Are you using Marco or Compiz as the window manager?
(Can be set in System → Preferences → Look & Feel → MATE Tweak)
Try switching to Compiz, which uses the GPU to draw windows, whereas Marco is CPU-driven.
In the Compiz Config Settings Manager (compizconfig-settings-manager), under the "Composite" plugin, you could set the refresh rate to 60 - by default, Ubuntu MATE's profile has this set to 50.
If Compiz isn't enough, then try adding these extra lines to /etc/X11/xorg.conf inside Section "Screen" :
Option "TripleBuffer" "True" Option "metamodes" "nvidia-auto-select +0+0 { ForceFullCompositionPipeline = On }"
I'd also recommend sticking to Ubuntu's own NVIDIA driver PPA too, to avoid issues later if you have the binary driver installed on its own:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
sudo apt-get update
Then open Additional Drivers to choose the latest drivers that automatically stay up-to-date.
NVIDIA GTX 960 here, I have felt that pain of screen tearing too. 