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GeForce GTX 960 vs Radeon R9 380X

CPUCPUGPUGPU
NVIDIA

GeForce GTX 960

2015Core: 1127 MHzBoost: 1178 MHz
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VS
AMD

Radeon R9 380X

2015Boost: 970 MHz
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GeForce GTX 960 vs Radeon R9 380X Performance Spectrum

GeForce GTX 960
4 GB 100
6,133
0.0%
brand logoGeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST
brand logoGeForce GTX 880M SLI
brand logoGeForce GTX 580
brand logoGeForce GTX 670
brand logoGeForce GTX 1650 SUPER
brand logoGeForce RTX 4050 Mobile
brand logoGeForce GTX 1080 Ti
brand logoGeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8GB
Radeon R9 380X
4 GB 250
6,131
0.0%
brand logoRadeon HD8970M
brand logoRadeon RX 460 (móvel)
brand logoRadeon HD 7950 / R9 280
brand logoRadeon 760M
brand logoRadeon RX 7600M
brand logoRadeon RX 5700
brand logoRadeon RX 7650 GRE
brand logoRadeon RX 7900M

About G3D Mark

G3D Mark is a standard benchmark that measures graphics performance in real-world gaming scenarios. It simplifies comparing cards from different brands, where higher scores directly correlate with better fps and smoother gaming experiences.

GeForce GTX 960 vs Radeon R9 380X FPS Benchmarks

Predicted gaming performance across popular games. Tested paired with Ryzen 7 9800X3D to isolate GPU performance.

Search any supported game below to compare 1080p FPS for both components.

Path of Exile 2

Path of Exile 2

1080P
GeForce GTX 960
low80 FPS
medium68 FPS
high57 FPS
ultra37 FPS
1080P
Radeon R9 380X
low78 FPS
medium67 FPS
high54 FPS
ultra35 FPS
Counter-Strike 2

Counter-Strike 2

1080P
GeForce GTX 960
low131 FPS
medium104 FPS
high83 FPS
ultra50 FPS
1080P
Radeon R9 380X
low133 FPS
medium105 FPS
high86 FPS
ultra61 FPS
League of Legends

League of Legends

1080P
GeForce GTX 960
low276 FPS
medium221 FPS
high184 FPS
ultra138 FPS
1080P
Radeon R9 380X
low276 FPS
medium221 FPS
high184 FPS
ultra138 FPS
Valorant

Valorant

1080P
GeForce GTX 960
low141 FPS
medium115 FPS
high100 FPS
ultra86 FPS
1080P
Radeon R9 380X
low135 FPS
medium112 FPS
high97 FPS
ultra83 FPS
Among Us

Among Us

1080P
GeForce GTX 960
low60 FPS
medium60 FPS
high60 FPS
ultra60 FPS
1080P
Radeon R9 380X
low60 FPS
medium60 FPS
high60 FPS
ultra60 FPS
Apex Legends

Apex Legends

1080P
GeForce GTX 960
low65 FPS
medium47 FPS
high32 FPS
ultra19 FPS
1080P
Radeon R9 380X
low140 FPS
medium123 FPS
high100 FPS
ultra79 FPS
ARC Raiders

ARC Raiders

1080P
GeForce GTX 960
low61 FPS
medium47 FPS
high36 FPS
ultra21 FPS
1080P
Radeon R9 380X
low66 FPS
medium51 FPS
high42 FPS
ultra30 FPS
Baldur's Gate 3

Baldur's Gate 3

1080P
GeForce GTX 960
low52 FPS
medium36 FPS
high29 FPS
ultra20 FPS
1080P
Radeon R9 380X
low55 FPS
medium39 FPS
high31 FPS
ultra22 FPS
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

1080P
GeForce GTX 960
low76 FPS
medium58 FPS
high47 FPS
ultra31 FPS
1080P
Radeon R9 380X
low78 FPS
medium60 FPS
high51 FPS
ultra39 FPS
Call of Duty: Warzone

Call of Duty: Warzone

1080P
GeForce GTX 960
low71 FPS
medium55 FPS
high43 FPS
ultra32 FPS
1080P
Radeon R9 380X
low70 FPS
medium55 FPS
high44 FPS
ultra32 FPS
Check FPS with Custom Builds

GeForce GTX 960 vs Radeon R9 380X: Pros, Cons & Final Verdict

See where each GPU makes more sense in practice: raw FPS, VRAM, features, power draw, pricing, and long-term headroom.

GeForce GTX 960

2015

Why buy it

  • ✅Costs $30 less on MSRP ($199 MSRP vs $229 MSRP).
  • ✅Delivers 15.1% more G3D Mark for each dollar spent, at 30.8 vs 26.8 G3D/$ ($199 MSRP vs $229 MSRP).
  • ✅Draws 100W instead of 250W, a 150W reduction.

Trade-offs

  • ❌Lower average FPS than Radeon R9 380X across 50 tracked games in our benchmark data.
  • ❌2015 hardware with 4 GB of VRAM already sits in legacy territory for modern games.

Radeon R9 380X

2015

Why buy it

  • ✅17.1% more average FPS across 50 tracked games in our benchmark data.
  • ✅Measures 221mm instead of 241mm, a 20mm shorter card that is more SFF-friendly.

Trade-offs

  • ❌2015 hardware with 4 GB of VRAM already sits in legacy territory for modern games.
  • ❌
    15.1% HIGHER MSRP
    $229 MSRPvs$199 MSRP
  • ❌Lower G3D Mark per dollar, at 26.8 vs 30.8 G3D/$ ($229 MSRP vs $199 MSRP).
  • ❌150% higher power demand at 250W vs 100W.

Quick Answers

Which GPU is faster for gaming right now?
Radeon R9 380X is the faster gaming card right now. In our data, it leads by 17.1% in average FPS across 50 tracked games in our benchmark data. PassMark G3D leans toward GeForce GTX 960 instead at 6,133 vs 6,131, so for this question the real-game FPS result matters more than the synthetic split.
Which GPU is the safer long-term pick for 2026 and beyond?
GeForce GTX 960 is the safer long-term pick for 2026 and beyond because it comes out ahead on the available hardware-headroom signals for this matchup.
Which GPU is the better buy today?
GeForce GTX 960 makes the most sense to buy today. It is $30 cheaper on MSRP at $199 vs $229, and it leads G3D-per-dollar by 15.1% (30.8 vs 26.8), which is enough to swing the recommendation its way. Radeon R9 380X still makes more sense if max raw gaming performance matters more than value.

GeForce GTX 960 vs Radeon R9 380X Technical Specifications

Side-by-side specs, architecture details, clocks, memory, power, and platform differences.

NVIDIA

GeForce GTX 960

The GeForce GTX 960 is manufactured by NVIDIA. It was released in January 22 2015. It features the Maxwell 2.0 architecture. The core clock ranges from 1127 MHz to 1178 MHz. It has 1024 shading units. The thermal design power (TDP) is 100W. Manufactured using 28 nm process technology. G3D Mark benchmark score: 6,133 points. Launch price was $199.

AMD

Radeon R9 380X

The Radeon R9 380X is manufactured by AMD. It was released in November 19 2015. It features the GCN 3.0 architecture. The boost clock speed is 970 MHz. It has 2048 shading units. The thermal design power (TDP) is 250W. Manufactured using 28 nm process technology. G3D Mark benchmark score: 6,131 points. Launch price was $229.

⚡

Graphics Performance

The GeForce GTX 960 scores 6,133 and the Radeon R9 380X reaches 6,131 in the G3D Mark benchmark — just a 0% difference, making them near-identical in rasterization performance. The GeForce GTX 960 is built on Maxwell 2.0 while the Radeon R9 380X uses GCN 3.0, both on a 28 nm process. Shader units: 1,024 (GeForce GTX 960) vs 2,048 (Radeon R9 380X). Raw compute: 2.413 TFLOPS (GeForce GTX 960) vs 3.973 TFLOPS (Radeon R9 380X). Boost clocks: 1178 MHz vs 970 MHz.

FeatureGeForce GTX 960Radeon R9 380X
G3D Mark Score
6,133
6,131
Architecture
Maxwell 2.0
GCN 3.0
Process Node
28 nm
28 nm
Shading Units
1024
2048+100%
Compute (TFLOPS)
2.413 TFLOPS
3.973 TFLOPS+65%
Boost Clock
1178 MHz+21%
970 MHz
ROPs
32
32
TMUs
64
128+100%
L1 Cache
384 KB
512 KB+33%
L2 Cache
1 MB+100%
0.5 MB
✨

Advanced Features (DLSS/FSR)

The GeForce GTX 960 gets NVIDIA DLSS, which still tends to look cleaner in motion. The Radeon R9 380X leans on FSR, which is flexible and widely supported, but usually a bit rougher at the same settings.

FeatureGeForce GTX 960Radeon R9 380X
Upscaling Tech
Upscaling support
FSR Upscaling / FSR 4
Frame Generation
Not Supported
Not Supported
Ray Reconstruction
No
No
Low Latency
NVIDIA Reflex
AMD Anti-Lag
💾

Video Memory (VRAM)

Both cards ship with 4 GB of GDDR5. Memory bandwidth: 112 GB/s (GeForce GTX 960) vs 106 GB/s (Radeon R9 380X) — a 5.7% advantage for the GeForce GTX 960. Memory bus width is 128-bit on the GeForce GTX 960 and 128-bit on the Radeon R9 380X. L2 Cache: 1 MB (GeForce GTX 960) vs 0.5 MB (Radeon R9 380X) — the GeForce GTX 960 has significantly larger on-die cache to reduce VRAM reliance.

FeatureGeForce GTX 960Radeon R9 380X
VRAM Capacity
4 GB
4 GB
Memory Type
GDDR5
GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth
112 GB/s+6%
106 GB/s
Bus Width
128-bit
128-bit
L2 Cache
1 MB+100%
0.5 MB
🖥️

Display & API Support

DirectX support: 12 (12_1) (GeForce GTX 960) vs 12 (12_0) (Radeon R9 380X). Vulkan: 1.3 vs 1.3. OpenGL: 4.6 vs 4.6. Maximum simultaneous displays: 4 vs 4.

FeatureGeForce GTX 960Radeon R9 380X
DirectX
12 (12_1)
12 (12_0)
Vulkan
1.3
1.3
OpenGL
4.6
4.6
Max Displays
4
4
🎬

Media & Encoding

Hardware encoder: NVENC (5th Gen) (GeForce GTX 960) vs VCE 3.0 (Radeon R9 380X). Decoder: NVDEC (2nd Gen) vs UVD 6.0. Supported codecs: HEVC,H.264,MPEG-2,VC-1,VP8 (GeForce GTX 960) vs H.264,H.265,MPEG-2,MPEG-4,VC-1 (Radeon R9 380X).

FeatureGeForce GTX 960Radeon R9 380X
Encoder
NVENC (5th Gen)
VCE 3.0
Decoder
NVDEC (2nd Gen)
UVD 6.0
Codecs
HEVC,H.264,MPEG-2,VC-1,VP8
H.264,H.265,MPEG-2,MPEG-4,VC-1
🔌

Power & Dimensions

The GeForce GTX 960 draws 100W versus the Radeon R9 380X's 250W — a 85.7% difference. The GeForce GTX 960 is more power-efficient. Recommended PSU: 400W (GeForce GTX 960) vs 500W (Radeon R9 380X). Power connectors: 6-pin vs 2x 6-pin. Card length: 241mm vs 221mm, occupying 2 vs 2 slots. Typical load temperature: 75 C vs 75.

FeatureGeForce GTX 960Radeon R9 380X
TDP
100W-60%
250W
Recommended PSU
400W-20%
500W
Power Connector
6-pin
2x 6-pin
Length
241mm
221mm
Height
111mm
111mm
Slots
2
2
Temp (Load)
75 C
75
Perf/Watt
61.3+150%
24.5
💰

Value Analysis

At launch, the GeForce GTX 960 came in at $199, while the Radeon R9 380X launched at $229. On MSRP, GeForce GTX 960 was 13.1% cheaper ($30 less). Performance per dollar on MSRP (G3D Mark / MSRP): 30.8 (GeForce GTX 960) vs 26.8 (Radeon R9 380X) — the GeForce GTX 960 offers 14.9% better value.

FeatureGeForce GTX 960Radeon R9 380X
MSRP
$199-13%
$229
Performance per Dollar
30.8+15%
26.8
Codename
GM206
Antigua
Release
January 22 2015
November 19 2015
Ranking
#393
#394
Search GeForce GTX 960 on AmazonSearch Radeon R9 380X on Amazon

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