Gtx 960 power usage: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 Specs

15 февраля, 2023

Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 Power Consumption Details

Power Consumption Details

Power Consumption Measurement

We measure the power consumption of the graphics cards just like we described in our foundations story. It’s particularly interesting to see large differences between the relatively well-balanced power consumption during the gaming loop and the comparatively high values during constantly high load. However, these maximums, which are determined by the power target, aren’t really all that relevant, unless the goal is to massively overclock the graphics card. These cards’ sweet spot is somewhere around 80 to 90W, so, naturally, the efficiency for gaming operation with quickly changing loads is the focus.

Since we don’t have access to a reference Nvidia GeForce GTX 960, and the existing tools don’t allow for more than a slight reduction in clock speed, we made the decision to use the Galax GTX 960 EX OC instead. It uses the reference board design and was also the only graphics card that could be “underclocked” all the way to a 1113MHz base frequency. The power target of 120 W fits as well, which means that our measurements should be spot on.

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Model Idle Gaming Torture Power Target
Nvidia GTX 960 Reference (Emulated) 10W 85W 119W 120W
Asus GTX 960 Strix OC 7W 100W 144W 130W
Gainward GTX 960 Phantom OC 7W 100W 133W 140W
Galax/KFA² GTX 960 EX OC 11W 90W 119W 120W
Gigabyte GTX 960 WindForce OC 11W 97W 165W 160W
Gigabyte GTX 960 Gaming G1 15W 108W 170W 160W
inno3D GTX 960 iChill 9W 98W 162W 160W
Palit GTX 970 Super JetStream 10W 108W 133W 140W

Overall, all of the graphics cards post reasonable power consumption numbers. At least this is the case as long as the telemetry in conjunction with the driver can keep up and is able to adjust it to the load fluctuations that occur during gaming.

Problems at the Motherboard Slot

We’ve got to go back to the foundations article mentioned above to put the measurements at separate rails into context. This is because the otherwise very good Asus GTX 960 Strix leaves the motherboard connector to deal with unprecedented unfiltered power spikes all on its own:

For comparison, here’s a look at the Gainward GTX 960 Phantom OC, which presents a much more calm picture, while being almost as fast as the Asus GTX 960 Strix.

The very frequent spikes beyond the motherboard slot’s supposed limit won’t cause immediate damage to the hardware, but there might well be long-term repercussions that are hard to judge now. The same goes for how the system might otherwise be impacted with problems such as “chirping” on-board sound when the mouse is moved. The Asus GTX 960 Strix should do a much better job smoothing these spikes out.

Finally, we’re presenting the detailed measurement results of all the graphics cards we tested in a picture gallery. This provides additional detail for those interested readers who’d like to see a bit more than just a short table with overall numbers.

Asus GTX 960 Strix

Image 1 of 7

Gainward GTX 960 Phantom OC

Image 1 of 7

Galax/KFA² GTX 960 EX OC

Image 1 of 7

Gigabyte GTX 960 WindForce OC

Image 1 of 7

Gigabyte GTX 960 Gaming G1

Image 1 of 7

inno3D GTX 960 iChill

Image 1 of 7

Palit GTX 960 Super JetStream

Image 1 of 7

Current page:
Power Consumption Details

Prev Page 2D And 3D CAD Performance

Next Page Power Consumption Over Three Generations

Get instant access to breaking news, in-depth reviews and helpful tips.

Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors

Gigabyte G1 Gaming GeForce GTX 960 4GB Review (Page 12 of 13)

Page 12 — Power Usage, Temperature, Noise

Using a wall power measurement device, I noted down the total system power consumption with the Gigabyte G1 Gaming GeForce GTX 960 4GB installed. Do keep in mind this includes every component of the system — including power supply efficiency loss — and not just the graphics card only. With that in mind, the Gigabyte G1 Gaming GeForce GTX 960 4GB’s power consumption reached a maximum of 235W load from 69W idle — a difference of 166W. It was a noticeable improvement over the GTX 760 in both tests; saving the entire computer 3W while idling, and 27W under load.

Gigabyte likes to promote their lower RDS(on) MOSFETs, quality solid capacitors, 2oz copper PCB, and low power loss ferrite core design. In the past, I have seen a difference in power consumption as much as 10W against reference cards with regular components. The above results were obtained when running 3DMark’s Fire Strike Extreme test, and your graphics card is not likely to see any higher loads, especially under normal usage. To be honest, you are not going to get anywhere near this under intense gaming sessions, so really — this is just for interest’s sake, haha.

For the purpose of this review, I left the fan on default settings, so its speed is allowed to vary accordingly with temperature. I also wanted to see what the card is capable of doing inside my low airflow chassis configuration. Most people should get better results in real life than our hot running test bench environment. In the tests, I left the stock paste intact for testing before taking it apart for the photo session on Page 3. Its thermal interface material was applied properly from the factory, which we have seen during disassembly. Even under our intense Furmark load tests, the Gigabyte G1 Gaming GeForce GTX 960 4GB peaked out at only 65c; a figure that is simply amazing, thanks to the 600W WindForce 3X cooler and the GM206’s low TDP. It is important to point out this is the worst case scenario — you will not hit this temperature under normal gaming sessions. Most cases should have better airflow than my configuration anyway.

At this point, you may pull up my Gigabyte G1 Gaming GeForce GTX 970 4GB and wonder why these numbers are so much higher than its higher performance counterpart with the same cooler. There are several reasons for this; hence I did not compare the results on the same chart. Firstly, testing my PC upstairs will have some variance in room temperature, which will contribute to one or two degrees of difference. Obviously, this is not the biggest factor, which brings us to the second point. The G1 Gaming GeForce GTX 960 4GB is highly optimized for silence. While idling, the fans are completely stopped, so the graphics card is actually passively cooled. When it is under load, the ramp up is fairly slow for the fans, so it is more tolerant to higher temperatures at the expense of reduced sound emission. They are all well within the designed thermal envelope, and being a quiet PC enthusiast and all, I this this is the way it should be.

As far as noise is concerned, while this is very subjective, I am quite a picky person on noise, and the loudest component in my entire system is probably my Noctua ultra low noise fans — and they are not loud at all. In my opinion, there is no objective measurement of noise, as measuring sound pressure level is often impractical, because human ears are more sensitive to some frequencies than others. On a scale from 0-10 where 0 is silent and 10 is the loudest, I would rate the Gigabyte G1 Gaming GeForce GTX 960 4GB to be at 0/10 idling. The fans are completely shut off at this stage, so it makes no noise at all.

With the fans active, they will not produce a significant amount of noise until it goes above 50%, but as I have mentioned earlier, the ramp up is pretty slow, so the Gigabyte GTX 960 is pretty quiet, even under load. Obviously, you can force the fan to full speed. Just for fun, on a scale from 0-10, where 0 is silent and 10 is the loudest, I would rate the Gigabyte G1 Gaming GeForce GTX 970 4GB to be at 7.0/10 at 100% fan speed. Seriously, it is pretty loud at that speed — but at least the fan runs smoothly. If you want your card to be appropriate in a quiet PC configuration, just leave the stock programming intact. Once you bump it past that magic mark, you are going to hear it quite clearly. At the end of the day, if you are a silent PC enthusiast, the Gigabyte G1 Gaming GeForce GTX 960 4GB even at stock fan programming will definitely not disappoint even the pickiest of all.

Page Index

1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 Architecture
3. A Closer Look, Installation, Test System
4. Benchmark: 3DMark
5. Benchmark: Battlefield 4
6. Benchmark: BioShock Infinite
7. Benchmark: Crysis 3
8. Benchmark: GRID 2
9. Benchmark: Metro: Last Light
10. Benchmark: Thief
11. Benchmark: Unigine: Heaven 4.0
12. Power Usage, Temperature, Noise
13. Overclocking and Conclusion

Review and testing of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 G1 Gaming video card (page 3)

Power consumption level


Energy consumption, W

Average | Maximum

Please enable JavaScript to see graphs

The gluttony of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 G1 Gaming is surprising. The answer is hidden in the settings: high voltage and high nominal frequency. The average frequency of the GPU is more than 1450 MHz. To do this, it was necessary to raise the vGPU to 1.22-1.23 V.

The power consumption measured in the Heaven application rarely reaches the values ​​set in the BIOS, although the load on the GPU in this program is approximately equal to the average load in various games.

Metro: Last Light results



Settings:

  • DirectX 11;
  • Resolution — 2560×1440;
  • Advanced PhysX — disabled;
  • Enhanced depth of field — disabled;

    • nine0030 Tessellation — Normal;

  • Quality — Very High;
  • Motion Blur-Normal;
  • Full Screen Anti-Aliasing — SSAA;
  • Anisotropic Filtering (AF) — 16x.


Frames/s

Min|Avg.

2560×1440

Please enable JavaScript to see graphs

recommendations

Two power connectors and a maximum power consumption of 216 W allow you to overclock the GPU up to 1550 MHz. On the other hand, very often the graphics core hits the maximum allowable voltage and therefore the frequency does not increase further. It can be seen that Gigabyte engineers are trying not to contradict Nvidia’s recommendations. nine0015

Detailed data

To evaluate the behavior of the reviewers in the nominal mode and during overclocking, we turn to the Metro: Last Light test, conducted six times, and in parallel collect data that affects the graphics core, memory, power consumption and temperatures. After combining the results in single graphs, you can see how closely the factory specifications correspond to the real numbers and what happens to important indicators during overclocking.

GPU Boost core clock and stability. nine0015


The nominal frequency in the game Metro: Last Light is more than 1450 MHz. Here you have the declared relatively low frequencies. I suspect that Gigabyte could distribute accelerators with a special BIOS among the press, be careful when checking store models. On the other hand, it is difficult to check this without buying a video card. After all, GPU Boost is a voluntary matter, it’s hard to say how it will behave on other instances. For example, on the second Gigabyte GeForce GTX 9 sample60 G1 Gaming, the frequency was close to 1500 MHz!

There is not much room left for overclocking: on the power side, the maximum voltage can be increased by 0.01 V, on the power side, the margin is huge. But it is precisely in terms of voltage that the Gigabyte model is limited by rigid limits. Although the GPU is clearly capable of more.

By the way, remember the ASIC index, with this video card an example of how low quality has almost no effect on overclocking is indicative. Our copy outperforms the average GM206 samples by at least 50 MHz with the same vGPU. nine0015

Memory frequency.


The Achilles’ heel of a video card is memory. Samsung’s chips have actually failed, because only 1900 MHz is very small. Up to this point, I have never seen such a bad overclocking. It is noteworthy that the second copy of the same Gigabyte model could not surpass the first.

vGPU voltage.


Decent voltage, don’t you think? Basically, manufacturers try to limit themselves to 1.25 V, the Gigabyte version, thanks to the high TDP level, firmly holds the bar at 1.3 V on the GPU. nine0015

GPU temperature.


Energy consumption.


Both in stock and overclocked mode, the video card does not reach the maximum power consumption set in the BIOS. Its reserve could be used for overclocking, but it is limited from above by the maximum vGPU, and you should not count on more without a voltmod. Nevertheless, the frequency of 1550 MHz is a record among the GeForce GTX 960 I tested, however, the high power consumption of the Gigabyte GTX 960 G1 Gaming is also a kind of record.

Fan speed.


Conclusion

Personally, I was left with the impression of a beta version of the video card. Undoubtedly, it has a high potential — a base frequency of more than 1450 MHz, a high nominal TDP level with a large margin for overclocking, normal cooling of the power circuits, a good design of the main radiator, and no squeaking throttles. But tell me, what to do with a fan hanging on the two provided samples? nine0015

And, on the one hand, this is a reason to rejoice, because you are buying a video card that works a cut faster than its competitors. On the other hand, there are doubts that store copies will operate at such high frequencies, since the official characteristics may differ greatly from the test results.

Dmitry Vladimirovich


We express our gratitude:

  • to Gigabyte for providing the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 9 video card for testing60 G1 Gaming.
  • And personally donnerjack .