GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 950 Review | 118 Data compared

The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 950 OC Edition with Windforce 2X is a compact, budget-friendly graphics card originally targeted at MOBA gamers, requiring only a single 6-pin PCI-E connection due to its modest 90W rated power draw. In benchmarks utilizing an Intel Core i5-4670K test bed, the card delivered highly playable performance at 1080p, achieving an average of 46 FPS in Metro Last Light and 66.58 FPS in Bioshock Infinite. While intensive titles like Grand Theft Auto V dragged performance down to 18.47 FPS when pushed to absolute maximum settings with 8x AA, the reviewer notes that disabling anti-aliasing resolves this. The card also showcases good overclocking headroom, safely yielding an immediate 5% to 10% performance uplift across tested titles. The primary pros of this card are its excellent thermal performance and acoustic control; the dual-fan Windforce cooler keeps load temperatures under 70°C (69°C on auto, 60°C at full RPM) while remaining impressively quiet. Furthermore, priced at RM 799, it offers superb value, matching 84% of the performance of the pricier ASUS Turbo GTX 960 for roughly 85% of the cost,...

The TechPowerUp review of the Gigabyte GTX 950 OC 2 GB highlights an efficient, factory-overclocked, and compact card suitable for entry-level gaming. Key pros include low power consumption under 100W, the dual-fan WindForce 2X cooler maintaining low temperatures, and high manual overclocking headroom. Conversely, the budget-oriented cooler lacks copper heat pipes, and the 2 GB memory pool limits performance in modern titles. Furthermore, the $170 price point and a $10 premium over reference cards hinder its value proposition compared to competitors.

The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 950 Xtreme Gaming 2GB is a highly overclocked, premium graphics card that pushes Nvidia’s entry-level Maxwell architecture to its absolute limits. Its core strengths lie in its market-leading factory overclock of 1,203MHz base / 1,405MHz boost (a 17% increase over reference) and an upgraded 7GHz effective memory speed, providing excellent out-of-the-box performance for 1080p gaming. Structurally, it boasts exceptional build quality with a brushed metal backplate, an aerospace-grade PCB coating for defense against dust and moisture, and an upgraded 8-pin power connection for superior power delivery. Its custom Windforce cooling setup delivers premium features like a semi-passive mode that shuts fans completely off under 55-60°C, a sleek customizable RGB LED display, and modernized connectivity consisting of three DisplayPort 1.2 outputs and an HDMI 2.0 port. However, the card's premium design results in notable design oversights and a challenging market position. Its primary drawback is the high retail price (£145.98 / $179.99), which pushes it dangerously close to significantly faster mid-range alternatives like the stock GTX 960 or R9 380, limiting its overall value proposition. Additionally, the...

The bit-tech Nvidia GeForce GTX 950 Review highlights the entry-level GM206 Maxwell GPU as a highly capable and efficient upgrade for 1080p gaming, particularly targeting MOBA players with latency-reduction features. Tested via the factory-overclocked Gigabyte GTX 950 OC 2GB, the card delivers smooth performance across standard titles like Alien: Isolation, Battlefield 4, and Grand Theft Auto V, comfortably beating its closest AMD competitor, the R7 370, in most scenarios. Pros include its excellent overclocking potential—allowing the core base clock to be pushed by 19% up to 1,312MHz (with boost speeds clearing 1.55GHz) to mirror stock GTX 960 performance—low 90W TDP power demands, and a dinky form factor perfect for small-chassis builds. It also brings cutting-edge Maxwell features like DirectX 12 support, H.265 hardware encoding, and HDMI 2.0 to a budget-friendly price point. However, the review outlines several key cons that hold the card back from being an absolute must-have. Its 2GB GDDR5 frame buffer and narrow 128-bit memory bus present immediate bottlenecks in modern titles; for instance, it became completely unplayable at 1080p in Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, where...

The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 950 Xtreme Gaming is a highly optimized, factory-overclocked graphics card powered by a trimmed-down GM206-250 processor featuring 768 CUDA cores, 48 texture units, and 32 ROPs. Hand-selected through Gigabyte’s "GPU Gauntlet" sorting process, the card boasts an aggressive base clock speed of 1203MHz (boosting to 1405MHz) and matches the higher-tier GTX 960 by utilizing faster 7 GT/s memory across a 128-bit bus. Built to last, it features a dual-fan Windforce cooling solution with a unique aerodynamic blade design, a custom protective-coated PCB, and the same premium chokes and capacitors found on the flagship Titan X. It also targets the gaming aesthetic with customizable RGB logo lighting via OC Guru III software and includes modern display outputs like three DisplayPorts, an HDMI port, and a DVI-D connector. This graphics card delivers an exceptional performance-per-dollar ratio, cementing itself as a perfect budget-friendly solution for 1080p gaming that actively challenges the market relevance of the more expensive GTX 960. On the positive side, its major pros include very low idle power consumption, near-silent operation even under load, a robust...

The TechPowerUp review of the Gigabyte GTX 950 Xtreme Gaming 2 GB highlights a heavily customized, premium Maxwell-based card, featuring a significant factory overclock on both core and memory that makes it the fastest GTX 950 tested by the publication. Key pros include excellent build quality with a protective backplate, a silent idle-fan-off feature, and superior cooling, resulting in a quiet and cool 1080p gaming experience. Conversely, the main drawback is its high price point, which sits very close to superior, lower-end GTX 960 cards. The card is also relatively large for its segment, requiring an 8-pin connector, and while it features a backplate, it lacks thermal pads for rear-mounted memory chips.

The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 950 Xtreme Gaming is a heavily factory-overclocked, entry-level graphics card designed for reliable 1080p gaming. Built on Nvidia’s 28nm Maxwell GM206 architecture, it features 768 CUDA cores and a 128-bit memory bus. Gigabyte significantly pushes performance past reference specs by raising the base clock from 1024 MHz to 1203 MHz, the dynamic boost clock from 1188 MHz to 1405 MHz, and the memory data rate from 6.6 Gbps to 7.0 Gbps. The major benefit of this Xtreme Gaming model is its premium WINDFORCE 2X dual-slot cooler, which operates very quietly and keeps GPU temperatures under a cool 65°C even under full load. It delivers highly impressive out-of-the-box clock frequencies that offer great value for its $169.99 price point. However, the primary drawback is its restrictive 2 GB GDDR5 memory capacity. This low VRAM allotment limits future-proofing as modern games increasingly require 3 GB to 4 GB of memory as a baseline standard.

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 950 is a solid entry-level graphics card priced at £130, offering a noticeable performance improvement over the AMD R7 370 while filling the market gap just below the GTX 960. It boasts strong future-proof features, including G-Sync and DirectX 12 support, alongside HDMI 2.0 and H.265 encoding/decoding capabilities. These features, combined with low power consumption, make it well-suited for Home Theatre PC (HTPC) setups and a great upgrade for users transitioning from older cards like the GTX 650. The specific Gigabyte model evaluated is praised for its compact, dinky profile and excellent overclocking potential, allowing budget-conscious users to easily squeeze out extra value. However, the review highlights several concerns regarding the card's frame buffer size and memory bandwidth, which raise red flags about its overall longevity with demanding modern titles. While it handles MOBAs effortlessly, its 2GB capacity struggles at higher graphic settings, meaning users interested in future AAA games may need to invest in a 4GB alternative like the GTX 960 or R9 380. Additionally, the Gigabyte variant falls short on acoustic refinement; despite its...