Titan X Announced

[thilanliyan]

Nvidia has luxury GPUs covered.

There are "luxury" video cards? Wow, had no idea.

 

[AdamK47]

i dont know. if someone comes to me and says he got a titan gpu i wouldnt be jealous as it would be more feeling pitty for their poor choice to impress someone with electrical waste that gets replaced 5 months after its purchase.

Wanna buy some slightly used 980s?

 

[SimianR]

I'm just more confused as to why someone would buy a $1500 GPU (if the intent is gaming) that might end up being slower than the competition for potentially 3x the amount of cash. But I guess that's just all speculation right now.

 

[Arachnotronic]

There are "luxury" video cards? Wow, had no idea.

I heard NVIDIA hired this guy to make the Titan Gold.

 

[caswow]

Wanna buy some slightly used 980s?

no my 200$ gtx760 is enough thanks.

 

[imported_ats]

RAM isn't THAT expensive.

8GB of DDR4 will set you back ~$85. GDDR5 still carries a heavy premium, lets say 50% being generous. That puts it at $120. Now factor in that Nvidia likely wants ~100% margin, which puts it at $240.

 

[imported_ats]

What does a backplate do...?

Primary motivation of a backplate is to provide additional strength to the card. A secondary effect is as a heat spreader.

 

[destrekor]

8GB of DDR4 will set you back ~$85. GDDR5 still carries a heavy premium, lets say 50% being generous. That puts it at $120. Now factor in that Nvidia likely wants ~100% margin, which puts it at $240.

That's not what it costs at the manufacturer bulk supply level, especially for BGA RAM chips that aren't sold on PCB.

RAM isn't costing much for the manufacturer. And there is no way it costs more than the GPU itself, which I have heard rumored the GM200 might cost around $80 if there is decent efficiency. Possibly that is just to produce for Nvidia, not sure at what price they'd sell to partners.

 

[JDG1980]

Mainly provide support to a longer and heavier card, and as a secondary benefit, help protect the components on top from getting dinged. It also serves as a heatspreader for any memory and VRMs on top, and that may be the chief reason for its presence when compared to preventing "dings", as that is rarely something any manufacturer actually has in mind. You either know how to handle components or you don't, amirite? .

Recent tests run by Tom's Hardware indicate that backplates can actually act as an insulator and increase VRM temperatures. This is probably why you won't see them on reference cards.

 

[tviceman]

8GB of DDR4 will set you back ~$85. GDDR5 still carries a heavy premium, lets say 50% being generous. That puts it at $120. Now factor in that Nvidia likely wants ~100% margin, which puts it at $240.

Nvidia isn't paying consumer-level prices for vram. They and their partners buy in mass bulk. Beyond that, you don't have a clue how much GDDR costs.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Any guesses on what this thing will be priced at?

 

[alcoholbob]

Any guesses on what this thing will be priced at?

The rumor has been $1350 for a while now.

 

[mojothehut]

If they could keep it around the same price as the original Titan. I'm feeling crazy enough to buy one just for single monitor 1080p :awe:

I really want to run Witcher 3 (everything on ultra) without dipping below 60fps with a single GPU setup

 

[Arachnotronic]

The rumor has been $1350 for a while now.

Ouch.

 

[RussianSensation]

The rumor has been $1350 for a while now.

Seems like almost double the price of a GTX780Ti, and if the DP performance feature is lacking, it would make it the most expensive single chip consumer card ever. Maybe NV thinks the 12GB of VRAM and increased SP performance is worth the upgrade for the original Titan owners for compute/rendering?

Let's say clocks of 1178mhz @ 3072 CUDA cores would make the card 54% faster in SP compute against the original Titan.

I think there is a market of early adopters who aren't price sensitive and would buy this if it's $1000, $1350 or $1500. Having said that, it's pretty much a given that dual $650-700 cards such as 390Xs or dual GM200 6GB consumer cards will beat a single $1350 Titan X. I think after seeing $1000 Titan get matched by a $400 R9 290 in 9 months, then beaten by a $330 970 or even $700 780Ti or seeing $1500-3000 R9 295X2/Titan Z now selling for $600 on Newegg (R9 295X2), anyone buying Titan X already knows what they are getting themselves into. It's probably also likely that in 1.5 years a $400-450 Pascal chip will beat it in games. I suppose if someone is looking for a semi-professional/workstation card where VRAM and single precision compute provides a huge boost in productivity in CUDA, etc. even at $1350, it's "cheap" for that type of customer.

For example, in a MacPro tower, 2 of these could sell well over the outdated HD7970s Apple currently uses. I am interested in seeing what Apple chooses for the aging D700 FirePros. I am not sure though if MacPro users need the FirePro/Quadro designated card features though.

 

[Headfoot]

now selling for $600 on Newegg (R9 295X2)

I had no idea the 295x2's we so cheap now... only $70 more than a 980 for a lot more power

 

[SexyK]

Purchased the original Titan 3/2/13 and it really hasn't broken much of a sweat at 1440p since then (if you're willing to compromise on AA in some newer titles). Two years plus is a pretty good run.

I would probably jump on the Titan X at launch if they keep it at $999. Have to say $1350 would be tough to swallow, though. I'm sure they think they can sell plenty at $1350 to maximize profit, but I also have to wonder how many people are in my shoes and will be turned off by another price hike and just wait it out. I think they would move a lot more boards at $999 but maybe I'm in a small minority that are in the market for this card but would balk at the extra 35% increase in cost.

 

[exar333]

Seems like almost double the price of a GTX780Ti, and if the DP performance feature is lacking, it would make it the most expensive single chip consumer card ever. Maybe NV thinks the 12GB of VRAM and increased SP performance is worth the upgrade for the original Titan owners for compute/rendering?

Let's say clocks of 1178mhz @ 3072 CUDA cores would make the card 54% faster in SP compute against the original Titan.

I think there is a market of early adopters who aren't price sensitive and would buy this if it's $1000, $1350 or $1500. Having said that, it's pretty much a given that dual $650-700 cards such as 390Xs or dual GM200 6GB consumer cards will beat a single $1350 Titan X. I think after seeing $1000 Titan get matched by a $400 R9 290 in 7 months, then beaten by a $330 970 or even $700 780Ti or seeing $1500-3000 R9 295X2/Titan Z now selling for $600 on Newegg (R9 295X2), anyone buying Titan X already knows what they are getting themselves into. It's probably also likely that in 1.5 years a $400-450 Pascal chip will beat it in games. I suppose if someone is looking for a semi-professional/workstation card where VRAM and single precision compute provides a huge boost in productivity in CUDA, etc. even at $1350, it's "cheap" for that type of customer.

For example, in a MacPro tower, 2 of these could sell well over the outdated HD7970s Apple currently uses. I am interested in seeing what Apple chooses for the aging D700 FirePros. I am not sure though if MacPro users need the FirePro/Quadro designated card features though.

Completely agree. I wonder why NV even wants to use the 'Titan' label for this product, as it doesn't really fit with their previous offerings of being a 'prosumer' product. The Titan X is essentially a pre-release 980Ti, for lack of a better term. It is odd to me and hurts the Titan brand somewhat IMHO.

Now the next Titan with Pascal could be a game-changer, and maybe worth $1K if it arrives ahead of competitive consumer cards: :awe:
-HBM 8GB (most likely)
-NVLink
-DP compute
-16/14nm

This time around though, the Titan X is just an early Big Maxwell, and you have to assume a 980Ti will be available before the end of the year, or even sooner, depending on price/performance of the 390/380 AMD cards.

 

[Enigmoid]

Seems like almost double the price of a GTX780Ti, and if the DP performance feature is lacking, it would make it the most expensive single chip consumer card ever. Maybe NV thinks the 12GB of VRAM and increased SP performance is worth the upgrade for the original Titan owners for compute/rendering?

Let's say clocks of 1178mhz @ 3072 CUDA cores would make the card 54% faster in SP compute against the original Titan.

The 980 solidly beats the 780Ti/titan in SP compute, often by 30-50%. I expect GM200, with a greater emphasis on compute to easily be 2x faster than the original titan/780 ti.

 

[Ajay]

I'm waiting for a mainstream NV card manufactured on TMSC's 16FF/FF+ process node. That's my story and I'm sticking to it - for now


Oh, and I can't wait for a good die shot of the GM200 - I need to update my avatar...

 

[Headfoot]

I wonder what % of Titan users bought it for the DP capabilities, what % bought for the larger VRAM buffer, and what % bought because it was at one point the fastest gaming card.

 

[JoeRambo]

I doubt anyone is buying Titans for SP compute. First Titan was a steal for DP compute crowd, and one has to wonder what SP/DP ratio Maxwell Titan will have.

What is interesting is why Nvidia is announcing it so early, some little birds from Taiwan must have told them something about AMD's 3xx family. Otherwise it makes no sense, cause 980 is king of the hill right now and announcement will cannibalize sales.

 

[Headfoot]

I doubt anyone is buying Titans for SP compute. First Titan was a steal for DP compute crowd, and one has to wonder what SP/DP ratio Maxwell Titan will have.

I know for a fact there are some buyers who just want a lot of VRAM. Now, I have no idea how many of them there are. I'm sure nVidia has a better idea though. Also, the neutered DP is still rumor so it might just end up being FUD

 

[Ajay]

I wonder what % of Titan users bought it for the DP capabilities, what % bought for the larger VRAM buffer, and what % bought because it was at one point the fastest gaming card.

Good question. I started studying CUDA programming because my background is in physics and software engineering. Something like a Titan would have been the next logical step for me, but searching for CUDA job opportunities yielded a limited number of opportunities and I would have had to move for all of them. At the time, most of the jobs were gov't related, and probably didn't pay that well compared to just about any other opportunity in the private sector.

 

[FatherMurphy]

Completely agree. I wonder why NV even wants to use the 'Titan' label for this product, as it doesn't really fit with their previous offerings of being a 'prosumer' product. The Titan X is essentially a pre-release 980Ti, for lack of a better term. It is odd to me and hurts the Titan brand somewhat IMHO.

The rumors are odd.

I just don't buy that Titan X won't be very competent at DP and that its DP will be locked. From Tesla-Fermi-Kepler, Nvidia has had a 500mm2+ die at the top that services its DP market, and a smaller, mid-range targeted die at SP/gaming. That bifurcation has become starker/more intentional, I think, in Kepler and now Maxwell, because Nvidia realized it didn't make sense to build GPUs targeting the gaming masses (GF104-GK104-GM204) with full compute capabilities. That strategy resulted in bigger dies and less energy efficiency without tangible gaming benefits.

Big Maxwell, on the other hand, like its predecessors, Big Fermi and Big Kepler, is designed more for compute/GPGPU. The notion that Nvidia would have designed Maxwell to be capable at compute/GPGPU, when Nvidia has been pushing that market really hard for 7+ years, does not make sense. I'm sure Big Maxwell will come with new compute functionality that GM204 does not have, just like Big Kepler had new functionality that GK104 did not have.

In addition, Nvidia needs to market the additional "prosumer" capabilities of the Titan X to justify selling this card at $999.99+, or it becomes an even easier target for its competitor and customers to ridicule.

So, again, these rumors that Titan X won't have DP capabilities just don't make sense to me, especially in light of the strong SP capabilities of GM204.