GTX 590 vs GTX 960, Memory Bandwidth, How Important to performance?

Matt Richardson · Aug 1, 2015

Hey I have a question for the very knowledgeable, I have a GTX 590 that just died, I baked it in the oven and it's working again for now but I had ordered a replacement GTX 960 because I plan to sell the computer in the next few months and will not sell it to someone with a sketchy video card that was baked, I got the 960 since they seem to be very similar in performance, in fact the benchmarks I looked at had the 960 slightly better in performance in every way except one, memory bandwidth, the 590 has almost double the memory bandwidth, yet the 960 has 1GB more Vram (4GB), how important is memory bandwidth as far as frame rates go? Will the 590 outperform the 960 because of this? I use a 1080 screen btw, I figure that is relevant. The reason I ask is because if the 590 will perform much better than I might just send the 960 back and wait until I sell the computer to change it out, by then the 970 will be the same price as the 960.

The GTX 960 I bought is an EVGA SSC superclocked ACX2.0

And my relevant computer specs: AMD 1100T Phenom x6 processor, 16GB 1600Mhz ram

The benchmark site I looked at said this about memory bandwidth "One or more cards in this comparison are multi-core. This means that their bandwidth, texel and pixel rates are theoretically doubled - this does not mean the card will actually perform twice as fast, but only that it should in theory be able to. Actual game benchmarks will give a more accurate idea of what it's capable of."
http://www.hwcompare.com/18455/geforce-gtx-590-vs-geforce-gtx-960/

I assume this is talking about the fact that scaling is sometimes not very good with the 590 being SLI?

Thanks!

Matt Richardson · Aug 1, 2015

Any video card guru's in the house?

junkeymonkey · Aug 1, 2015

if you read up on the 960 nivida claims its got that bandwidth enhancement going on them ?

'' With that said, as we discovered with GM204 Maxwell 2 introduces a new generation of color compression technology that in combination with caching improvements reduced memory bandwidth needs by around 25%.''

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8923/nvidia-launches-geforce-gtx-960

one thing about the evga 960 it seems to have a nice satisfaction rating -

17seconds · Aug 2, 2015

People get too hung up with specs and things like bandwidth, etc., without realizing that the card is that way by design. Maxwell cards have clearly proven that they don't need the extra bandwidth due to compression algorithms they have. The GTX 960 is targeted at 1080p gaming and has all the resources it needs to succeed at that resolution, as a mid-range offering.

A GTX 590 is right about the same level as a GTX 680 in this chart (I went back into older to reviews to check that out).

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/GTX_960_G1_Gaming/28.html

maxalge · Aug 2, 2015

Matt Richardson :

Hey I have a question for the very knowledgeable, I have a GTX 590 that just died, I baked it in the oven and it's working again for now but I had ordered a replacement GTX 960 because I plan to sell the computer in the next few months and will not sell it to someone with a sketchy video card that was baked, I got the 960 since they seem to be very similar in performance, in fact the benchmarks I looked at had the 960 slightly better in performance in every way except one, memory bandwidth, the 590 has almost double the memory bandwidth, yet the 960 has 1GB more Vram (4GB), how important is memory bandwidth as far as frame rates go? Will the 590 outperform the 960 because of this? I use a 1080 screen btw, I figure that is relevant. The reason I ask is because if the 590 will perform much better than I might just send the 960 back and wait until I sell the computer to change it out, by then the 970 will be the same price as the 960.

The GTX 960 I bought is an EVGA SSC superclocked ACX2.0

And my relevant computer specs: AMD 1100T Phenom x6 processor, 16GB 1600Mhz ram

The benchmark site I looked at said this about memory bandwidth "One or more cards in this comparison are multi-core. This means that their bandwidth, texel and pixel rates are theoretically doubled - this does not mean the card will actually perform twice as fast, but only that it should in theory be able to. Actual game benchmarks will give a more accurate idea of what it's capable of."
http://www.hwcompare.com/18455/geforce-gtx-590-vs-geforce-gtx-960/

I assume this is talking about the fact that scaling is sometimes not very good with the 590 being SLI?

Thanks!

such comparisons are meaningless when you are trying to compare gaming performance

look at actual fps benchmarks

junkeymonkey · Aug 2, 2015

personally I think the 960 is good for it range of card and should do you well - it has better support the its bigger brothers like it still gets windows xp driver and some features .. sure its not no super fps power house but its a more rounded everyday card [opinion]

Matt Richardson · Aug 2, 2015

maxalge :

Matt Richardson :

such comparisons are meaningless when you are trying to compare gaming performance

look at actual fps benchmarks

Exactly, that is why I am asking, I have no idea how much memory bandwidth plays a role here, I can't find any comparisons with benchmarks between the two so I am left with theory.

Matt Richardson · Aug 2, 2015

17seconds :

Good info thanks, that matches the other charts I have seen as well, I even found one that listed the 590 just below the 960, I just can't find any real world game benchmarks to compare, but from everything you guys have said here it seems they are neck and neck so I will go head and keep it. Thanks for the help!

Matt Richardson · Aug 2, 2015

junkeymonkey :

Good to know, being that it doesn't need as much bandwidth and an SLI card might not be able to use it's bandwidth efficiently, it sounds to me like they probably perform about the same. Thanks I will go head and install the card instead of sending it back.

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