EVGA GTX 960 SSC Review

Introduction – EVGA GTX 960 SSC Review

Nvidia launched the GTX 960 back in January adding another version of Maxwell below the excellent value GTX 970.  The 750TI was our first taste of Maxwell back in February of last year. The reference design of the 750 Ti features a ridiculous TDP of 55W and doesn’t even require a single 6 pin power connector. Although it wasn’t part of the 900 series and wasn’t the flagship card, it got enthusiasts craving for more Maxwell because it performed so well (at such low power) for such a low end card. Now with the 900 series Nvidia has continued with their low power trend.    The 980 and 970 were awesome cards.  While the 980 TI dominates in terms of capability it certainly is no longer in the low power camp.  The 960 with it’s low reference power of 120W definitely is in that camp.

EVGA provided our sample today, their EVGA GeForce GTX 960 SSC ACX 2.0+. As usual, EVGA is currently offering no less than eight different SKUs ranging from $199.99 to $259.99.

Below you will find tables for all of the higher end AMD & Nvidia GPUs from the past couple of years. Keep in mind that all cores are not created equal! CUDA Cores =/= Stream Processors performance wise, even Kepler Cores =/= Maxwell Cores.

Now let’s delve into what options we can get from EVGA for the GTX 960:

So there are a few different versions of the GTX960.  The version we are reviewing is the SuperSC ACX 2.0+. Most notable are the 4GB versions – we will be monitoring VRAM to see if 2GB really is enough for this card.  Then we have essentially two different PCB/coolers with different VRM designs.  The better (bigger PCB with more VRM phases) design also has a better cooler (ACX 2.0+).  Then lastly there are choices such as backplates and how much of a factory overclock you are willing to pay for.

Now let’s open up that box and take a look at the card itself!