NVIDIA's new GTX Titan shows the full potential of the Kepler architecture. Based on NVIDIA's flagship GK110 silicon, it delivers outstanding single-GPU performance, easily claiming the title of "world's fastest GPU". ZOTAC's AMP! Edition comes overclocked out of the box, with both increased GPU- and memory clocks. As a result, the card ends up being 4% faster than the reference design GTX Titan. When looking at 2560x1600 only, the increase is even 6%. Compared to NVIDIA's GTX 680, the card is over 25% faster, but ends up 8% slower than the GTX 690. While the GTX 690 requires proper game-specific SLI profiles for optimum scaling, and NVIDIA has done a very good job here in the past, there are still titles that don't see optimum scaling. Thanks to Titan's single-GPU architecture, you won't run into these issues, but you would have to pay the price premium. Compared to AMD's latest HD 7990, we see Zotac's Titan deliver the same performance when averaged, which is mainly due to AMD's poor CrossFire support. The HD 7990 would be faster on paper.

Visually, the GTX Titan is a nerd's wet dream come true. It uses the same industrial design as the GTX 690, with a unibody heatsink of magnesium alloy and nicely shaped curves. The Plexiglas window definitely adds to the experience and looks so much better than a random sticker. Holding the card in your hands really conveys the feel of a premium, high-quality product. What I find really disappointing though is that NVIDIA did not install a backplate onto the card, and ZOTAC didn't add one either. For its price, a backplate should really be included.

NVIDIA did not only focus on performance and design, but also on power, heat, and noise. They introduced a new "GPU Boost 2.0" algorithm that accounts for temperature and power draw to find ideal clock speeds that provide maximum performance without compromising on power and heat. The GTX Titan is, as a result, the quietest enthusiast-class graphics card you can buy at this time, but it is clearly not inaudible or super quiet. While under heavy load, the fan noise difference is, compared to the Radeon HD 7970 GHz, like day and night. When the GHz Edition has to sound like a leaf blower to keep the card cool at its massive clocks and voltages, the Titan just plays it smart and dials back boost clock and voltage at the cost of a bit of performance, which results in a whole lot less noise. AMD's HD 7990 improved on noise levels as well, but is nowhere near as quiet as the GTX Titan.

Power consumption of the GTX Titan AMP! in non-gaming states is fantastic; better than any enthusiast-class card we've seen before, and better than the Titan reference design. Zotac likely picked the best cards for the AMP! Edition. Performance per watt beats all other high-end cards, including the GTX 690, GTX 680, HD 7990 and HD 7970 GHz. Some lower-end cards, like the GTX 650 and HD 7750, are certainly more efficient, but live in a completely different product class. This efficiency is the fundamental reason for the low noise levels of the Titan, because less power consumed equals less heat produced, which results in less work for the cooling assembly.

Overclocking worked quite well on our sample and ended up a bit higher than the reference design boards we tested before. This is additional evidence of ZOTAC sorting their cards during production. Overall, overclocking worked well, easily providing another 10% performance improvement.

While some sites reported pricing of $1029, $1100, and pretty much everything in between, ZOTAC today told me that the retail price will be $1139, which is a tough cookie to swallow. More than a 10% price increase for just the overclock and three bundled games is really too much in my opinion. I would have considered $1029 a great price and $1049 reasonable, but everything above that doesn't seem to be worth it. NVIDIA recently upped their game bundle to include Metro: Last Light, one of the hottest titles this season. ZOTAC also bundles three Assassin's Creed titles that could be sold to offset the price, but either way, it's still a lot of money to spend on a graphics card, and most users won't be able to do so. I was prepared to give this card our Editor's Choice award, but pricing deprived it of that. Going by forum reports, those who bought a Titan are extremely happy with it and don't regret spending the money. On the other hand, the GTX 690 comes at similar pricing and is faster but requires optimum game support. The rumor mill is also very active when it comes to the GTX 780 that is supposedly based on a design very similar to Titan, with the same GPU. Pricing is completely unknown though, but waiting a bit to see what's coming might not be a bad idea.