GeForce GTX Titan review

We test and review the GeForce GTX Titan. The GeForce GTX Titan is NVIDIAs fastest single GPU based graphics card they have ever built. It is based on the GK110 GPU and has an astonishing 7.1 Billion transistors and is as such is nearly as fast as one GeForce GTX 690 with two GTX 680 GPUs ! We test the product with the hottest games like Battlefield 3, Sleeping Dogs, Far Cry 3, Medal of Honor Warfighter, Hitman Absolution and many more. Next to that with the three samples we have at hand we'll be looking at SLI performance scaling in another article as well.

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Tagged as: GeForce GTX Titan SLI review

Darren Hodgson
Ancient Guru

Posts: 9659

Posted on: 02/22/2013 11:32 AM

I assume they left room for the AIB partners to release factory faster clocked SKUs.

That's make sense I guess but it does seem strange to release this really expensive high-end product with lower clocks than the much cheaper GTX 680. If had been 1,006 GHz out of the box then its performance would have been even more impressive, further justifying the asking price. Yeah, I know you can overclock but reviews are done mostly on the default clocks as you know and the overclocking benchmarks are added at the end.

SLI-756
Ancient Guru

Posts: 3098

Posted on: 02/22/2013 11:34 AM

That's make sense I guess but it does seem strange to release this really expensive high-end product with lower clocks than the much cheaper GTX 680. If had been 1,006 GHz out of the box then its performance would have been even more impressive, further justifying the asking price. Yeah, I know you can overclock but reviews are done mostly on the default clocks as you know and the overclocking benchmarks are added at the end.

gotta milk the consumer cash cow sloooowlyyy.

-Tj-
Maha Guru

Posts: 2395

Posted on: 02/22/2013 11:51 AM

That's make sense I guess but it does seem strange to release this really expensive high-end product with lower clocks than the much cheaper GTX 680. If had been 1,006 GHz out of the box then its performance would have been even more impressive, further justifying the asking price. Yeah, I know you can overclock but reviews are done mostly on the default clocks as you know and the overclocking benchmarks are added at the end.

Also to keep lower TDP, if it were 1Ghz then it would be more then 250W.

Undying
Maha Guru

Posts: 2666

Posted on: 02/22/2013 12:28 PM

Nice review indeed.

This is very much expected, lets just wait and see how AMD and upcoming HD 7990 will do about this...i wonder about price too...

NiColaoS
Master Guru

Posts: 289

Posted on: 02/22/2013 01:24 PM

This price is just a ripoff for mindless consumers. Nvidia has hit a goldmine.

Darren Hodgson
Ancient Guru

Posts: 9659

Posted on: 02/22/2013 01:48 PM

This price is just a ripoff for mindless consumers. Nvidia has hit a goldmine.

I don't know about a goldmine as I don't expect they will sell too many of these and it'll probably end up being a kind of limited edition run of 20-30,000. Of course, I'm sure it'll still be profitable for them.

Me, I baulk at the idea of paying over £400 for a graphics card and the only reason I bought a second GTX 680 was because I was curious about how SLI compared with my previous HD 5870 CFX experience, having never tried it before. It's been a mostly pleasant experience I'm happy to say but I want to go back to using a single GPU for games for my next card as I cannot afford to be spending £800 on two cards every 18 months or so but I'm fine with paying up to £400 for one.

trajan2448
Newbie

Posts: 8

Posted on: 02/22/2013 03:41 PM

We test and review the GeForce GTX Titan. The GeForce GTX Titan is NVIDIAs fastest single GPU based graphics card they have ever built. It is based on the GK110 GPU and has an astonishing 7.1 Billion ...

GeForce GTX Titan review
AMDs fps numbers are overstated. They figured out a trick to make runt frames, or frames which are not actually rendered to trigger the fps monitor as a real fully rendered frame. This is real problem for AMD much worse than the latency problem. Crossfire is a disaster which is why numerous reviewers including Tech Report have written that Crossfire produces higher fps but feels less smooth than Nvidia.
Check this article out. http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-TITAN-Performance-Review-and-Frame-Rating-Update/Frame-Rat

trajan2448
Newbie

Posts: 8

Posted on: 02/22/2013 03:42 PM

Nice review indeed.

This is very much expected, lets just wait and see how AMD and upcoming HD 7990 will do about this...i wonder about price too...
AMDs fps numbers are overstated. They figured out a trick to make runt frames, or frames which are not actually rendered to trigger the fps monitor as a real fully rendered frame. This is real problem for AMD much worse than the latency problem. Crossfire is a disaster which is why numerous reviewers including Tech Report have written that Crossfire produces higher fps but feels less smooth than Nvidia.
Check this article out. http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-TITAN-Performance-Review-and-Frame-Rating-Update/Frame-Rat

Denial
Ancient Guru

Posts: 6348

Posted on: 02/22/2013 03:49 PM

AMDs fps numbers are overstated. They figured out a trick to make runt frames, or frames which are not actually rendered to trigger the fps monitor as a real fully rendered frame. This is real problem for AMD much worse than the latency problem. Crossfire is a disaster which is why numerous reviewers including Tech Report have written that Crossfire produces higher fps but feels less smooth than Nvidia.
Check this article out. http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-TITAN-Performance-Review-and-Frame-Rating-Update/Frame-Rat

I'd actually like to see them do a comparison to previous Nvidia cards -- 8800GTX's at the time were terrible for stutter and frame latency problems. I think the 600 series is the first time Nvidia has managed to get it right. My SLI experience with the 690 has been nothing short of fantastic.

IPlayNaked
Banned

Posts: 6559

Posted on: 02/22/2013 05:53 PM

AMDs fps numbers are overstated. They figured out a trick to make runt frames, or frames which are not actually rendered to trigger the fps monitor as a real fully rendered frame. This is real problem for AMD much worse than the latency problem. Crossfire is a disaster which is why numerous reviewers including Tech Report have written that Crossfire produces higher fps but feels less smooth than Nvidia.
Check this article out. http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-TITAN-Performance-Review-and-Frame-Rating-Update/Frame-Rat

The frametime issue is well known. It's not some trick to score higher on FPS. AMD has been pretty forward about working it out, though many users don't even notice it.

http://techreport.com/review/24218/a-driver-update-to-reduce-radeon-frame-times/5

http://techreport.com/review/24218/a-driver-update-to-reduce-radeon-frame-times/2

You can see the explanations, what is being done to correct the issue, and how the fix affects three specific games. Frame times are smoothed, FPS is unaffected.

EDIT: I won't edit the above, but it looks like it shaves a bit off the Guild Wars 2 benchmark. Either way, it's a problem almost across the board and it doesn't have to affect FPS, though it might. But it's definitely not a "trick"

Noisiv
Maha Guru

Posts: 2670

Posted on: 02/22/2013 06:02 PM

I am guessing you responding without even reading what's behind his link.
He is not talking about frametime issue.
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-TITAN-Performance-Review-and-Frame-Rating-Update/Frame-Rat

@trajan2448
That BF3 Crossifire - AMD is either VERY unlucky, or straight cheating

Note:
I decided to use the most popular game out today, Battlefield 3 and please keep in mind this is NOT the worst case scenario for AMD CrossFire in any way.

ESlik
Maha Guru

Posts: 1588

Posted on: 02/22/2013 06:50 PM

This price is just a ripoff for mindless consumers. Nvidia has hit a goldmine.

It's a ripoff,only if the buyer does not get what he,or she expected. Anyone buying the Titan,knows what to expect. That's why we,the buyers, read the reviews. I ordered one,fully understanding what I purchased. If,for some reason, the card is NOT what I expect,there's always the RMA. IMO.

P10-17000
Newbie

Posts: 6

Posted on: 02/22/2013 09:19 PM

Where do you get Afterburner 3.0b3?

proFits
Ancient Guru

Posts: 5749

Posted on: 02/22/2013 09:33 PM

I need a new card.... this won't be it, but it makes me want a new card.

IPlayNaked
Banned

Posts: 6559

Posted on: 02/22/2013 09:40 PM

I am guessing you responding without even reading what's behind his link.
He is not talking about frametime issue.
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-TITAN-Performance-Review-and-Frame-Rating-Update/Frame-Rat

@trajan2448
That BF3 Crossifire - AMD is either VERY unlucky, or straight cheating

Note:
I decided to use the most popular game out today, Battlefield 3 and please keep in mind this is NOT the worst case scenario for AMD CrossFire in any way.

I did check the link, it definitely speaks to frametimes, and it's not a difficult jump to figure that the same thing that causes a frame to take 2x-5x as long to render, but not affect FPS, is the same problem you're seeing here.

Think about it, the lag spikes players and these frametime benchmarks see, where does that time go? How is it possible that the GPU renders a scene, there is a perceptible lag time when a frame takes longer to render, but FPS is unaffected? It's because the frame gets stuck, though the frame behind it (after it) is still rendered, but never displayed. That's why you see this sliver frame, because the GPU rendered it, but by the time the previous frame got out of the buffer, it was no longer needed.

If the previous frame doesn't get stuck, as indicated by the long solid stripe in their measurements, then that next frame will be displayed properly.

yasamoka
Maha Guru

Posts: 927

Posted on: 02/22/2013 10:30 PM

AMDs fps numbers are overstated. They figured out a trick to make runt frames, or frames which are not actually rendered to trigger the fps monitor as a real fully rendered frame. This is real problem for AMD much worse than the latency problem. Crossfire is a disaster which is why numerous reviewers including Tech Report have written that Crossfire produces higher fps but feels less smooth than Nvidia.
Check this article out. http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-TITAN-Performance-Review-and-Frame-Rating-Update/Frame-Rat
About the fully rendered frames and whatnot, oh really? Why do I experience heavy microstutter if I'm at 60-67FPS without VSync On, but absolutely NO microstutter whatsoever with VSync ON at 60FPS? Both cards would be in the 90%+ GPU usage, which is pretty close to where they were before I VSynced. Plus it stays microstutter-free as GPU usage increases (instead of dipping from 67 to 65 to 62-61 with VSync off), and maintains a constant 60FPS.

Cards are scaling, they're delivering the reported FPS, but it's the microstutter phenomenon itself that is the issue.

Heaven benchmark 3.0 was what I tested with.

Noisiv
Maha Guru

Posts: 2670

Posted on: 02/22/2013 11:17 PM

I did check the link, it definitely speaks to frametimes, and it's not a difficult jump to figure that the same thing that causes a frame to take 2x-5x as long to render, but not affect FPS, is the same problem you're seeing here.

Think about it, the lag spikes players and these frametime benchmarks see, where does that time go? How is it possible that the GPU renders a scene, there is a perceptible lag time when a frame takes longer to render, but FPS is unaffected? It's because the frame gets stuck, though the frame behind it (after it) is still rendered, but never displayed. That's why you see this sliver frame, because the GPU rendered it, but by the time the previous frame got out of the buffer, it was no longer needed.

If the previous frame doesn't get stuck, as indicated by the long solid stripe in their measurements, then that next frame will be displayed properly.

I've seen entirely different phenomena - smooth, even frametimes, smaller than 16ms, yet stuttering and feeling like 20fps.
How would you explain that?
That's right - frame skipping, which is not entirely different compared to what we have here.

Ryan Shrout says they will be including both Vsync OFF and ON in their upcoming review.
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/Frame-Rating-Part-3-First-Results-New-GPU-Performance-Tools?destination=node/56621#comment-202350

yasamoka
Maha Guru

Posts: 927

Posted on: 02/22/2013 11:23 PM

I've seen entirely different phenomena - smooth even frametimes, smaller than 16ms, yet stuttering and feeling like 20fps.
How would you explain that?
That's right - frame skipping, which is not entirely different compared to what we have here.
Check my reply above please. It targets this idea.

Ryan Shrout says they will be including both Vsync OFF and ON in their upcoming review.
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/Frame-Rating-Part-3-First-Results-New-GPU-Performance-Tools?destination=node/56621#comment-202351
That would be awesome! It would help to explain also why some games, even on a single card, might stutter even with VSync On (as I remember, Far Cry 3 had this issue?).

Noisiv
Maha Guru

Posts: 2670

Posted on: 02/22/2013 11:27 PM

well... wild local frametime variations are usually called micro stuttering when dealing with multi-gpu, but the same phenomena exists on single GPUs.
we usually refer to it by just stuttering