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TitanX-Feature

When Nvidia launched the GTX 1080 earlier this year, it didn't take long before rumors of a new Titan-branded card followed in its wake. Unlike the GP100, which will utilise HBM2 and launch in early 2017, the Nvidia (not GeForce) Titan X is based on a different piece of silicon: GP102. This new top-end card combines a wider memory charabanc and college core counts with the same GDDR5X that debuted with the GTX 1080, and it offers significantly higher performance — if you can stomach the price.

Multiple reviews of the card are up at Hot Hardware, PC Perspective, and Tom's Hardware Guide. The Titan X packs iii,584 cores, 224 texture units, and 96 ROPS, with a base clock of 1417MHz and a boost clock of 1531MHz. That'southward 40% more than cores and texture units than the GTX 1080 and l% more ROPs, though these gains are offset by decreased clock speeds, which are roughly 12% lower than the GTX 1080. Retention bandwidth is up to 480GB/s, and the TDP is just 250W — impressive for a carte with specs like these.

TitanX

Here's the bottom line: This GPU is statistically a monster, and it performs similar one. THG notes: "If you were of the mind that one GP104 couldn't handle 3840×2160, Titan X could exist your solution." AMD's Fury X has already been generally outclassed by the GTX 1070 and 1080, but fans of Team Cherry could at least betoken to a handful of DirectX 12 titles where the Fury family competed well against Nvidia'south latest GPUs. That's gone at the height stop — fifty-fifty when the Fury 10 manages to merchandise shots with the GTX 1080, Nvidia's Titan X obliterates them both past 20-twoscore%. This is the commencement GPU that tin bulldoze 4K at high frame rates — but male child, it comes at a toll.

If you have to ask how much it costs…

More than two months later on launch, the GTX 1080 is functionally a $650 – $750 GPU (expected MSRP is $599, only expert luck finding one at that price). Now, Nvidia has launched an even higher-end SKU, available only from its own website. The Nvidia Titan 10 is absolutely the fastest and most powerful GPU on the market, but at $1,200, it'due south non whatsoever kind of deal. Its cost/performance ratio is poor past any mensurate — you're paying nearly 2x every bit much money for a top-end performance increment of 40%.

The flip side to this, even so, is that cards like the Titan X aren't made for people who have to ask how much the GPU costs — they're designed for people who can afford to throw insane amounts of coin at a product. If you want the absolute best GPU performance money can buy, the Nvidia Titan X is the all-time GPU on the marketplace. Keep in heed, still, that these ultra-expensive GPUs don't concur their value particularly well, and Nvidia has a history of cut them off at the knees once information technology needs to respond to a competitive imbalance.

A $i,200 Titan X doesn't just give Nvidia an enviable pole position, it as well establishes a huge amount of leeway in the company'due south price structure. Allow's say AMD's top-end Vega is faster than the GTX 1080 and comes in at $700. Nvidia can easily address that with a hereafter GTX 1080 Ti for, say, $750 — and then trim prices on the GTX 1080 if it needs to. Last year, the GTX 980 Ti offered 95%+ of the GTX Titan X'southward functioning for hundreds of dollars less. At that place'southward nothing stopping Nvidia from doing the aforementioned thing this year, and the company has explicitly left itself room to maneuver.

One concluding betoken, while we're on the topic. With the Titan X, Nvidia has unambiguously seized the performance crown in every benchmark, period, whether in DX12 or DX11. Just this was always going to happen, simply as a result of how AMD and Nvidia chose to launch their respective hardware. Nvidia shot for the high-terminate first, AMD chose to refresh its entry-level and midrange products. As a consequence of that, NV's 14nm hardware completely dominates the old 28nm cards from AMD.

Given that Vega is supposed to be a completely new architecture compared with GCN, it'southward pointless to speculate on whether or non AMD tin can or can't close the gap. Information technology's not as simple as just predicting what Fat Polaris might expect like, or what kind of performance it could offer. There are other factors to consider too, like AMD's use of HBM2 equally compared to GDDR5X. The bottom line is, anybody knew that delaying its high-end hardware would go out AMD unable to compete against Nvidia at the acme-terminate of the market place — including AMD.

If y'all don't similar the thought of buying a $ane,200 GPU in Baronial that might be outclassed by a $750 GPU come up December, don't invest in Titan-class cards. But if you desire the fastest GPU money can purchase now, period, the Nvidia Titan X has no competition.

Now read: How to purchase the right video card for your gaming PC