4 Weeks with NVIDIA TITAN X SLI at 4K Resolution @ [H]

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FrgMstr

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4 Weeks with NVIDIA TITAN X SLI at 4K Resolution - What do you get when you take two NVIDIA GeForce TITAN X video cards, configure those for SLI, and set those at your feet for four or more weeks? We give our thoughts and opinions about actually using these behemoth GPUs in our system for weeks and weeks and focus on gaming performance, sound profile, heat generation, and general usability.
 
Ultima99 said:
Bring on the Pascals already! This will be the revolutionary jump we haven't seen on the CPU side in years.
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The realist in me thinks that Nvidia simply won't let that happen. If they have a big, monster HUGE jump style chip, they'll probably sit on it and release midrange chips that are only 10% faster than a 980Ti and just call them the 'GTX 1080' and charge 650 for them. Then when AMD comes out with their slightly better solution, Nvidia will release a gimp'd version of the big silicon and call it the 'GTX 1080Ti'.
 
KazeoHin said:
The realist in me thinks that Nvidia simply won't let that happen. If they have a big, monster HUGE jump style chip, they'll probably sit on it and release midrange chips that are only 10% faster than a 980Ti and just call them the 'GTX 1080' and charge 650 for them. Then when AMD comes out with their slightly better solution, Nvidia will release a gimp'd version of the big silicon and call it the 'GTX 1080Ti'.
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I agree. Same kind of release as the last couple of generations. I hope not though.
 
I've had pretty much the same setup since the Titan Xs came out. 48" Samsung, Titan X SLI, X99, etc... The only difference is that I have installed EVGA Hybrid coolers on them. This has helped the overclocking as well as the sound quite a bit. I've been very happy with them since day one.

The one thing I would like Nvidia to change is the SLI configuration turning off when you update drivers. I've forgotten every now and then to go back in and turn SLI back on. It's very noticeable at 4K resolutions when one graphics card is missing. I don't know whey they just can't keep that setting during an update.
 
I am glad I didn't get a 4k screen TBH. This was a good read, but personally for gaming my experience with 21:9 has been a dream. I have a beautiful picture on a real PC monitor that is large and immersive. 2x Titan X's can just barely handle current games @ 4k with all the bells and whistles on. Because I chose the ultrawide monitor instead of the 4k I will be able to keep my settings high even after newer gen games come out while the people with 4k screens will have to turn stuff down or add another Titan X.
 
IMO I would rather see a 48" 21:9 Ultrawide with 100-144hz. I would pay $5000 for that today.
 
"If you were an early adopter, I would venture to say that you have been happy with your purchase, no matter what all the haters have had to say."

Yup. :)

It was a really nice upgrade from 980 SLI.
 
I'd be curious how the performance has matured over time.

When the 980ti's first launched, there was a very small difference in performance between them and the Titan X.

I'm curious if that has held up, or if in the time since then, the Titan X has pulled away at all, as new titles have launched.

As it stands, the Titan X SLI is certainly the king of the hill, no doubt. When I decided to go with 980ti's though, it was because I didn't think and additional $1000 (at the time) for two video cards over dual 980ti's was worth it for a ~5% improvement. I'd be curious if that calculus holds up :p

Ultima99 said:
Bring on the Pascals already! This will be the revolutionary jump we haven't seen on the CPU side in years.
Click to expand...

I - for one - am hoping that big pascal will be sufficient of an improvement that I can justify going back to a single GPU. After all it will be the first die shrink since the GTX680 :eek:

I'm really chafing with SLI. I don't much care for the experience at all. I am much happier with a single GPU, as long as that single GPU can provide me with the performance I need.
 
VIC-20 said:
All the gamers in my house stopped using monitors and switched to TVs for PC gaming years ago, but not in the way most people think. We use them on desks right behind our keyboards, not with a controller and sitting back on a couch. Sitting on a couch, 6 feet away from a display, feels too disconnected and less immersive to our family for PC gaming. (We only do that for console games.)

I don't have a 4k yet (I currently use a 60" Samsung on my desk, it is too big. 46" was optimal for me sitting less than 2 feet from a TV. I am switching back to a smaller size at some point.), but my roommate lets me use his 75" HU8500 4K Samsung for PC gaming while he is out of town at work.

My experience is:
1) 75" is too big for that way I like to play. I have to sit way too far back. (Again, I like a TV on my desk for PC games)
2) 4K with no AA looks much better to me than any lower res. + any AA method. 4K is a game changer. I want a 46" 4k TV for myself now. It is absolutely gorgeous.
3) TVs (especially samsung), tend to way over saturate colors compared to monitors. This is a personal thing, but I love it. The color "pops" and people that stop by that are used to monitors are always impressed. They ask if I'm using mods on every game.
4) I do not notice the input lag or low refresh that TVs technically have versus monitors. The immersion of the size (46" at 16" away) is more satisfying to me than refresh speed. I used plain old slow refresh 1080p non-LED TVs for years (my gf and daughter still use them) and have always been happy with that. So are they.
NOTE: I always need vsync. Tearing is really noticeable at a large display size.

If I could get the best of both worlds (above 60z input, 4K, 4-4-4, 46-47" size, GSYNC, IPS, etc. etc.) I'm sure I would love it. But I'm sure that would cost as much as a new Ford Fiesta, so I accept trade offs.


TLDR: I think most people over exaggerate the negatives of using a TV for PC gaming and sitting way back on a couch isn't the only option.
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I should add that scaling for 4k in Windows 10 is fine for MOST things at 4k. But for Steam's regular interface, IT SUCKS. I hate big picture mode, but the regular client is almost unreadable (super tiny fonts) at 4k. Valve really needs to fix that.
 
VIC-20 said:
I should add that scaling for 4k in Windows 10 is fine for MOST things at 4k. But for Steam's regular interface, IT SUCKS. I hate big picture mode, but the regular client is almost unreadable (super tiny fonts) at 4k. Valve really needs to fix that.
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I keep everything at 100%. I didn't pay all this money for extra pixels, just to scale it :p
 
Good review. But one has to wonder the wisdom of getting one now with what's around the corner. (As the article alludes)
 
DigitalGriffin said:
Good review. But one has to wonder the wisdom of getting one now with what's around the corner. (As the article alludes)
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Not a review, just related my subjective experience. Not really there for the purpose of influencing a buying decision either. Picking up a couple of used TITAN X cards might not be such a bad idea though. :)
 
Kyle... WTF the desk... do you not own that house? Are you not a man with a hammer?

thumbsup6.png


How many ratpadz must we buy to get you the $6 you need for a decent hammer?

51dfJwwcklL._SY355_.jpg
 
While 4k is neat, the price of 2 titan xs is too much. Even one titan x is a bit much. Now a single pascal might do the trick.
Besides, 4k monitors aren't going to be worth it.
The next real upgrade will be vr headsets running 2 4k screens inches away from your face.
 
Hypergreatthing said:
While 4k is neat, the price of 2 titan xs is too much. Even one titan x is a bit much. Now a single pascal might do the trick.
Besides, 4k monitors aren't going to be worth it.
The next real upgrade will be vr headsets running 2 4k screens inches away from your face.
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So what is your current gaming setup?
 
But when you fire it up on a 48" 4K display, you will know where all that extra money went.
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Hehehe, this line from the end of the article reminded me of:

Now this is Panda, from Mexico.
Very good stuff. This is Bava,
different, but equally good. And
this is Choco from the Hartz
Mountains of Germany. Now the
first two are the same, forty-five
an ounce -- those are friend prices
-- but this one...
(pointing to the Choco)
...this one's a little more
expensive. It's fifty-five. But
when you shoot it, you'll know
where that extra money went.
Nothing wrong with the first two.
It's real, real, real, good shit.
But this one's a fuckin' madman.
Click to expand...
 
Hypergreatthing said:
770 gtx, i7-930, 2 27" 2560x1440 screens and 2 24" 1900x1200 screens in a quad mount config.
Why is it so old? Because it works. Intel hasn't wowed me on newer cpus that really bring a difference in gaming. The 770 is a recent upgrade from a 4850 that i had in there until it started to run too slow for me.
I just want a single gpu that can run 4k and vr. Throwing titan xs is just too costly to justify for me. I'm hoping that pascal comes with a semi-affordable solution. That'll be my cue to upgrade the whole setup.
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I'm waiting for Pascal also and hoping for a more favorable US to CAD rate, slowly putting aside 40$ per week to help with my video card upgrade. I plan to go single gpu, so i think my 3570k @ 4.4 might be enough for awhile.
I'm really enjoying my 27'' 1440p korean monitor, but the screan real estate of these 4k tvs is making me reconsider the whole single card upgrade path. Immersion must be awesome in tense games like SOMA or dark souls.
 
PanzeR- said:
I'm waiting for Pascal also and hoping for a more favorable US to CAD rate, slowly putting aside 40$ per week to help with my video card upgrade. I plan to go single gpu, so i think my 3570k @ 4.4 might be enough for awhile.
I'm really enjoying my 27'' 1440p korean monitor, but the screan real estate of these 4k tvs is making me reconsider the whole single card upgrade path. Immersion must be awesome in tense games like SOMA or dark souls.
Click to expand...

I'm operating on a completely different scale than this article, but I can tell you that your thinking is correct. I'm playing SOMA on a 65" screen right now, and it's insane. Granted my GHTPC has a GTX970, and the TV is 1080, but the size at between 8 and 10 feet away is perfect in a game like this. Having a blast. Factor in a smaller screen at higher resolution, but closer up, and I think you get a similar effect. (only much higher clarity)
 
KazeoHin said:
The realist in me thinks that Nvidia simply won't let that happen. If they have a big, monster HUGE jump style chip, they'll probably sit on it and release midrange chips that are only 10% faster than a 980Ti and just call them the 'GTX 1080' and charge 650 for them. Then when AMD comes out with their slightly better solution, Nvidia will release a gimp'd version of the big silicon and call it the 'GTX 1080Ti'.
Click to expand...

I think it might be closer to 30-50% faster. But I think you're right, I'd shit myself if nVidia came out with a full size die right out of the gate (2x the transistors?). It doesn't make sense from an engineering or business standpoint. The only thing that could force them is a full size die from AMD, but I won't hold my breath. The other option is they do release a full size die and it's crazy expensive.

For right now, if I was on 4k I'd be forced to Titan X SLI. At 3440x1440 I get away with one. What forced me away from SLI is when games would work then suddenly wouldn't. A lot of times I only have a half an hour to sneak in gaming so when a game doesn't work, BF4 in this case, I get frustrated.

Oh boy, would I love a full size Pascal and not to think about GPU upgrades for a few years...
 
Dayaks said:
I think it might be closer to 30-50% faster. But I think you're right, I'd shit myself if nVidia came out with a full size die right out of the gate (2x the transistors?). It doesn't make sense from an engineering or business standpoint. The only thing that could force them is a full size die from AMD, but I won't hold my breath. The other option is they do release a full size die and it's crazy expensive.

For right now, if I was on 4k I'd be forced to Titan X SLI. At 3440x1440 I get away with one. What forced me away from SLI is when games would work then suddenly wouldn't. A lot of times I only have a half an hour to sneak in gaming so when a game doesn't work, BF4 in this case, I get frustrated.

Oh boy, would I love a full size Pascal and not to think about GPU upgrades for a few years...
Click to expand...
What kinda frames are you getting in 3440x1440? I just ordered one of the 34 ultrawide 100hz gsync monitors, curious as to what I'll get running 1 Titan-X
 
why compare to an old 980 ? How about 980ti in SLI overclocked and lets see how much of a difference there is now
 
I think I could maybe deal with that 48" monster if I mounted it on my wall behind my desk. That would give me about 3 feet of space. Sitting a foot in front of a huge screen like that would likely give me headaches or make me hurl during games.

Oh and Kyle.... yeah I know it's kind of a waste with SLI Titans, but have you done Civ V on 4K? I need to know how awesome that looks. Also the new X-Com....
 
UnrealCpu said:
why compare to an old 980 ? How about 980ti in SLI overclocked and lets see how much of a difference there is now
Click to expand...

It's not a review. His previous system was sli 980, he is just relating his experience. Are you trying to make him feel bad about his purchase?
 
Burticus said:
I think I could maybe deal with that 48" monster if I mounted it on my wall behind my desk. That would give me about 3 feet of space. Sitting a foot in front of a huge screen like that would likely give me headaches or make me hurl during games.

Oh and Kyle.... yeah I know it's kind of a waste with SLI Titans, but have you done Civ V on 4K? I need to know how awesome that looks. Also the new X-Com....
Click to expand...

Civ 5 is great at 4k on the JS9000.

No need for SLI though. A single 980ti runs that game well at 4k, even with everything maxxed.
 
delita said:
What kinda frames are you getting in 3440x1440? I just ordered one of the 34 ultrawide 100hz gsync monitors, curious as to what I'll get running 1 Titan-X
Click to expand...

I vsync lock to 60Hz. Practically all games I run high or ultra. Some older ones with DSR. You should be very happy with one card. At least enough to hold you over to Pascal.

When I went from two Titan Xs to one I barely changed any settings, if any, in games for them to feel "playable".

Games like BF4/Battlefront I can play Ultra with AA. The Witcher I play max settings except foliage at high instead of ultra. Honestly can't tell the diff.
 
Really good article, Kyle. It actually makes me feel better about getting an ultrawide monitor over one of those 4K g-sync panels or a 4K TV. If I could have afforded a second 980 ti (well, I could have if I didn't decide to upgrade to X99 and water cool it) I probably would have gone 4K. The TV looks really good on your desk, the curve really works with where you desk it.
 
Derangel said:
Really good article, Kyle. It actually makes me feel better about getting an ultrawide monitor over one of those 4K g-sync panels or a 4K TV. If I could have afforded a second 980 ti (well, I could have if I didn't decide to upgrade to X99 and water cool it) I probably would have gone 4K. The TV looks really good on your desk, the curve really works with where you desk it.
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If I did not edit a ton of documents for HardOCP, I might not have gone 4K and gone ultra wide with a better refresh rate. But the fact is that the vertical pixels really kick ass for what I do most days, all day long.
 
Can't wait for Polaris. If the jump is anything like 7970, it's well worth it. Checking out the JS9000 and LG 31MU97 today...
 
Nice editorial. I have had a Titan and a Titan X and they really are hands down the best regardless of price. I think your experiences bolster my opinion that I should hold off on 4K until there is a single GPU solution that can push that. I just went to 27" for gaming and its amazing on single Titan X (and now my watercooled MSI 980ti). I can imagine 48 being omgwtfbbqsauce but I don't want to go multi gpu and I'm actually trying to shrink my computer footprint, heat output and sound.
 
Great read. Gives me something to look forward to in the future (4k gaming)

For now, I think I will be sticking to my plan of 1440p 144Hz monitor with the upcoming nVidia Pascal GPU this year. Really want to try out gaming at high refresh rate.
 
Nice article, thanks for the good read! Have you tried GTA V with newer drivers on your setup? I wonder if the SLI scaling got better since the first review of the game.

I'm still on the fence and can't decide whether or not to get 2 Titan X at this point. I bought a single Titan X when they came out one year ago but that card died after 3 months. The RMA replacement was DoA, the third card worked great in games but crashed a lot on the desktop so I was really fed up at that point and just sold the card. In my new workstation build I have a Quadro M5000, a GM204 with 8GB VRAM. Its a great card but can't really play any games in UHD.

Right now the only demanding game I would love to play at or near max settings in UHD is GTA V, maybe the new Tomb Raider and upcoming Hitman game.
 
Very nice write-up.
I have twin 980 Ti and I can do pretty much everything I want to right now, with my Surround.
I'm just not sure I could deal with a 48 inch monitor so close to my face.

I 100% agree with your statement about SLi.
Given that 4K is being held up as THE thing in gaming, and both AMD and NVidia know damn well you can't do good 4K without a lot of GPU muscle; you'd think they would
work to make it the best they could.......unfortunately not so much.
 
Damn you, Kyle. Damn you.

Now I can't get this out of my head. And what kills me is the TV is the cheap factor (in the ones I am looking at anyway) Today Fry's has the Samsung 48" JU6400 for $697, and I read somewhere on the net it does 4:4:4. THAT, I could swing. But my GTX 970 is going to bring in anemic FPS numbers at 4K (maybe Civ V and turn based stuff like Xcom would be OK). I can't swing the $600 for a 980 ti, much less TWO of them... .much less TWO freaking TITANs.

I can only hope Pascal brings 4K gaming closer to reality at under $600.

The TV price isn't actually that bad when I consider I dropped $700 on 2 x 27" 1440p monitors already.
 
I should of held off on 4K. The [H] review of the 295x2 in Quadfire and Trifire sold me. I came from the original Titans to a quadfire setup then settled on a trifire configuration because the Quadfire would not scale as well as trifire does. I skipped the current round of cards because there was not enough return on investment on my part. I'll see what the 14/16nm cards will bring later this year before deciding on what to do.
 
Dayaks said:
I vsync lock to 60Hz. Practically all games I run high or ultra. Some older ones with DSR. You should be very happy with one card. At least enough to hold you over to Pascal.

When I went from two Titan Xs to one I barely changed any settings, if any, in games for them to feel "playable".

Games like BF4/Battlefront I can play Ultra with AA. The Witcher I play max settings except foliage at high instead of ultra. Honestly can't tell the diff.
Click to expand...

Are you running the Acer Predator or one of the 60hz ultrawides (LG/Dell)?
 
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