20140327

Nvidia Announces Beastly 12GB Titan Z Graphics Card


Nvidia Announces Beastly 12GB Titan Z Graphics Card

When Nvidia introduced the GTX Titan graphics card they weren’t sure how it would be received, especially with a $1000 MSRP. But not only did it become their flagship GPU, it sold exceptionally well to both creative professionals and gamers — a fact verified by multiple boutique PC vendors I’ve spoken to. Now, Nvidia is shattering the boundaries with Titan Z, a card they say will blow past enabling quality 4K graphics and right into 5K.

“Not only is it powerful, but it’s whisper quiet and fits naturally into your PC,” Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang exclaimed during his keynote at the GTC 2014 conference.

Titan Z incorporates two GK110 Kepler-based GPUs, boasting a total of 5,760 CUDA cores (about $.50 per core) and a staggering 12GB of video memory , double what the existing Titan Black has. With that in mind, the MSRP of $2,999 probably won’t raise many eyebrows, though it will frighten some wallets.


Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang introduces the Titan Z Graphics Card
Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang introduces the Titan Z Graphics Card | Photo by Jason Evangelho

I’m sure the Titan Z will be marketed to professionals as a supercomputing card, but you can expect 4K gaming enthusiasts who want bleeding edge tech to buy it in droves.

The bottleneck typically associated with 4K gaming is memory, a problem the Titan line solves. But as we’ve seen with my review of the Falcon Mach V, it still takes multiple Titans to deliver ultra quality settings. I don’t have final specifications yet on Titan Z yet — base GPU and memory clocks as well as TDP will be important factors — but it’s going to be one beastly card to benchmark.

Nvidia reps have promised an in-depth Titan Z briefing for press in the near future, so expect much more information soon.
Nvidia's GTX Titan Z

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