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Nvidia have had huge success with their Maxwell architecture. The GTX980 has not only held the performance crown since the launch but sales figures have helped Nvidia reap in record revenue. As we know, technology development never stands still, and today we look at the new (single GPU) flagship model, the Titan X. This is Maxwell architecture in full flight and is set to pose a serious challenge for AMD to overcome in the coming months.
The new Nvidia Titan X is based around the physically large GM200 die and is built on the 28nm process.
This is an extended 28nm die, 50 percent bigger than the one found on the GTX980. There are two more GPC clusters, enhancing the specifications to 3,072 cores and 192 texture units.
| GPU | GeForce GTX 750ti (Maxwell) | GeForce GTX 960 (Maxwell) | Geforce GTX 970 (Maxwell) | GeForce GTX 980 (Maxwell) | Geforce GTX Titan X |
| Streaming Multiprocessors | 5 | 8 | 13 | 16 | 24 |
| CUDA Cores | 640 | 1024 | 1664 | 2048 | 3072 |
| Base Clock | 1020 mhz | 1126 mhz | 1050 mhz | 1126 mhz | 1000 mhz |
| GPU Boost Clock | 1085 mhz | 1178 mhz | 1178 mhz | 1216 mhz | 1076mhz |
| Total Video memory | 2GB | 2GB | 4GB | 4GB | 12GB |
| Texture fill-rate | 40.8 Gigatexels/Sec | 72.1 Gigatexels/Sec | 109.2 Gigatexels/Sec | 144.1 Gigatexels/Sec | 192 Gigatexels/Sec |
| Memory Clock | 5400 mhz | 7010 mhz | 7000 mhz | 7000 mhz | 7000 mhz |
| Memory Bandwidth | 86.4 GB/sec | 112.16 GB/sec | 224 GB/s | 224 GB/sec | 336.5 GB/sec |
| Bus Width | 128bit | 128bit | 256bit | 256bit | 384bit |
| ROPs | 16 | 32 | 56 | 64 | 96 |
| Manufacturing Process | 28nm | 28nm | 28nm | 28nm | 28nm |
| TDP | 60 watts | 120 watts | 145 watts | 165 watts | 250 watts |
The Nvidia Titan X has 32 more ROPS than the GTX980, totaling 96. The memory interface has been set at a broad 384 bit … comprised of 6 x 64 bit pathways. This is more in line with the older generation of Nvidia hardware, like the GTX780 Ti – as the newer hardware has depended extensively on colour compression algorithms to improve overall efficiency.
Many readers are still under the impression that the Titan range of cards are not designed for gamers, but as I have explained multiple times, Nvidia have been marketing Titan hardware to the gaming enthusiast for years. Don't take my word for it – the Titan Z for instance, according to Nvidia is a ‘gaming monster'. The Titan Black ‘gives you the added horsepower to drive your most graphics-intensive games' – all on the Nvidia website here.
According to industry insiders, over 85% of all Titan sales are to the gaming enthusiast.
It is true that many professionals may have considered a Titan oriented graphics card, due to the double precision support. The standard Titan can handle DP calculations at 1/4 SP speed – which when compared directly to the 1/24 rate of the GTX780 Ti, is incredibly quick. The GTX 980 is rated at 1/32 SP and the Titan X is unfortunately no quicker. If you need a graphics card for double precision processing capabilities, then the Titan X is not for you – it is actually slower than the Kepler based Titan hardware from the previous generation.
Nvidia obviously want you to pay more for Double Precision performance, and they (not surprisingly) have a range of wallet sapping Quadro cards on offer, designed to deliver the goods. An example is the Quadro M6000 – built on the same GM200 die as the Titan X, but with much better DP performance. Just be prepared to pay out the ying-yang for the pleasure.
