NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Laptop) vs GeForce GTX 960M – benchmarks and real gaming performance comparison

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 and GTX 960M are two great graphics cards for budget gaming. The GTX 1050 is the entry-level graphics card of the newest Pascal architecture while GTX 960M is part of the Maxwell family. Now, what is interesting about the GTX 1050 and the whole 10 series is that the mobile graphics cards are not labeled with an M. This is because NVIDIA claims that there is almost no difference between the performance of the chip on a desktop and in a laptop configuration and if there is a difference it should be within 10 percent. Of course, when it comes to notebooks where cooling is the major problem this numbers could vary. Nonetheless, we want to compare the new GTX 1050 to the GTX 960M and see if it is worth the upgrade.

In this comparison, we are going to see how both graphics cards handle some games in different settings and we are also going to check their performance with synthetic benchmarks using 3DMark and Unigine Heaven.

Check out our Laptop Graphics Ranking, where you can find more information about the two graphic solutions on their dedicated pages:
http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-graphics-ranking/

Check out all available GeForce GTX 960M laptops and their prices here: Buy from Amazon.com.au (#CommissionsEarned)

Check out all available GeForce GTX 1050 laptops and their prices here: Buy from Amazon.com.au (#CommissionsEarned)

List of all GeForce GTX 1050 / 1050 Ti laptops – release dates, specs, prices

Synthetic benchmarks

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Gaming tests

 GTA 5 (1080p, Low) GTA 5 (1080p, Medium)GTA 5 (1080p, Max)
 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 96 fps (-16.5%) 61 fps (+64.8%) 19 fps (+26.7%)
 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 115 fps 37 fps 15 fps

 F1 2015 (1080p, Low) F1 2015 (1080p, Medium)F1 2015 (1080p, Max)
 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 85 fps (+39.3%) 64 fps (+ 33.3%) 47 fps (+51.6%)
 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 61 fps 48 fps 31 fps

As you can see results vary from one title to another. However, when it comes to Grand Theft Auto 5 we can see that the GTX 960M provides a significantly better fps when playing on low graphics setting but the GTX 1050 manages to make the game a lot more playable on medium settings by almost doubling the fps (61 vs 37). In the case of F1 2015, we see that the newer Pascal-based GTX 1050 makes the game run a lot better rendering it enjoyable even on maxed graphics settings.

In conclusion, we may say that the GTX 1050 is definitely worth the upgrade as we see an average of around 40% increase in fps but the GTX 960M is still a good choice if you are willing to play your games on low graphics setting or a lower than 1080p resolution or you are into older less graphics demanding titles.

Check out all available GeForce GTX 960M laptops and their prices here: Buy from Amazon.com.au (#CommissionsEarned)

Check out all available GeForce GTX 1050 laptops and their prices here: Buy from Amazon.com.au (#CommissionsEarned)

List of all GeForce GTX 1050 / 1050 Ti laptops – release dates, specs, prices

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shumayal
shumayal
6 years ago

How does the heating compare with the VN7-592G? Is 1050 harder to cool than the GTX 960m?

JOJO
JOJO
6 years ago

Settings for unigine?

User buyer
6 years ago

thank you very much, helped me to choose the right laptop !

thomas
thomas
5 years ago

The data for GTA V is fake I play on Max settings 1080p at 60 fps with the same computer.