Pricing, Availability and Closing Thoughts
So you've seen the performance, you've seen the power consumption, and you've seen the design; does the GTX Titan X stack up well in today's GPU market?
Performance
Clearly and without a doubt, the GeForce GTX Titan X is now the world's fastest, single-GPU graphics card for PC gaming. With a combination of 3072 CUDA cores, 12GB of memory and impressive efficiency, the Titan X will be able to handle any game at 2560×1440, 3440×1440 and is clearly the best option for 4K gaming on a single GPU. Compare this new flagship product to NVIDIA's own GTX 980, our performance increases range from 25-50% with a good average floating in the 30-35% range, especially in those pixel dense 4K scores. That is a pretty wide delta for real-world gaming results though I imagine many of our readers expected a bit more when you saw the specifications increase by 50% across the board. But keep in mind that the clock speed of the GM200 GPU in this case is running 10-12% lower (at stock) than the GM204 used in the GTX 980, so that explains a lack of perfect scaling.
AMD's competition has two different options. First, the Radeon R9 290X based on the aging Hawaii GPU is, on average, 40-45% slower than the new GTX Titan X card. We actually measured a couple of 50%+ differences (Bioshock Infinite at 4K, Unigine Heaven) as well, giving NVIDIA's new flagship GPU a measurable, and sizeable, advantage over the best single GPU that AMD can offer.
The R9 295X2 is interesting as well – by combining two of those Hawaii GPUs on a single, very power hungry graphics card, AMD can still make the claim of the fastest graphics card. In our testing, the 295X2 produces average frame rates around 25-30% faster than the GTX Titan X. But of course that comes with all the complications associated with multi-GPU system and gaming. You have to worry about CrossFire profile updates for newer games (which are admittedly slower to appear than with NVIDIA's drivers) and you need to be concerned with frame time consistency and the ability for two GPUs to run as smoothly as possible. AMD has done a lot of work in the last two years to help improve the CrossFire experience in this area, but it will never be perfect and we saw several instances of higher frame time variance (Battlefield 4, Metro: Last Light).
Also, take note that, for gaming today, 12GB of memory is decidedly overkill. You might be able to use as much as 6-7GB based on what NVIDIA's testing has shown before the Titan X release, and they claim this makes the GPU extra "future proof" but really…12GB is just a bragging point!
Power Efficiency
NVIDIA's Maxwell architecture surprised us all with its focus on power efficiency when we were introduced to the GM204 GPU back in September of last year in the form of the GTX 980 and GTX 970. That trend continues with the GM200-based GTX Titan X, though we get into the realm of standard flagship GPU TDP levels this time. With a 250 watt TDP, the GTX Titan X is able to outperform the R9 290X by as much as 45% while using 40-50 watts less power, proving again that NVIDIA's focus on power was well founded. There is still the argument that, in theory, NVIDIA could have given gamers more performance and the expense of more power, but the need to have an architecture that scales from Tegra SoCs to flagship gaming GPUs and Tesla compute products is better served with what NVIDIA has built today.
As we look to the future when AMD will release its own new architecture, the question of whether or not AMD has taken the same path as NVIDIA remains open. Will the Fiji GPUs suffer from power efficiency deficits again – and more importantly, will that matter enough to gamers to drive them to GeForce products?
Pricing and Availability
At the GPU Technology Conference, NVIDIA's CEO Jen-Hsun Huang let us know that the GeForce GTX Titan X will begin selling today for $999. That is the same starting MSRP that both the original Titan and the Titan Black were released at, so the Titan X fits in line with expectations.
- GeForce GTX Titan X 12GB – $999
- GeForce GTX 980 4GB – $549
- Radeon R9 290X 4GB – $359
- Radeon R9 295X2 – $699
So now, things are interesting. If you measure and decide on your GPU purchases simply by performance per dollar, then the Titan X isn't going to be your choice. The Titan X is 81% more expensive than the GTX 980 but offers a performance improvement of 30-35%. The Titan X is 178% more expensive than the R9 290X yet offers performance advantages of only 45-50%. So even though the Titan X is clearly the fastest GPU we have ever tested, it is definitely not the most cost effective. The Titan X is built of gamers that want the very best in GPU hardware and have the budget to splurge on the investment.
The Radeon R9 295X2 is $300 less than the Titan X, but offers better performance if you focus on the average frame rate. That sounds like it would be a big-time win for AMD, but as we have mentioned before, there are the concerns that surround depending on multi-GPU setups for your gaming system. Gamers that are focused on performance per dollar will find that the 295X2 is possibly the best option in PC hardware today. Just be aware of the caveats.
Final Thoughts
As a hardware enthusiast, it's impossible to not fall in love with the GeForce GTX Titan X. NVIDIA has combined specification that drop your jaw: 3072 CUDA cores, 12GB of memory and 6.14 TFLOPS of peak theoretical compute (before overclocking). The look and style of the Titan X is still at the top of its class, despite the fact that I think it might be time for a refresh. The GM200 GPU is incredibly impressive in the performance department offering gains of 35% over the GTX 980 and 45% over the R9 290X. Only the Radeon R9 295X2 can beat it but it requires a pair of GPUs to do so.
NVIDIA continues to bundle high quality hardware with extra features and programs that are getting gamers' attention. You have full feature-level DX12 support, HDMI 2.0, G-Sync variable refresh monitors, GeForce Experience software with streaming/capture capability, frequently updated drivers with major game releases, GameWorks game implementations and more. Yes, you can debate the value and importance of one of those (and other) features and technologies but it is the combination that adds up to a package that clearly appeals to PC gamers. The market share changes through 2014 prove that's the case.
Obviously the one caveat to this is that price tag – $999 is a lot to spend on a GPU that offers "only" 35% better gaming performance than the $550 GTX 980. But, much like the Intel Extreme Edition processors that continue to be released, refreshed and sold, the market proves that these parts sell enough to warrant the cost.
very overpriced for what you
very overpriced for what you get, I was hoping they’d incorporate a 512bit memory interface and stick with double precision
They’re already pushing over
They’re already pushing over 600mm2 on the GPU. They seem limited by what they can do on the 28nm process.
Oh…oh god…MOTHER OF
Oh…oh god…MOTHER OF GOD…
http://www.imagebam.com/image/4dccee397912995.
It seems like most newer
It seems like most newer games work quite well with multiple gpu set-ups. At some point there is going to be little difference between 2 gpus and one gpu at twice the size except price. Two smaller gpus will probably be cheaper since the yield on a ~600 square mm part is not going to be good. For most of the games tested, a multi-gpu system is cheaper and better performing. Power is more, but with multi-gpu systems you are running multiple, independent high speed memory systems instead of a single memory system. Stacked HBM is supposed to be much more power efficient, so multiple smaller gpus with HBM may be the the best option eventually. Both the Titan X and the 390X are going to be priced out of the mainstream market. They are interesting to read about, but I doubt many people here are considering actually buying one.
Performance per dollar is
Performance per dollar is HORRIBLE, this is the card for people who have so much money they honestly don’t know what to do with it.
“As a hardware enthusiast,
“As a hardware enthusiast, it’s impossible to not fall in love with the GeForce GTX Titan X.”
Yes it is. Because despite what your “funny nvidia infomercial”, which you dare call a test, this card is a freaking rip-off.
It’s nothing more than this generation’s GTX580 3GB. Except that one was 550$. It’s gain over previous gen, be it performance or power efficiency, are nothing more than 780 over 580 or 580 over 280.
The fact the GTX 560Ti was 250€ and the 580 3GB 550€, and now the 960 Ti (oop, 980) is 550€ and the 980 (oops, TitanX) 1000€ should make any hardware enthusiast think twice before writing piles of advertising shit.
Wow, angry much ?
AMD
Wow, angry much ?
AMD overclocked one of their stupid bull cpu’s, then sold it on NewEgg for freaking $800.
I was LOL’ing so hard – a bunch of amd fanboys bought it, then it found to be flaky and a supreme power hog, then the price plummeted… to like $300, slightly above the best doggy cpu ad had
I mean how could amd rebrand then raise the price 300% ?
Now THERE’S A RIPOFF ! IT WASN’T EVEN A NEW CPU !
At least nVidia makes a new MONSTER product with MONSTER RAM, instead of overclocking a failed dog then scalping fanboys.
The 295X2 just killed another
The 295X2 just killed another weak Titan.
The 295X2 is still top of the food chain.
The weak Titan X is too weak for 295X2.
AMD continues to bleed market
AMD continues to bleed market share and profits on discrete GPUs.
Nvidia gains market share in discrete and now holds a 76% to 24% advantage over AMD.
http://jonpeddie.com/news/comments/gpu-shipments-marketwatch-q4-2014-charts-and-images
AMD cuts the prices over and over again yet more gamers are choosing Nvidia over AMD.
Nvidia has high margins on the Titans (and they do sell out) whereas AMD has low margins on the 295X2 (2x GPUs, expensive cooling, more layers on PCB, etc) and still can’t get people to buy it. So sad (for AMD).
Fanboys make me laugh. If you
Fanboys make me laugh. If you don’t want what the Titan X offers, don’t buy it. If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it. But laughing and saying the 295X2 is still the best is just stupid. The 295X2 is 12.4B transistors and 600W of power that can only keep itself cool with an unwieldy CLC. AMD’s only selling for 700 bucks because nobody wants them. Is it still the fastest single PCB solution? Well, yes, but only sometimes… only if CF is implemented correctly. The 295X2 comes with so many compromises that nvidia clearly feels like they can charge a $450 premium over the GTX 980, and until AMD has something that can compete directly on a single GPU basis, its going to stay that way. Oh, and a bunch of sketchy leaked slides and rumors about the 390X mean nothing. If you’re using the 390X as proof of AMD’s superiority you’re a joke. Call me when the reviews drop.
PS- owner of 2 290x’s speaking
Prices at this level have
Prices at this level have very little to do with market demand or much of anything else. The volume of these super ridiculous high end cards is so low that they are mostly a marketing tool. Nvidia releases this Titan x with probably 2x the amount of ram that it could actually use and gets a lot of media attention ahead of any AMD releases. They are not going to make much on actually selling these things, especially since it doesn’t have high compute performance. They will certainly have a cut down version of this chip that will be a more reasonable price eventually.
For people actually willing to spend the money on this much performance, the r9-295×2 is still the better deal. I don’t care much about the number of transistors and such. The AMD solution is cheaper and performs better. Most gamers don’t care that much about the power consumption either unless it makes the card excessively noisy. I don’t see much of any reason that a gamer would buy a Titan x over the 295, so why wouldn’t you say that the 295 is still the better card? It seems that most modern games are handling dual gpu fine, and older games probably don’t need this level of performance anyway.
Agreed, despite your being
Agreed, despite your being too cowardly to register.
The transistor counts tell
The transistor counts tell you something about where each company is in terms of technology, but you’re right that they don’t matter directly. Instead it has a knock-on effect for the power and cooling requirements. Despite what AMD fanboys keep telling me, power DOES matter. Installing a CLC is a big logistical pain in the ass and fan speed needs to compensate to keep things cool. I couldn’t stand the fan noise on my 7970’s, let alone the 290X’s so I built a full custom loop just to shut them the hell up. Might not have needed to do that with more efficient cards that can run quieter on air.
And as far as performance, I have lots of recent games that still only use 1 GPU reliably. How many games have serious, sometimes gamebreaking issues at launch with SLI or CF? Happens a lot… flickering textures, stuttering, framerates bouncing all over the place or just straight up crashes. Titanfall and Evolve come to mind immediately. So yea, if everything is working the 295X2 is a better perf/$ card, but its so much more dependent on software that there will always be value in a single GPU solution. How much is up to you, but people who keep squawking about the 295X2 would have you believe otherwise.
So now crossfire always works
So now crossfire always works and amd drivers don’t suck….
SELL IT TO THE CARPETBAGGER BRO.
Stop talking sense!
Stop talking sense!
deleted. Was going to say
deleted. Was going to say deleted self, but that would have been ambiguous.
Yes the 295x has compromises
Yes the 295x has compromises
BUT I want one, but it won’t fit into the cases I own, as I already have watercooling CPU units inside. If they were Air cooled they would be flying off the shelf at that price point. Thats why most AMD ers are just doing crossfire.
PS. (I run AMD and Nvidia)
Priced here in Ireland @ 1250
Priced here in Ireland @ 1250 euros (Including tax 23%).
I want one, (Well 2 in SLI), but not ever at that price.
980 TI is basically going to be this card with less ram and speed aligned as to what the AMD 390x does. Prob june/july
So wait and see, seems to be the thing to do.
(If rumors are true then the TITAN X is about AMD 390x speeds)
PS. Never seen so may review cards issued………..
PPS. Guess I didn’t win the draw………..secret word was dress (Red)
I see a future with 3-phase
I see a future with 3-phase 208 and liquid nitrogen tanks.
Comon guys, Titan X
Comon guys, Titan X benchmarks on vanilla Skyrim? 🙁 Nobody buying Titan X is going to care about vanilla Skyrim performance on 1440p. Maybe 4k vanilla, but better, 1440p with mods.
Want to post a score for EVGA
Want to post a score for EVGA super-clocked version of this card. With factory settings and without additional overclocking I got on Fire Strike Extreme: Score: 8281, Graphics score: 8884 which is about 10% higher that reference card.