Home / Component / PNY GTX 950 2GB and GTX 960 4GB XLR8 OC Gaming Review

PNY GTX 950 2GB and GTX 960 4GB XLR8 OC Gaming Review

The packaging for PNY's GTX 950 and 960 XLR8 OC is as plain as it comes and inside the use of recycled carton is a welcome change from an overload of plastic. Accessories are standard for the market segment – a driver CD, a quick start guide and a DVI to VGA adapter – both GPUs come with the same accessory set.

PNY_950_960_XLR8 (3) PNY_950_960_XLR8 (4)

In terms of design this is little, if anything, to distinguish between the two graphics cards aside from different model numbers printed on the stickers. The cooler is stylish enough with a plastic shroud that has a vinyl sticker for a splash of colour, there are also stickers and red LEDs on the two 75mm fans that introduce the XLR8 branding.

 

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The identical rear I/Os include DVI-I, DVI-D, HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.2. This is different to the stock Nvidia rear I/Os which include more DisplayPort connections.

The heatsink cooler features two direct touch 6mm copper heat pipes and 84 aluminium fins to dissipate heat away from the GPUs. PNY doesn't rate the TDP capability of its cooling solution but the fact it can handle the GTX 960 suggests the GTX 950 will be cooled with relative ease.

PNY_950_960_XLR8 (6)PNY_950_960_XLR8 (10)

Both cards have a single SLI finger for up to 2-way SLI support, a single 6pin provides supplementary power for both GPUs.

PNY_950_960_XLR8 (13) PNY_950_960_XLR8 (14)

Despite the 90 and 120 W rated TDPs of each GPU, the board can handle up to 150 W with the 75 W from the PCIe bus and 75 W from the 6 pin PCIe connector.

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11 comments

  1. Eh, i don’t know if it’s worth buying, especially with 470 and 460 on the doorstep.

  2. Could you include a 960 standard in the comparison for completeness ?

  3. Seems off not to include the RX 480 in the result charts. Yes, the 960 is old, but it seems pointless to pretend newer cards aren’t competition.

  4. This is something I’ll address in my next graphics card review, it will include the Rx 480, GTX 1070 and more. Thanks for the feedback. I disagree that it’s pointless though, the GTX 960 (£150~175) is a different price bracket to the Rx 480.

  5. They should have RX 480 included!

  6. Anyway. We want to compere the cards.

    390 and 970 is they cheap?

  7. 200$ 960 vs 200$ 480? Even in the conclusion it should have been referenced that buyers should look that way or consider that the 1060 is coming out soon as well.

  8. Awesome, the 1060 review should be interesting. Also is there potential to review the 4gb RX480 as that has a starting price of £175? Would be interesting to see how memory affects performance.

  9. …Use google m8

  10. Yep, working on that – a Rx 480 is now with me so will be testing in due course and try to get this review’s graphs updated before 1060.

  11. In the UK (we are a UK site) Rx 480 is a £240+ card and not (yet) available in 4GB variants. However, yes I will revisit now I have an Rx 480 with me and update graphs/judgement accordingly.