NVIDIA Titan X Pascal 12 GB

[the54thvoid]

Am I the only one not impressed with this card in the slightest (massively disappointed, if anything)?

People last year were screaming for the Big Pascal to be the second coming of Jesus -- "10x times faster than Maxwell with 16GB of HBM2!!!1!!!1!" So much so, I was contemplating swapping out my Titan X for the new one.

...and yet as I realistically expected, we got an even more hugely overpriced, cut down card.

Can someone please explain to me, what exactly is the point of this GPU? With HBM2 round the corner, this is effectively a massively overpriced stopgap card. If HBM2 becomes the new standard, any revision of GDDR5 will not quite cut it once devs start utilising that extra bandwidth. If AMD release theirs with 8GB of HBM2, as I hope they do -- Pascal's entire high-end line-up is going to be curb-stomped and more than likely refreshed like back in the G92 days of re-brands). Not only that -- the price of this thing is a joke...£1200? For real? I would not pay that much for this card if it came out this time last year (Titan X launched around the £800 mark, I got mine for ~£700ish) -- WTF are they thinking? And how the hell are they not being sued for anti-competitive tactics by cutting out all e-tailers (effectively nullifying any return warranties outside of 30 days for some countries that are not protected by something equivalent to the Distance Trading Regulations that we Brits get, for example)?

And worse still, how are people happy being sold a faulty card at this newly-set insane price, knowing it will be one-upped a few months to a year down the road with a fully-working version (or worse still, a fully unlocked TI version if/once AMD eventually deliver an equivalent)? At least with the last Titan, we got a fully working version on day one (which still performs pretty respectably to be honest, slotting right between the 1070 & 1080).

This is the sort of crap that will push me to make my next rig 100% AMD, especially if they deliver with Zen (I hope to god they do). Scumbag Nvidia has no originality left whatsoever and seem to be trying to take more pages from Intel's book of price hikes, after they launched their $1800 10x core CPU (and Ngreedia will keep pushing that price up, so long as enough people keep coughing up the cash), but even that was nowhere near the humongous ripoff that this card is. To make things even worse, they now have full control over the supply of this overpriced turd, so spreading FUD on news sites with their superficial "demand" by under-supplying even more -- i.e. releasing 5 cards for sale worldwide, then marking it sold out on their site worldwide and proclaiming everybody and their grandma is buying it up by generating false demand for a card that almost nobody cares about...

I really, REALLY hope someone sues them into the stone age for this sh*t, even more so than for their shady behaviour with the GTX 970's VRAM malarkey...for which I'm really glad that they got royally screwed right back. I don't ever want to deal with these scumbags directly if, god forbid, I need to get a replacement of some sort for my GPU down the line...considering what a complete mess this card's launch has been, even for the crazy people that wanted to, or tried to order it in the UK...

Angry much?

It's the top tier gfx card. It has no peer - at all. You can buy a GTX1080 for under £600 and get great performance. Why on earth are you being so pissy about it? Nvidia owes you nothing (unless you're a shareholder in which case , enjoy your dividends). It's always the same story with some people - moan about something that doesn't matter. You're not entitled to this card unless you are happy to pay for it so why moan about it based on price. That the GTX 1080 was already leaps ahead of AMD meant this could be released at any price Nvidia think people will pay for it and I guarantee, these are flying as soon as they are released because people want them. If you think it's a rip off and a conspiracy of supply, then perhaps you should turn your ire towards the Radeon Pro Duo instead? Another 'pro' card when it's really two Fiji's on a PCB, at £1200, which in many games will give the performance of one Fiji.

Seriously, it's a graphics card - the fastest in the world. Nvidia can charge what they want. If you want to protest, go buy a full AMD rig. I'll not be so silly and I'll buy what suits my purpose at a price I'm willing to pay (without the histrionics).

 

[Am*]

Angry much?

It's the top tier gfx card. It has no peer - at all. You can buy a GTX1080 for under £600 and get great performance. Why on earth are you being so pissy about it? Nvidia owes you nothing (unless you're a shareholder in which case , enjoy your dividends). It's always the same story with some people - moan about something that doesn't matter. You're not entitled to this card unless you are happy to pay for it so why moan about it based on price. That the GTX 1080 was already leaps ahead of AMD meant this could be released at any price Nvidia think people will pay for it and I guarantee, these are flying as soon as they are released because people want them. If you think it's a rip off and a conspiracy of supply, then perhaps you should turn your ire towards the Radeon Pro Duo instead? Another 'pro' card when it's really two Fiji's on a PCB, at £1200, which in many games will give the performance of one Fiji.

Seriously, it's a graphics card - the fastest in the world. Nvidia can charge what they want. If you want to protest, go buy a full AMD rig. I'll not be so silly and I'll buy what suits my purpose at a price I'm willing to pay (without the histrionics).

Where did I say I was "entitled" to anything? You still don't get it, do you?


Here's the thing -- a 1080 shouldn't cost £600. In fact, it shouldn't be anywhere near that price -- I got my friend an EVGA GTX 980 for £399 on release, where did the near 50% price hike come in and become acceptable?

Let me make it clear that I have no problem with a higher price being introduced for top of the line hardware...providing there's a reasonable justification. If this card was fully functional with a decent cooler (or used 16GB HBM2 or anything worth the price of admission, for that matter) I would have no problem £1200 or even throwing down £1500 for that matter. The problem I have is being expected to pay more for less and less worthy hardware, and now looking at ones that become "slightly less of a ripoff than the other lot" instead of being ones that were once a bargain (i.e. a £150 mid-range card last gen becomes a £250 this gen). Worse still, the point that clearly flew over your head is that they are cutting out the retailers and shops that are paying into your country's local economy (and doing it on an already ridiculously overpriced card).

And by the way, bud -- I'm not angry at all...if anything, I'm glad I bought my card when I did and am not looking back. Also just to note -- the same way you don't care what opinion I have about their price hikes, I could care less how high you're willing to jump off a cliff for them, how much of their corporate BS you're willing to swallow or how much money you're willing to throw at them...I'm simply annoyed because this hobby of mine is continuously being artificially overpriced by these greedy b*stards for whom no amount of money is ever enough...to the point where people are not willing to upgrade anymore for years and years because of this, and hence why we still see people holding on to their 5+ year old hardware and game devs (mostly of PC ports) not going anywhere near as far as they could or used to in order to cater to the guys that buy top of the range hardware to make the most of it. Not that it matters much to me, as I've got plenty of other hobbies to spend on -- but the point still stands.

What annoys me even more is when AMD do launch a card that will eventually kick this one to the curb, they will see this turd being bought at the price it's being sold at and price accordingly... and I sure as hell don't want £1200 becoming the new norm for high end/enthusiast hardware (or whatever you prefer to call it). Even more so, I do not ever want to be reliant on a company like Nvidia or AMD, dealing with consumers direct -- not only for their logistical incompetence, but for the consumer rights that you lose and the tax money your country will lose by not buying locally and from a local business. Now, there are times when selling direct to public totally makes sense -- for small companies that don't have the reach, for niche products or for newly kick started businesses, etc. There is not a single excuse for these billionaire scumbags on doing so.

And save your smug "entitled" attitude and "being silly" for someone who actually cares... I don't call you out and criticise you for your choice of hardware (or say, the "silly" amount you're paying for water cooling)...I can, but I won't. We're all here to discuss this pricey hobby of ours and everyone will spend differently on their hardware -- but if you don't like my opinion on it, you're free to not reply to it, thanks...

P.S. as for your Radeon Pro Duo comment, I could care less about their dual GPU cards (the last time I did was when their 7990 was released, and even that was purely for the technical feat and seeing how much they can cram on one PCB). As I said before, the point you clearly completely missed is that AMD are still taking a hit by selling it through retailers and are not driving your local economy and shops into bankruptcy. If this is not something you care about, good luck to you -- but excuse me if I'll be laughing at you should, god forbid, you decide to buy this Titan card and encourage the clowns at Nvidia to cut the retailers out entirely and sell all their GPUs direct to public like this going forward...then you'll come whining on here about the warranty on your overpriced card being worthless and being forced to send it back to the States (or wherever they will decide to set up their shipping address that will suit them financially) and being completely at their whim. Until that happens, excuse me but I'll "complain" on here and on any other sites as much as I need to. Should it happen, I'll just not buy from or support the company that does it as much as I can and focus on my other hobbies. And unless you have a valid point to make, save your "umadbro" baiting comments -- as I'm not biting. Ta.

 

[bug]

Here's the thing -- a 1080 shouldn't cost £600.

Here's the thing: in the free market, things cost as much as people are willing to pay.

 

[Am*]

Here's the thing: in the free market, things cost as much as people are willing to pay.

I'll rephrase that -- £600 is not what I'd consider paying for a card of that tier, so if I ever get tempted to buy one, I'll wait until they run out of the willing for a price drop to what I consider reasonable.

I just find it strange that so many people that called a £700 top of the line card a waste of money and overpriced to contradict themselves by overpaying £600 for a mid-high end GPU a year later...At least those past cards had huge die sizes and fully working cores that made them justifiable (as they were much more expensive to produce).

 

[the54thvoid]

as I'm not biting. Ta.

No bait was thrown......

The point is not over my head about Nvidia selling it straight. What you are missing instead is that all previous Titans were on full lock down. The AIB's were not given the chance to be AIB's (hell even the 1080 is locked down so much the AIB boards are meaningless due to power and voltage restrictions). There is no point in Asus or MSI selling a board that cannot be modified. It may as well come from Nvidia direct. Nvidia will not stop working with AIB's on the rest of their line - they need them and will use them accordingly. Your prophecy of doom is OTT.

And the line on taxes? Seriously. All foreign (currently non-EU) goods are subject to taxes and import duties no matter who sells them. You think Asus are based in Stratford or something? Or MSI? Both companies, by the way, that charge a fortune above the normal for their designs. The AIB's milk us. Nvidia sets the initial price (which I have stated elsewhere is too high for my liking, despite the urge to buy) but some of their partners are romping it home with hikes. One of the best cards comes from Palit (Gamerock) and it is way cheaper than the Strix or Gaming Z from Asus and MSI.

And as for money in general - purchases are contextual. You make a point about wanting to call me out for water cooling. Go for it. I don't mind. I enjoy the silence. I game without headphones (unless multiplayer with friends) and I want my PC to be quiet - so I made it that way. I don't like coil whine (so avoid certain cards and brands) and noisy coolers suck. Water cooling for me gives me the quiet gaming experience I want. Is it worth it? To me, yes. Is the Titan X worth it to someone who has paid for it? I'd say it is. Does it matter that Nvidia sell it direct? Nope. Won't affect my local economy, won't affect my warranty. You have seen the forum rants about people having RMA issues with all sorts of companies? That's a lottery right there.

I mean you no ill and if I offended you too much, I apologise but seriously, this is the top end of PC gfx tech. It can't be cheap. My mention of shareholders requires a greater visit too - This sort of card, at this price and this success is what drives non-charitable companies forward. You, I, we, us don't get to choose that course. Nvidia does to please it's board. It releases a £250 GTX1060 at the lower end and a pretty groovy GTX1070 (matching the previous 980ti at £550+). They're the good value cards. The GTX 1080, not so much. Titan X - it doesn't matter.

AMD wont be kerb stomping Nvidia anytime soon. And that is unfortunate. If they could - they wouldn't be cheaper anyway. They have shareholders too. If AMD Vega matches Titan X or 1080, it will be priced very close. You probably might see some retailer action but probably no official price drops. It's all a bit pish frankly and despite how much I think you over reacted in the initial post, I am on the same relative side of the pitch as you. The difference is I'm not annoyed about it. ISIS, Erdogan, Trump, Human Trafficking, sometimes crappy hit reg in BF4 - these irk me. The cost of tech hardware is just a 'thing'. If anything, Nvidia did me a favour by having it so expensive. Although I can afford it, I choose not to buy it because of it's price - I'll stay with my 980ti (it's still happily thrashing around at 1440p on DX11). And, believe it or not - I'm trying to wait for Zen to see what that does. I've been wanting to upgrade for years now and thankfully Intel and Nvidia pricing keeps me grounded. At least when I do buy, I know it'll be solid. No matter if it's Red, Green or Blue.

I also see you are still in this thread as I type, it's like high noon. But seriously - I mean no offence to you.

 

[Caring1]

6 pages and still going?

 

[bug]

I'll rephrase that -- £600 is not what I'd consider paying for a card of that tier, so if I ever get tempted to buy one, I'll wait until they run out of the willing for a price drop to what I consider reasonable.

That makes more sense.

I just find it strange that so many people that called a £700 top of the line card a waste of money and overpriced to contradict themselves by overpaying £600 for a mid-high end GPU a year later...At least those past cards had huge die sizes and fully working cores that made them justifiable (as they were much more expensive to produce).

So you're expecting people to be rational? To know what they want? Not going to happen.

 

[Am*]

I mean you no ill and if I offended you too much, I apologise but seriously, this is the top end of PC gfx tech. It can't be cheap. My mention of shareholders requires a greater visit too - This sort of card, at this price and this success is what drives non-charitable companies forward. You, I, we, us don't get to choose that course. Nvidia does to please it's board. It releases a £250 GTX1060 at the lower end and a pretty groovy GTX1070 (matching the previous 980ti at £550+). They're the good value cards. The GTX 1080, not so much. Titan X - it doesn't matter.

AMD wont be kerb stomping Nvidia anytime soon. And that is unfortunate. If they could - they wouldn't be cheaper anyway. They have shareholders too. If AMD Vega matches Titan X or 1080, it will be priced very close. You probably might see some retailer action but probably no official price drops. It's all a bit pish frankly and despite how much I think you over reacted in the initial post, I am on the same relative side of the pitch as you. The difference is I'm not annoyed about it. ISIS, Erdogan, Trump, Human Trafficking, sometimes crappy hit reg in BF4 - these irk me. The cost of tech hardware is just a 'thing'. If anything, Nvidia did me a favour by having it so expensive. Although I can afford it, I choose not to buy it because of it's price - I'll stay with my 980ti (it's still happily thrashing around I also see you are still in this thread as I type, it's like high noon. But seriously - I mean no offence to you.

Fair enough -- sorry I took your post a bit badly, read it in the early hours of the morning (also had the page open on my phone, hence why it said I was watching the page when I really wasn't -- I'm actually at work now ).

The thing that annoys me the most is them cutting out both the AIBs and retailers -- I know full well the AIBs are not exactly based here but partners like Gigabyte have worked to make RMA centres right here in the UK and the way I see it, now is the only time to complain about Nvidia and their underhanded tactics. If Nvidia sell things direct from where they're based, they have the power to set the rules as they see fit (especially with returns), pay someone unqualified across the world pennies on the dollar compared to someone here and it will make things that much more difficult for you, me and everyone else to sort out any problems. You have far more rights and are protected by stronger laws buying electronics from someone shipping from and based or out based here in the UK than buying abroad and being governed by whatever country Nvidia would ship from (which can make dealing with RMAs etc very difficult).

Also I don't want people here and in other counties working at the small retailers like Scan, etc losing their jobs by them being bypassed like this and giving more money to corporate scumbags like Nvidia, who are already making money hand over fist. There is a support network already in place for GPUs here and enough partners as is (who still sell Quadros, Teslas etc), so no excuse for Nvidia to step in as far as I'm concerned.

 

[64K]

It's nothing strange to see the Titans go for so much $$$.

Kepler Titan $1,000 Kepler Titan Black $1,100
Maxwell Titan X $1,100
Pascal Titan X $1,200

I can say that I think the 1080 and Pascal Titan X are too high and I won't be buying one. That's my opinion and everyone has a right to their opinion but I can't speak for others because obviously there are people willing to pay the price. Mr Huang was quoted as saying the Kepler Titan "sold like hotcakes". Probably because it was useful for work for people that couldn't afford a professional card.

 

[kaboro226]

Am*, you seem confused about some things and your price comparisons are off (explained below). You say you are not angry, yet the tone you use and the things you say suggest otherwise, not to mention your conspiracy theories are way off.

First of all the Titan is not, and never was a consumer oriented card. The Titan series is aimed at professionals that need the power and at enthusiasts that are willing to pay the premium price for a premium product.
Considering the specs of the new Titan X and its performance increase, I don't even see it to be as overpriced as some people claim. Its a premium price of course but far as premium prices go, its rather expected and not unreasonable.

Nvidia does not make their profit from selling the Titan series, these cards are in low supply and looking at the history of previous Titans, they tend to run out of stock without significant price drops and they don't get resupplied after a certain amount of time, unlike the lower cards which do get decent price drops and usually don't run out of stock.
That's because Nvidia and the retailers make the bulk of their profits from the likes of 960 and 970s, 1060 and 1070 and so on. Its always been like that.
You are comparing the price of the 980...sorry but that's completely off at this point in time. The 9 series was the cheaper version of the 7 series, with lower specs, higher clocks and the claim of higher performance.
If you want to correctly compare the price of the 980 with something newer, you will have to wait for the inevitable cheaper version of the 1080 series, with lower specs higher clocks, smaller dye and claimed higher performance. THAT would be the correct comparison.

The media correctly stated that the Titan X was an expensive card, maybe they put more emphasis on the price than usual, but the people took it and ran away with it, blew the whole thing out of proportion and overreacted into borderline hysteria. That's a behaviour that I'm noticing more and more lately.

 

[dalekdukesboy]

It's expensive, but every titan has been and will be just nature of the beast. I also admittedly scratched my head a bit at the guy who was underwhelmed by this card and ranted on how much it sucked...He wrote so much I didn't even read it all lol. I did skim it and get the basic idea but definitely I agree with his detractors who pretty much pointed out this card is a beast with NO equal or competition anywhere near it so hard to really criticize the price or performance when it blows everything else out of the water...ironically closest competition for it is Nvidia's own 1080!

Also, can someone tell me how discussing the thermals and cooler on this card ( you know the one the article is about) is off topic? I understand name calling etc and spiraling off into throttling discussions and not even mentioning this card are all legit off-topicness...but I think me making a comment on THIS card's stock cooler is hardly off topic.

 

[kaboro226]

Who said talking about the cooler was off-topic?
When people say stock cooler, do they mean just the fan? Or the cards cooling system as a whole?
The Titan X has a metal backplate that apparently is used as a radiator, something that to my knowledge the previous Titan did not have.
Also didn't all previous Titans have stock coolers?
On the outside they look similar but i would assume on the inside they have made improvements.

I don't like coil whine (so avoid certain cards and brands) and noisy coolers suck.

Well, then one more reason for you not to get this card because the coil whining is there. Doesn't happen as often as it did on the 580 and 780, but it does happen, mostly on game still screens (like when you select the options).
The cooler is quiet though, couldn't get it to become noisy but then again my max resolution is 1600x1200. Guess in 4k that might change.

 

[dalekdukesboy]

Who said talking about the cooler was off-topic?
When people say stock cooler, do they mean just the fan? Or the cards cooling system as a whole?
The Titan X has a metal backplate that apparently is used as a radiator, something that to my knowledge the previous Titan did not have.
Also didn't all previous Titans have stock coolers?
On the outside they look similar but i would assume on the inside they have made improvements.

The moderator who removed my comment quoting someone on the stock cooler on this card and my reaction to it and me arguing that it was a typical crap stock cooler.

 

[ZeroFM]

should be very nice see new memory usage test , like in previous titan x review

 

[W1zzard]

should be very nice see new memory usage test , like in previous titan x review

Oh right, sorry I forgot that. I don't have the card anymore unfortunately.

 

[dalekdukesboy]

lol, honest answer Wizz. No one's perfect. Also makes plebs like myself feel slightly better that you guys do have a great job in getting to play with all this hardware but not like you just get to keep the cards...if you did...I'd be sending my resume to here and every other review site in existence .

 

[W1zzard]

lol, honest answer Wizz. No one's perfect. Also makes plebs like myself feel slightly better that you guys do have a great job in getting to play with all this hardware but not like you just get to keep the cards...if you did...I'd be sending my resume to here and every other review site in existence .

Usually I do manage to keep the reference card of everything here, which never gets touched, only for rebenching on new drivers/new games, but not this time. Sometimes I even buy a reference or the closest-to-reference board, but not gonna happen with titan x pricing.

 

[bug]

Usually I do manage to keep the reference card of everything here, which never gets touched, only for rebenching on new drivers/new games, but not this time. Sometimes I even buy a reference or the closest-to-reference board, but not gonna happen with titan x pricing.

Why, what's wrong with Titan X's pricing?

 

[dalekdukesboy]

I'm guessing Wizz values his first born child and his kidney too much to give them up for it

As massive as the performance is from this card what really interests me is same card but with all the shaders etc unlocked and none of the useless (to most consumers) fp64 performance and maybe 8 gigs of memory...12 gigs really is fairly useless at this point especially for normal applications. By the time 12 gigs is necessary these gpus will be outdated on all other performance metrics so hardly much of a futureproof argument there.

 

[Prima.Vera]

Here's the thing: in the free market, things cost as much as people are willing to pay.

Here's the thing: there is no free market anymore. Is already getting into a Monopoly since AMD's (main competitor) assimilate products, are garbage performance wise compared with nVidia's. So naturally, in a Monopoly market they can ask ridiculous prices, since they knew some of the users will (be forced to ) pay for having no other choices...

 

[kaboro226]

Here's the thing: there is no free market anymore. Is already getting into a Monopoly since AMD's (main competitor) assimilate products, are garbage performance wise compared with nVidia's. So naturally, in a Monopoly market they can ask ridiculous prices, since they knew some of the users will (be forced to ) pay for having no other choices...

Well, monopoly is a result of the free market. In a regulated market there are anti-monopoly laws.
It is far from a monopoly because AMD still holds a fair share of the market despite uncompetitive products.
Anyway, regardless of our personal opinions about monopolies and Nvidia AMD competition, I don't see how the price is ridiculous.
First of all, the price is comparable to previous Titans, the increase is like 10%.....sorry but all prices went up over the last few years, from groceries to everything else, and they went up more than 10%, so I really don't understand the overreaction of the reviewers and the public hysteria over the price.
Given the supply shortage of the 1080 and Titan X, its safe to assume they had difficulties with the dye manufacturing, and that means increased costs and reduced incomes because they didn't sell as many as they could have.

Yes the price is high, but hey, its a premium item, and given the supply shortage and the power of this card, they could have sold it for more if Nvidia were really as greedy as people imply.
The Titan cards were always above my budget, so I simply ignored them, but when I saw the specs of the Titan X, I got in nerd fever mode and I bought it against my better judgement.
Yes its very expensive and I know buying it was irrational, but you know what? This thing is worth every penny. I feel stupid for spending so much money on nerd entertainment, but I don't feel cheated and I don't feel like I overpaid.

 

[bug]

Here's the thing: there is no free market anymore. Is already getting into a Monopoly since AMD's (main competitor) assimilate products, are garbage performance wise compared with nVidia's. So naturally, in a Monopoly market they can ask ridiculous prices, since they knew some of the users will (be forced to ) pay for having no other choices...

Even so, it's a halo product, not water. And there are plenty of alternatives even if you don't want to look outside Nvidia.

 

[qubit]

@W1zzard NVIDIA's website shows the name of this card as "NVIDIA TITAN X" and doesn't mention Pascal in the name, so I'm curious to know what the driver calls it under System Information.

 

[GhostRyder]

@W1zzard NVIDIA's website shows the name of this card as "NVIDIA TITAN X" and doesn't mention Pascal in the name, so I'm curious to know what the driver calls it under System Information.

That is basically what mine is called in system information.

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

@W1zzard now that WoW is almost 2 months into Legion, can we get an updated benchmark on this Titan XP as well as the upcoming 1080Ti around Q1?