The GTX 950 is Nvidia's latest Maxwell card which is based on a GTX 960 but with 25% fewer CUDA cores and 25% fewer texture units. Comparing the GTX 960 and 950 shows that, as expected, effective speed has been reduced by 25%. The GTX 950 is positioned above GTX 750 Ti which is Nvidia's energy efficient mass market GPU. Comparing the 750 Ti and 950 shows that 950 is nearly 50% faster but it's also priced 50% higher so the 950 doesn't offer improved value for money. Gaming performance for the GTX 950 at resolutions up to 1080p on high/ultra settings will be satisfactory most of the time. That said, the GTX 950 is priced on the high side ($160). At present the GTX 960 ($171) offers 25% better performance for just 7% more money. See a current list of the best value graphics cards here. [Aug '15GPUPro]
It's hard to say what exactly I dislike about the card. It just gave be a bad vibe from day 1 when it arrived as a replacement for my DOA 7770. It's performance has always felt poor, sure it runs more modern games at higher framerates than the intel HD graphics I had to compare it to, but it never felt like it was working very efficiently. It leaves horizontal lines on the screen reminiscent of VHS fuzz just in the desktop and I've even experienced the occasional black screen when waking up from sleep mode.
I suspect mine is a 1GB model and that the 2GB model is more reliable, but the fact that the two aren't easily distinguishable is yet another reason to avoid buying it IMO. Overall I would strongly recommend *not* buying this card even in a pinch. [Nov '19AgentOranJ]
We calculate effective 3D speed which estimates gaming performance for the top 12 games. Effective speed is adjusted by current prices to yield value for money. Our figures are checked against thousands of individual user ratings. The customizable table below combines these factors to bring you the definitive list of top GPUs. [GPUPro]
Welcome to our PC speed test tool. UserBenchmark will test your PC and compare the results to other users with the same components. You can quickly size up your PC, identify hardware problems and explore the best value for money upgrades.