Nvidia’s GTX 950 is a highly capable, good-value GPU for 1080p gaming

What is the most common gaming resolution these days? 1080p? 1440p? 4K? Despite the graphical splendour of a high-resolution monitor—and don't get me wrong, I love me a high-resolution monitor—for the vast majority of people, 1080p is still king. Valve's Steam Hardware Survey, while not definitive, places 1080p desktop and laptop resolution share at 34 percent, followed by 720p at 26 percent. With just over one percent share, 1440p i doesn't even get a look in.

That's why, for the longest time, the big sellers at Nvidia and AMD haven't been flagship cards like the GTX 980 Ti or R9 Fury. Instead, it's cards in the sub-£200 bracket that make up the bulk of sales. For Nvidia, that's been the likes of the GTX 650, GTX 750 Ti, and GTX 960, while AMD has the likes of the R7 370 and R9 380. Now, Nvidia's adding another card to that potentially lucrative pile in the form of the GTX 950, a £129 graphics card that promises to be the mainstream card of choice for 1080p gaming.

Of course, Nvidia said that about the GTX 960 as well, and while that was a fine performer—often hitting a solid 60 FPS at high and ultra settings at 1080p—it wasn't exactly what you'd call an exciting graphics card. Competing AMD products like the R9 280 offered similar or better performance with higher-bandwidth memory, and more of it, albeit at the cost of power efficiency. The GTX 950 has its work cut out for it to stay relevant, and Nvidia knows it.