought, and the VRAM definitely held it back a fair bit.
I'd fight those seagulls for bacon
My Palit GTX 960 Jetstream is still alive! My very first GPU 😂 ❤ I still use it for my office pc with r5 3600. 😊
A perfect example of why it's not worth saving money on VRAM when the price difference is as small as it was with the 960 4GB. The GPU itself is capable of playing a lot of games, but it's often limited by VRAM (you can see that), and high textures are such an easy way to make a game look much better.
This is why when I bought my RTX 3060 I got the 12gb model. Enough vram to last 10 years.
Similarly, my old R9 270 held up surprisingly well when im reasonable about detail levels.
Been rocking an EVGA 960SC model since 2019 which I got for $30. It was an absolute steal and I'll be keeping it for another year or two! While kepler sure has stayed strong over the year, these 900 cards are not a bad choice for budget builds
Imho the 970 was one of the best value cars for years to come, with a 970 you could skip the 1060, you could play all the way through to a 2060 or maybe even 3060. That Card was SO GOOD...... maybe even still is.
Did you tried Starfield 720p? Great video btw!
I'm actually using one right now, had to sell my 3080 because of financial reasons. The card is still decent, handles online and indie titles well, currently even playing Path of Exile, albeit at 720p on the lowest settings.
This was the minimum requirements GPU for Oculus Rift back in the day after they lowered it from a 970. Main reason I got a 970 was for Rift.
This card will usually be paired with a ddr3 machine methinks. Without the bandwidth extra ddr4 buffer provides, I'm pretty sure performance would be lower.
I had (still do, but don't use it) a STRIX 960 2GB, i got it it 2021 as i needed a gpu but couldnt afford a better one at the time, and let me tell you, it was amazing, it ran everything i threw to it (well, excluding TLOU, but expected lol) it overclocked like a CHAMP, had 1800 MHz on the core and around 7500 MHz on the VRAM using afterburner and never went over 70 on summer
I now replaced it with a 3060Ti but plan to hold on to it just in case
You should do a 1050 vs 960 video, the last 2gb gaming cards from nvidia
this
I had an Asus Strix 960 4gb back then.. it was a pretty good upgrade from my 750ti. Then I swapped it for a 3gb 1060, and the leap was huge.
Actually i currently use this on one PC. It runs valheim and Fortnite (medium) really well with a nice overclock (+175/+550 - no extra voltage). The 2gb version, from my experience, overclocks more than the 4gb version. My card is asus strix rog and peaks around 61 degrees (regardless of overclock settings)
When i get more time i mighty adding extra voltage to see if it will run at higher core clock (and obviously measure the effect
- overclocking without a meaningful Fps impact is kind of dumb)
Ive still got my EVGA 960 SSC 2GB stored in my closet, shame TSA annihilated my card so it doesnt work but legendary card i still love
Buddy's GTX 960 was struggling with CS2, but he had it paired with an i5-4690k.
It was between this and the R9 270X. I ended up getting the XFX R9 270X 4GB for only $40 more than what a 2GB 960 was at the time.
I think it's cool how these older cards can still be made to play modern titles albeit with proper settings and tempered expectations. I have 2 960 cards both are the 4gb models. I also have 2 GTX 770 2gb cards that I'm thinking of bench testing for kicks.
I once made use of the GTX 960 myself, though it was the 4GB model.
I wonder how the GTX 960 Sli would perform vs a 980 nowadays, the budget dual card setup was my dream back in 2015 :D
Hard to believe there was a time when Nvidia actually cared and released decent GPUs for a reasonable price. I miss those days...
Now that Fallout London is out, will you replace Fallout 4 with it in your benchmarks ??
I still have my 950 from 2015 and was going to use it as a temp gpu in a modern 2024 build, kind of wish I did instead of spending on a modern card, little card that could and still sort of does!
What an insane GPU
I have a 970 sitting in storage if you want to test that, probably cost more than it's worth to send it across the pond but it's yours if you want it haha
You got seagulls where you live? I got some living at my town too somehow, except we're 600m high and 130km away from the nearest sea, across a small mountain range. Go figure.
i picked up a 1050ti for my old win 7 pc
and it works like a charm