NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M SLI vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M SLI
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
► remove from comparisonThe NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M is an (upper) mid-range, DirectX 11-compatible graphics card for laptops unveiled in March 2015. It is based on Nvidia's Maxwell architecture (GM107 chip) and manufactured in 28 nm. The GTX 950M offers 640 shader units clocked at 914 MHz (+ Boost) as well as fast GDDR5 memory (128 bit, 5000 MHz effective, 80 GB/s). Compared to the previous and technically very similar GTX 850M, the GTX 950M is clocked slightly higher. A detailed performance comparison of the GTX 950M with GDDR5 and DDR3 can be found here.
Some GTX 950M may be equipped with cheaper 900 - 1000 MHz DDR3 memory (1800 - 2000 MHz effective, 28.8 - 32 GB/s), which leads to a 10 - 20 percent lower performance despite the slightly higher core clock of 993 MHz.
Architecture
Compared to Kepler, Maxwell has been optimized in several details to increase power efficiency. Smaller Streaming Multiprocessors (SMM) with only 128 ALUs (Kepler: 192) and an optimized scheduler should lead to better utilization of the shaders. Nvidia promises that a Maxwell SMM with 128 ALUs can offer 90 percent of the performance of a Kepler SMX with 192 ALUs. GM107 features 5 SMMs and thus 640 shader cores, 40 TMUs and 16 ROPs (128-bit interface).
Another optimization is the massively enlarged L2 cache (GM107: 2 MB). The increased size can handle some of the memory traffic to allow for a relatively narrow memory interface without significantly reducing the performance.
GM107 supports DirectX 12 with feature level 11_0 only.
Performance
Although the GTX 950M has the same memory bandwidth as the previous GTX 850M, its higher core clock leads to a slightly better performance. Overall, the 950M (GDDR5 version) is about 15 percent slower than the GTX 960M and just slightly behind the old GTX 860M.
Many games of 2014/2015 can be played fluently in FullHD resolution and high detail settings. However, very demanding games such as Assassin's Creed Unity will require lower resolutions and/or details.
Features
GM107 integrates the sixth generation of the PureVideo HD video engine (VP6), offering a better decoding performance for H.264 and MPEG-2 videos. Of course, VP6 supports all features of previous generations (4K support, PIP, video encoding via NVENC API). Unfortunately, HDMI 2.0 is still not supported.
Power Consumption
The power consumption of the GeForce GTX 950M should be similar to (or slightly above) the previous GTX 850M at about 50 watts. Therefore, the GPU is best suited for 15-inch laptops or larger. The 900M series also supports Optimus to automatically switch between an integrated graphics card and the Nvidia GPU.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M SLI
► remove from comparisonThe NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M SLI is a high-end DirectX 11-compatible graphics solution for laptops, consisting of two GeForce GTX 970M. Each card has a 28 nm GM204 GPU based on the Maxwell architecture, which is the same chip as found on the GTX 980M as well as several desktop cards. The clocks for the SLI-setup are usually identical to a single GTX 970M (924 MHz GPU, 1250 MHz memory).
With SLI, each card renders a single frame (AFR mode). Therefore, it may suffer from micro stuttering in low fps ranges of 30 fps. This happens because of different timespans between two frames (e.g., irregular delays between sequential frames).
Architecture
GM204 is based on Nvidia's Maxwell architecture, which replaces the previous Kepler generation. Among other changes, Nvidia have restructured the streaming multi processors (SMM) in order to increase workload and efficiency. Now each SMM contains only 128 shader units and 8 TMUs, which is noticeably less than an equivalent Kepler GPU. The GM204 features four GPCs, and each consists of four SMMs. But, in the GeForce GTX 970M, Nvidia have deactivated 6 of 16 SMMs. As a result, only 1280 shader ALUs and 80 TMUs are active. In addition, there are 48 ROPs in three clusters with 16 units each.
The memory interface has a bandwidth of 192-bits (3x 64 bit) for each of the two GPUs. Thanks to an improved compression algorithm, the connection to the GDDR5 memory should be significantly more efficient per MHz. Furthermore, the L1 (96 KB per SMM) and L2 caches (2 MB) have been significantly increased to lower the needed bandwidth. Compared to the mid-range GM107, the newer and larger GM204 has several additional features and changes. Aside from the improved polymorphic engine in the SSMs, it is also the first Nvidia chip to support DirectX 12 Feature Level 12_1.
Performance
With good driver support, SLI almost doubles the performance of a single card. The GTX 970M SLI outperforms the former GeForce GTX 880M SLI by about 10 percent and is the second fastest mobile graphics solution in late 2014. Only the significantly more expensive GTX 980M SLI offers even more 3D power and is about 30 percent faster. Nevertheless, the GTX 970M SLI is powerful enough to run even the most demanding games with highest details, AA/AF and resolutions exceeding FullHD.
Features
Most of the features are identical to the GeForce GTX 800M series. With the GTX 970M, there can be up to 4 active displays possible, but this will likely decrease due to Optimus. Displays can be connected with a maximum resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels via DisplayPort 1.2 or HDMI 2.0 (no HDCP @ 4K). HD audio formats like Dolby True HD and DTS HD can be sent to a compatible receiver as bitstream. As with previous models, 3D Vision is not supported with Optimus.
The updated video processor VP6 supports the usual formats like H.264 and can also decode and encode H.265 with a resolution of up to 4K via the NVENC API. Several parallel streams, such as picture-in-picture in a Blu-Ray movie, are also possible.
Further features of the GTX 900M series, which are also partly supported by older cards, include Battery Boost (longer battery life during gaming), Shadowplay (recording of gaming videos up to 4K60p and 130 Mbit/s) and Gamestream (game streaming on Shield console). More information on these features are available here.
Power Consumption
The power consumption of each GeForce GTX 970M including its MXM board and memory should be similar to a GTX 870M with a specified TDP of 100 W, leading to a total TDP of about 200 W. Given the significantly higher performance, this can be considered a massive increase in performance-per-watt. Nevertheless, the SLI setup can only be used in very large and heavy gaming notebooks with powerful cooling systems. Under low load, dynamic clock rates help the GPUs to save energy.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M SLI
► remove from comparisonThe NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M SLI is a high-end DirectX 11-compatible graphics solution for laptops, consisting of two GeForce GTX 980M. Each card has a 28 nm GM204 GPU based on the Maxwell architecture, which is the same chip as found on the GTX 970M as well as several desktop cards. The clocks for the SLI-setup are usually identical to a single GTX 980M (1038 MHz GPU, 1250 MHz memory).
With SLI, each card renders a single frame (AFR mode). Therefore, it may suffer from micro stuttering in low fps ranges of 30 fps. This happens because of different timespans between two frames (e.g., irregular delays between sequential frames).
Architecture
GM204 is based on Nvidia's Maxwell architecture, which replaces the previous Kepler generation. Among other changes, Nvidia have restructured the streaming multi processors (SMM) in order to increase workload and efficiency. Now each SMM contains only 128 shader units and 8 TMUs, which is noticeably less than an equivalent Kepler GPU. The GM204 features four GPCs, and each consists of four SMMs. But, in the GeForce GTX 980M, Nvidia have deactivated 4 of 16 SMMs. As a result, only 1536 shader ALUs and 96 TMUs are active. In addition, there are 64 ROPs in four clusters with 16 units each.
The memory interface has a bandwidth of 256-bits (4x 64 bit) for each of the two GPUs. Thanks to an improved compression algorithm, the connection to the GDDR5 memory should be significantly more efficient per MHz. Furthermore, the L1 (96 KB per SMM) and L2 caches (2 MB) have been significantly increased to lower the needed bandwidth. Compared to the mid-range GM107, the newer and larger GM204 has several additional features and changes. Aside from the improved polymorphic engine in the SSMs, it is also the first Nvidia chip to support DirectX 12 Feature Level 12_1.
Performance
With good driver support, SLI almost doubles the performance of a single card. The GTX 980M SLI outperforms the GeForce GTX 970M SLI by about 30 percent and is the fastest mobile graphics solution in late 2014. Compared to the former GTX 880M SLI, the advantage is even bigger (40 - 50 percent). Thus, the GTX 980M SLI is powerful enough to run even the most demanding games with highest details, AA/AF and resolutions exceeding FullHD.
Features
Most of the features are identical to the GeForce GTX 800M series. With the GTX 980M, there can be up to 4 active displays possible, but this will likely decrease due to Optimus. Displays can be connected with a maximum resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels via DisplayPort 1.2 or HDMI 2.0 (no HDCP @ 4K). HD audio formats like Dolby True HD and DTS HD can be sent to a compatible receiver as bitstream. As with previous models, 3D Vision is not supported with Optimus.
The updated video processor VP6 supports the usual formats like H.264 and can also decode and encode H.265 with a resolution of up to 4K via the NVENC API. Several parallel streams, such as picture-in-picture in a Blu-Ray movie, are also possible.
Further features of the GTX 900M series, which are also partly supported by older cards, include Battery Boost (longer battery life during gaming), Shadowplay (recording of gaming videos up to 4K60p and 130 Mbit/s) and Gamestream (game streaming on Shield console). More information on these features are available here.
Power Consumption
The power consumption of each GeForce GTX 980M including its MXM board and memory should be about the same as a GTX 880M with a specified TDP of 122 W, leading to a total TDP of about 240 W. Given the significantly higher performance, this can be considered a massive increase in performance-per-watt. Nevertheless, the SLI setup can only be used in very large and heavy gaming notebooks with powerful cooling systems. Under low load, dynamic clock rates help the GPUs to save energy.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M SLI | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M SLI | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
GeForce GTX 900M Series |
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Codename | N16P-GT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Architecture | Maxwell | Maxwell | Maxwell | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pipelines | 640 - unified | 2560 - unified | 3072 - unified | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Core Speed | 914 - 993 - 1124 (Boost) MHz | 924 - 1038 (Boost) MHz | 1038 - 1127 (Boost) MHz | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Memory Speed | 1800 - 5000 MHz | 5000 MHz | 5000 MHz | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Memory Bus Width | 128 Bit | 2x 192 Bit | 2x 256 Bit | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Memory Type | DDR3, GDDR5 | GDDR5 | GDDR5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Max. Amount of Memory | 4 GB | 2x 6144 MB | 2x 8192 MB | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shared Memory | no | no | no | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
API | DirectX 12 (FL 11_0), Shader 5.0, OpenGL 4.5 | DirectX 12_1, Shader 5.0 | DirectX 12_1, Shader 5.0, OpenGL 4.5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Transistors | 1.9 Billion | 0 Billion | 0 Billion | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
technology | 28 nm | 28 nm | 28 nm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Features | Battery Boost, GameStream, ShadowPlay, GPU Boost 2.0, Optimus, PhysX, CUDA, SLI, GeForce Experience, GameWorks, Adaptive VSync, DSR, Ansel | Battery Boost, GameStream, ShadowPlay, GPU Boost 2.0, Optimus, PhysX, CUDA, SLI, GeForce Experience | Battery Boost, GameStream, ShadowPlay, GPU Boost 2.0, Optimus, PhysX, CUDA, SLI, GeForce Experience | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Notebook Size | medium sized | large | large | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date of Announcement | 12.03.2015 | 07.10.2014 | 07.10.2014 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Link to Manufacturer Page | www.geforce.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Power Consumption | 162 Watt | 200 Watt |
Benchmarks
3DM Vant. Perf. total + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
specvp11 snx-01 + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
specvp12 sw-03 + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64 Bit + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
GFXBench T-Rex HD Offscreen C24Z16 + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card
* Smaller numbers mean a higher performance
1 This benchmark is not used for the average calculation
Game Benchmarks
The following benchmarks stem from our benchmarks of review laptops. The performance depends on the used graphics memory, clock rate, processor, system settings, drivers, and operating systems. So the results don't have to be representative for all laptops with this GPU. For detailed information on the benchmark results, click on the fps number.
F1 2020
2020Gears Tactics
2020Borderlands 3
2019Control
2019F1 2019
2019League of Legends
2019Rage 2
2019Anno 1800
2019The Division 2
2019Dirt Rally 2.0
2019Far Cry New Dawn
2019Metro Exodus
2019Just Cause 4
2018Darksiders III
2018Battlefield V
2018Farming Simulator 19
2018Fallout 76
2018Hitman 2
2018FIFA 19
2018F1 2018
2018Monster Hunter World
2018The Crew 2
2018Far Cry 5
2018Fortnite
2018Call of Duty WWII
2017Destiny 2
2017ELEX
2017The Evil Within 2
2017FIFA 18
2017Ark Survival Evolved
2017F1 2017
2017Team Fortress 2
2017Dirt 4
2017Rocket League
2017For Honor
2017Resident Evil 7
2017Watch Dogs 2
2016Dishonored 2
2016Titanfall 2
2016Farming Simulator 17
2016Battlefield 1
2016Civilization VI
2016Mafia 3
2016No Man's Sky
2016Overwatch
2016Doom
2016Need for Speed 2016
2016Hitman 2016
2016The Division
2016Far Cry Primal
2016XCOM 2
2016Rainbow Six Siege
2015Just Cause 3
2015Fallout 4
2015Anno 2205
2015World of Warships
2015Metal Gear Solid V
2015Mad Max
2015Dota 2 Reborn
2015The Witcher 3
2015Dirt Rally
2015GTA V
2015Battlefield Hardline
2015Evolve
2015The Crew
2014Far Cry 4
2014F1 2014
2014The Evil Within
2014Ryse: Son of Rome
2014Alien: Isolation
2014Fifa 15
2014Sims 4
2014Risen 3: Titan Lords
2014GRID: Autosport
2014Watch Dogs
2014Thief
2014Call of Duty: Ghosts
2013Battlefield 4
2013Total War: Rome II
2013Saints Row IV
2013Company of Heroes 2
2013Metro: Last Light
2013BioShock Infinite
2013Tomb Raider
2013Crysis 3
2013Far Cry 3
2012Hitman: Absolution
2012Guild Wars 2
2012Sleeping Dogs
2012Diablo III
2012Anno 2070
2011Dirt 3
2011Mafia 2
2010Metro 2033
2010Average Gaming NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M → 100%
Average Gaming 30-70 fps → 100%
Average Gaming NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M SLI → 283%
Average Gaming 30-70 fps → 276%
Average Gaming NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M SLI → 301%
Average Gaming 30-70 fps → 231%