NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Video Card Review @ [H]

I am not sure if price should be part of the Gold Award. Granted this thing is expensive, but for the target audience - it's awesome. The hardware itself is nothing short of amazing. Different people have different budgets. If this is in your budget, it's a gold standard. If not, look the other way.

A Ferrari is a gold standard for the audience it is designed for. Judge the hardware, let the end user decide if it's in the budget or not...
 
martinmsj said:
You are wrong. This card is not only a gaming card, but also positioned as an entry level CUDA Compute card. It isn't rubbish. There is a reason NVidia left all the server compute parts intact except the features that are only needed when running a huge number of these in several compute nodes.

NVidia is positioning this card as a entry level compute card as well as gaming. In that regard, the Titan doesn't seem expensive at all.


The Adobe people (on the Adobe forums) are salivating right now as I type this. (They're still using 480/580s.)
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I heard a rumor that CS6 Suite was now taylored to lean more towards OpenCL Integration over CUDA... was that wrong info?
 
Well, seeing as red team doesn't have an answer I guess I might have to go back to NVidia for a second time in my life with my tax return money...

I do have a question: would companies like ASUS and EVGA come out with their own versions of the TITAN or there just going to be a reference card and that's it?
 
x3sphere said:
Doubt it. 700 series probably won't arrive until Q4 or later. The card is no doubt overpriced, maybe we can hope for prices to level off into the $800 range after the initial buzz wears off.
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Sure, because you can get GTX690 for pennies now. Price drop just not gonna happen.
 
Brent_Justice said:
Just keep in mind everyone as you read, who this card is meant for now, system integrators. I would suggest people like us, gaming enthusiasts, where price versus value and performance is key, this video card doesn't fit well, so I understand your statements about price versus everything else out there and the performance you get out of it. With the GTX TITAN, you have to put it into context. The price has made that what it is.
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Your site tests GPUs using games, so this conclusion is irrelevant. Instead of making excuses as to "why" Titan costs $1000, why not stick to the fact that at $1000 it is an absolute rip-off for what it delivers to gamers. In short ~30-40% extra performance for a massive premium.

Brent_Justice said:
However, if money is no object, there is no question this is the thing to get right now, you cannot beat its performance in single-GPU gaming performance, and you can't beat it's awesome performance in SLI either. It also has the tools that enthusiasts bleed for, to take their hardware to the bleeding edge. This is certainly the fastest and best video card for SFF gaming PCs, period.
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I agree with this but it doesn't mean the price should be excused. Nvidia releasing a gaming GPU at this price is unprecedented and if people like you or I accept it as the new "norm" then Nvidia will just keep doing the same crap.

Brent_Justice said:
I want two of these in my primary gaming system, who wouldn't really?
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The performance is not the issue, of course any sane PC gaming enthusiast wants a Titan GPU (or 2). But this again ignores the absolutely atrocious prce/perf, and being a "niche" card should not excuse this. I feel that reviewers should making more efforts to hold Nvidia to task over pricing rather than accepting their "reasons" for the unprecedented price.
 
Sergius64 said:
Well, seeing as red team doesn't have an answer I guess I might have to go back to NVidia for a second time in my life with my tax return money...

I do have a question: would companies like ASUS and EVGA come out with their own versions of the TITAN or there just going to be a reference card and that's it?
Click to expand...

It is my understand that all Titan cards will be produced by NVIDIA. Asus and Evga might have it for sale, but I these will just be labeled as such.
 
Ur_Mom said:
I am not sure if price should be part of the Gold Award. Granted this thing is expensive, but for the target audience - it's awesome. The hardware itself is nothing short of amazing. Different people have different budgets. If this is in your budget, it's a gold standard. If not, look the other way.

A Ferrari is a gold standard for the audience it is designed for. Judge the hardware, let the end user decide if it's in the budget or not...
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Exactly, thank you. If we solely based our award on price, perhaps no award would be in order. We judge hardware on its own merit, for the audience it is designed for, and let the enthusiasts, you guys, the DIY'ers, determine its value to you.
 
martinmsj said:
You are wrong. This card is not only a gaming card, but also positioned as an entry level CUDA Compute card. It isn't rubbish. There is a reason NVidia left all the server compute parts intact except the features that are only needed when running a huge number of these in several compute nodes.

NVidia is positioning this card as a entry level compute card as well as gaming. In that regard, the Titan doesn't seem expensive at all.


The Adobe people (on the Adobe forums) are salivating right now as I type this. (They're still using 480/580s.)
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I agree. Looking at my Adobe Master Suite right now, the 660s are worthless compared to the Titan.
I'm hoping this can go into the 2013 Mac Pro, then I will gladly bite on this.
 
Great review. Personally, I think even for the target audience this is way too expensive for the performance it provides. However, only time will tell if it sells at this price.

Definitely a Gold Award performance-wise over the 680, so for a single-processor GPU that makes sense. Not so much at this price point, though.
 
Honestly, this went a lot better than expected. I had my doubts on Nvidia being able to execute a repurposing of a specialized compute part into a gaming card, but this thing is technically excellent and can compete well with the 690, if perhaps not matching it in performance.

As for the pricing, I think people are misunderstanding the point of Titan. It's a halo part to the extreme, Nvidia wants to give the impression of graphics mastery, lest it be run roughshod by superior price-performance 7900 series parts with better thought out game bundles. It's pretty much a PR statement that you can hook up to your PC, most people with more sense than money isn't going to buy this thing. I'm not necessarily a fan of parts like these, but I think NV have accomplished everything they have set out to do with this card.
 
Brent_Justice said:
Just keep in mind everyone as you read, who this card is meant for now, system integrators. I would suggest people like us, gaming enthusiasts, where price versus value and performance is key, this video card doesn't fit well, so I understand your statements about price versus everything else out there and the performance you get out of it. With the GTX TITAN, you have to put it into context. The price has made that what it is.

However, if money is no object, there is no question this is the thing to get right now, you cannot beat its performance in single-GPU gaming performance, and you can't beat it's awesome performance in SLI either. It also has the tools that enthusiasts bleed for, to take their hardware to the bleeding edge. This is certainly the fastest and best video card for SFF gaming PCs, period.

I want two of these in my primary gaming system, who wouldn't really?
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I'm sure system integrators wouldn't mind Titan costing half as much.
 
With the crowd they are aiming for at $999, why didn't they make it gold plated? At least then you could have some actual bling to show off.
 
ICDP said:
But this again ignores the absolutely atrocious prce/perf, and being a "niche" card should not excuse this.
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We made ZERO excuses. Reading if fundamental.

"NVIDIA does not see Titan as part of its GTX 600 series product line. NVIDIA’s branding and message with GTX Titan are consistent. NVIDIA does realize that it is has a product that will only impact a niche of an already small niche when you look at the entire enthusiast video card market. The Titan is just too expensive to be considered by most as an actual option."

You just seem to have your panties in a wad that we should have called it shit because you can't afford it or do not see a value associated with it. Titan is an incredible product from a geek and gamer standpoint. Value is subjective and wed said that way more than once in our review.
 
ICDP said:
But this again ignores the absolutely atrocious prce/perf, and being a "niche" card should not excuse this. I feel that reviewers should making more efforts to hold Nvidia to task over pricing rather than accepting their "reasons" for the unprecedented price.
Click to expand...

I'm not excusing the price, it is up there for sure. Just trying to put some context to the video card itself and backing up my reasons for giving it a Gold award, and price is certainly not the reason.
 
You pay $1000 for a video card and still have to spend another $20 for a backplate, LMAO.
 
Brent_Justice said:
I'm not excusing the price, it is up there for sure. Just trying to put some context to the video card itself and backing up my reasons for giving it a Gold award, and price is certainly not the reason.
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Looking at the card itself...

It's a tremendous piece of hardware, and deserves the Gold.

But people's emotions of knowing it's not within their budget makes them angry.
Wanting something you can't have will turn many people negative towards it.
 
ragecase said:
I have no idea as well. This is a gaming card. People concerned with compute go to workplaces where they pay $5000 for a Tesla card and the support and drivers that go with it.

Golly Gee!! Oak Ridge Supercomputer!! Marketing rubbish, this card is Geforce.
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Tesla is the go-to for mission-critical CUDA computation at scale. The Titan won't be usurping any of that. For those who just need really great CUDA performance at relatively small scales, the Titan is a great fit. And a lot of people just need really great CUDA performance at relatively small scales.

Also: there are gamers. And while expensive, it would be absolutely silly to claim that this isn't a great gaming card.

KrylonArt said:
You pay $1000 for a video card and still have to spend another $20 for a backplate, LMAO.
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You don't have to pay anything for a backplate. Designed to be used without.
 
Falling Anvil said:
Honestly, this went a lot better than expected. I had my doubts on Nvidia being able to execute a repurposing of a specialized compute part into a gaming card, but this thing is technically excellent and can compete well with the 690, if perhaps not matching it in performance.

As for the pricing, I think people are misunderstanding the point of Titan. It's a halo part to the extreme, Nvidia wants to give the impression of graphics mastery, lest it be run roughshod by superior price-performance 7900 series parts with better thought out game bundles. It's pretty much a PR statement that you can hook up to your PC, most people with more sense than money isn't going to buy this thing. I'm not necessarily a fan of parts like these, but I think NV have accomplished everything they have set out to do with this card.
Click to expand...

And I think this outlines a lot of what we find as value to the GPU/Video Card MARKET. Halo products do have impact to the market overall and HardOCP has a track record for heralding these products regardless of cost. While the car comparison is cliche', halo cars impact the market trends and models that shake out "below" those for years to come. The 2014 base model Corvette is a comparison worth pointing out. It has a lot of features and tech that we would have never found at its price years ago and without halo cars in the market, the base models would not be exhibiting those features and technology.

You are going to find a lot of "Titan tech" shaking into the market below it. Plain and simple.
 
Meanwhile if you wait till the end of this year, NVidia or AMD might come out with the next gen that may come close or surpass this for more than half the price. I think I'll go pick up my next 660ti for sli today than. No way am I going to spend money on this, even for my 2560x1600 monitor. Hell I may even upgrade my 2500K to a 3770 K and still have $500 left over to play with. :rolleyes:
 
Syndicated_Death said:
this poses an interesting point to me. it reads like there won't be an official product refresh (7xx). by all accounts this is about the time we would have seen that refresh. but, this seems to be the only product they are announcing. I may be wrong but I don't see them releasing something like a 7xx card now. which, is disappointing as I was due for a gpu upgrade.
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I think you might be reading a bit too much into that statement.
 
WorldExclusive said:
I agree. Looking at my Adobe Master Suite right now, the 660s are worthless compared to the Titan.
I'm hoping this can go into the 2013 Mac Pro, then I will gladly bite on this.
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NVidia gave people an entry level K20X for a 1K is pretty awesome. Just like Brent said, it's all about context. It's cool that when you need it to get your hands wet with the latest CUDA and K20X features you can flip a switch and it goes into Tesla Mode (in the drivers.) Even if the 700 refresh eats these a live in gaming, they will still be of great value for the compute it will have. Just like some still buy brand new 480/580s for things other than gaming even though the 6XX surpasses them.

Fact of the matter is, if 680's (single or multi) aren't enough for someone, than said someone should be the last to cry about things being expensive. 450+ for a video card is expensive as it is.
 
Brent_Justice said:
I'm not excusing the price, it is up there for sure. Just trying to put some context to the video card itself and backing up my reasons for giving it a Gold award, and price is certainly not the reason.
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The card deserves its Gold award from a technological standpoint. It is an awesome card and I honestly can't fault it at all from the hardware aspect. My point is that in no way can we use the "but it has great features for non-gamers" to excuse the price/perf. Especially on a site that only measure gaming performance.
 
The thought of spending $2000-plus for an SLI-setup makes me wish I won the lottery. Lol.

Impressive looking card but heart-attack inducing price. *clenches heart*
 
Too all the people whining about the price, do you whine about Intel selling EE processors for $1k as well? This is the exact same thing, a luxury tax on people that want to pay it for the fastest parts.
 
wonderfield said:
You don't have to pay anything for a backplate. Designed to be used without.
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I know, but looking at the back of the card compared to the detail that went into the heatsink and shroud makes it feel like it was an 80% solution.
 
My two MSI 7970 cards @ 1200MHz seem awfully sexy right now, especially if you knew what I paid for them :)
 
Brent_Justice said:
Just keep in mind everyone as you read, who this card is meant for now, system integrators. I would suggest people like us, gaming enthusiasts, where price versus value and performance is key, this video card doesn't fit well, so I understand your statements about price versus everything else out there and the performance you get out of it. With the GTX TITAN, you have to put it into context. The price has made that what it is.

However, if money is no object, there is no question this is the thing to get right now, you cannot beat its performance in single-GPU gaming performance, and you can't beat it's awesome performance in SLI either. It also has the tools that enthusiasts bleed for, to take their hardware to the bleeding edge. This is certainly the fastest and best video card for SFF gaming PCs, period.

I want two of these in my primary gaming system, who wouldn't really?
Click to expand...


Money is no object to me it's just the price for that video card is just plain stupid. I dunno maybe I grew up and getting old paying more than $250- $300 for a video card now days seems out to lunch and obsessive borderline mental disorder worthy. I think of all that wasted money I blew in the past..almost makes me sick.
 
You sound like a god damn good sportcar sales man


Brent_Justice said:
Just keep in mind everyone as you read, who this card is meant for now, system integrators. I would suggest people like us, gaming enthusiasts, where price versus value and performance is key, this video card doesn't fit well, so I understand your statements about price versus everything else out there and the performance you get out of it. With the GTX TITAN, you have to put it into context. The price has made that what it is.

However, if money is no object, there is no question this is the thing to get right now, you cannot beat its performance in single-GPU gaming performance, and you can't beat it's awesome performance in SLI either. It also has the tools that enthusiasts bleed for, to take their hardware to the bleeding edge. This is certainly the fastest and best video card for SFF gaming PCs, period.

I want two of these in my primary gaming system, who wouldn't really?
Click to expand...
 
Great card, piss poor pricing. It looks like my current setups will be keeping me content until the next generation cards arrive sometime next year.
 
Not sure the 7970 should have been tested with 13.2b6 and the CAP? After reading the article, I went back and benched my 7970 set to GHZ ed. speeds and was a few frames higher on most of the benches. (taking into account different CPU etc. I suppose) The 7970 does increase pretty linearly when O/C'd. Running both my CF'd cards at 1200 stable and closing the gap another 5% with the Titan.
 
I would personally rather run GeForce GTX 2-way SLI TITAN rather than a GeForce GTX 690 in my primary gaming machine.
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That statement is strange or comes across strangely to say the least. :)

I would rather drive a porsche than a chevy malibu. I would rather have a gtx 680 vs. a gtx 660. (You get the point)
 
Thats a whole lot of butthurt from people that can't/won't afford these. I don't cry myself to sleep because I can't get a lambo, why does it bother people so much when its a graphics card? 30-40% improvement at stock clocks is pretty damn good considering Intel sells boatloads of practically the same CPU for both $500 and $1000. If you would rather pay cheaper prices for two 680's/7970's then just do it and pretend this doesn't exist.
 
That's a beautiful piece of hardware. It'd be great to replace my 2x6970s (skipped this gen) with a single GPU and still get a significant performance boost. The price, while steep and perhaps unjustifiably so, doesn't mean the card shouldn't merit the gold.

I mean, look at the tech on this thing. Not just the performance, but the very detailed OC'ing ability of this card is absolutely great and hopefully trickles down into lower-end cards. Look at the power draw and temperatures.

I'm actually strongly tempted by it, but being that I don't game nearly as much as I used to, I think I'll wait and see if prices drop at all, or what the 7xx or 8xxx series looks like.
 
ICDP said:
I agree with this but it doesn't mean the price should be excused. Nvidia releasing a gaming GPU at this price is unprecedented and if people like you or I accept it as the new "norm" then Nvidia will just keep doing the same crap.
Click to expand...

Uh huh and its these reviewers who get free graphics cards that give it Gold awards or Platinum awards or some other silly recommendation that will hurt the regular consumer who actually has to spend money to buy.
 
Excellent article. This really is the king of cards. And a must-have for the discerning SFF gamer. Actually, if I wanted to turn my quiet rig into a serious gaming rig, this would be the card for me if it passed test 3 below.

I'm looking forward to the tri-SLI follow-up. Can I suggest a few extra things?

1. Compare with a 4 GB 680 + SLI combos
2. Compare with a 6 GB 7970 (Sapphire Toxic if memory serves) + XF combos.
3. See if using a x8 slot makes a difference from a x16 on both PCIe2 and PCIe3.
 
I want one! Badly! I will rub my penis on it, then overclock the hell out of it... and live happily ever after!!!
 
BatJoe said:
Uh huh and its these reviewers who get free graphics cards that give it Gold awards or Platinum awards or some other silly recommendation that will hurt the regular consumer who actually has to spend money to buy.
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If you think $1000 halo video cards are for "regular consumers" you are greatly mistaken.
 
I would personally rather run GeForce GTX 2-way SLI TITAN rather than a GeForce GTX 690 in my primary gaming machine. The GeForce GTX TITAN, as cliché as it sounds, is a TITAN among video cards.
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Apples to Apples for $1k,I get better performance from the 690. If I were to spend $2k,there may be an edge for Titan due to 4 way SLI being wonky at times..People claiming others are hating on Titan because they "cant afford it" is pretty childish and somewhat arrogant.Looking at rigs of some of the people"hating" on Titan its pretty clear they can afford it..Just because you can,doesn't always mean you should. ;)
 
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