Nvidia Titan X Pascal Review - The Fastest Consumer GPU Available

Fast, faster, fastest. Two months after the launch of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founder's Edition, the Nvidia Titan X was introduced to the public on 8th of August 2016. The new Titan X is based on the Pascal architecture, which has significantly improved the performance of the smaller variants. 1024 shader units more than the GeForce GTX 1080, 12 GB GDDR5X VRAM, and a wider memory interface raise hope for outstanding performance. In our review, you will find out how well the higher performance potential can be used and whether there are also points of criticism.

Sebastian Bade, ✓ Stefanie Voigt, 10/07/2016

For the original German review, see here.

The Nvidia Titan X can be bought only via the Nvidia web store. Thus, there will not be any custom designs or cards from other manufacturers. It looks significantly different compared to Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founder's Edition. The cooler, which appears to be top-quality, is entirely black. In addition to a 6-pin power-in, it features an 8-pin one in order to supply the graphics card with sufficient energy. The label of the cooler (TITAN X) hints at the top model again. On the side, there is a striking "GEFORCE GTX" logo, which glows green when it is on. We do not fully understand why Nvidia uses this logo in the Titan X, since the Titan X is not officially listed as GeForce GTX graphics card in the portfolio.

This feature is indeed an eye catcher and a gimmick. However, those who buy a graphics card of this price category might want you to see even from a distance that it is not just a conventional "GeForce GTX" graphics card.

The available interfaces are identical to the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founder's Edition's. Hence, the Nvidia Titan X also features Dual-Link-DVI, an HDMI 2.0 port as well as three Display-Port-1.4 ports. An SLI interface allows combining two of the graphic cards for further increasing the performance.

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Manufacturer	NVIDIA
Codename	GP102
Architecture	Pascal
Pipelines	3584 - unified
Core Speed	1418 - 1531 (Boost) MHz
Memory Speed	10000 MHz
Memory Bus Width	384 Bit
Memory Type	GDDR5X
Max. Amount of Memory	12288 MB
Shared Memory	no
DirectX	DirectX 12_1
Transistor Count	12000 Million
technology	16 nm
Features	DP 1.4, HDMI 2.0b, HDCP 2.2, CUDA, PCIe 3.0, GPU Boost 3.0, G-SYNC
Date of Announcement	25.07.2016

v1.15

The Test System

Intel Xeon E5 2680v4 (not overclocked), 64 GB DDR4 2400 MHz, MSI Gaming 9 ACK (MS-7882), Acer Predator XB321HK 4K display, Samsung SM951 M.2 SSD (512 GB, system + benchmarks), Microsoft Windows 10 64-Bit

Admittedly, the used system is rather special. The performance of the processor is on par with the Intel Core i7-6950X in applications with multi-core support. However, the Intel Xeon E5 2680v4 gives in to the higher clocked Intel Core i7-6950X and other higher-clocked, modern processors in single thread performance.

During further testing, the Nvidia Titan X was embedded in an existing liquid cooling circuit. An Aquastream XT Ultra was used as a pump and heat is dissipated through a 480mm radiator from Phobya (Phobya G-Changer 480 V.2 - Full Copper).

Clock Rates

By default, the Nvidia Titan X clocks at 1418 MHz and guarantees a Turbo clock of 1531 MHz. We have recorded a maximum GPU clock rate of 1835 MHz in the GPU-Z render test. The system could keep this frequency throughout the test without any drops. In gaming, the Nvidia Titan X frequently clocked at significantly above 1600 MHz (1600 MHz to 1800 MHz). The "Temperature Target" of the Nvidia Titan X is 84 °C (~183 °F) out-of-the-box. If this is exceeded, the GPU begins to throttle the performance. We will explain this in detail in the stress test section.

Synthetic Benchmarks

The synthetic benchmarks from Futuremark and Unigine clearly show that it tends to be the fastest consumer graphics card. With a significant difference of more than 30%, the Nvidia Titan X outperforms the former top model from the same manufacturer, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founder's Edition. Although graphics cards with GTX 1080 chip that are overclocked ex-factory can minimize the difference, they cannot catch up with the superior Titan X.

3DMark 11 | 3DMark | Unigine Heaven 4.0

3DMark 11 - 1280x720 Performance GPU
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	33884 Points ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop) MSI GT80S 6QF, Intel Core i7-6820HK	30045 Points ∼89% -11%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	29443 Points ∼87% -13%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	23990 Points ∼71% -29%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	23057 Points ∼68% -32%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	17543 Points ∼52% -48%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (Laptop) Schenker XMG U716, Intel Core i7-6700	17050 Points ∼50% -50%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M DogHouse Systems Mobius SS, Intel Core i7-6700K	12967 Points ∼38% -62%

3DMark
3840x2160 Fire Strike Ultra Graphics
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	6751 Points ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop) MSI GT80S 6QF, Intel Core i7-6820HK	5358 Points ∼79% -21%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	4841 Points ∼72% -28%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	4126 Points ∼61% -39%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	3918 Points ∼58% -42%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	3552 Points ∼53% -47%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (Laptop) Schenker XMG U716, Intel Core i7-6700	2977 Points ∼44% -56%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M DogHouse Systems Mobius SS, Intel Core i7-6700K	2297 Points ∼34% -66%
Fire Strike Extreme Graphics
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	13543 Points ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	9994 Points ∼74% -26%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	7817 Points ∼58% -42%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	6951 Points ∼51% -49%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M DogHouse Systems Mobius SS, Intel Core i7-6700K	4673 Points ∼35% -65%
1920x1080 Fire Strike Graphics
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	27282 Points ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop) MSI GT80S 6QF, Intel Core i7-6820HK	23351 Points ∼86% -14%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	20268 Points ∼74% -26%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	16961 Points ∼62% -38%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	16685 Points ∼61% -39%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	14580 Points ∼53% -47%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (Laptop) Schenker XMG U716, Intel Core i7-6700	12691 Points ∼47% -53%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M DogHouse Systems Mobius SS, Intel Core i7-6700K	9963 Points ∼37% -63%
1280x720 Cloud Gate Standard Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop) MSI GT80S 6QF, Intel Core i7-6820HK	147015 Points ∼100% +32%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	129042 Points ∼88% +16%
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	111721 Points ∼76%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	104764 Points ∼71% -6%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	98958 Points ∼67% -11%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	80439 Points ∼55% -28%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (Laptop) Schenker XMG U716, Intel Core i7-6700	75213 Points ∼51% -33%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M DogHouse Systems Mobius SS, Intel Core i7-6700K	62938 Points ∼43% -44%

Unigine Heaven 4.0 - Extreme Preset DX11
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	140.2 fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	137.7 fps ∼98% -2%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop) MSI GT80S 6QF, Intel Core i7-6820HK	129.5 fps ∼92% -8%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	117 fps ∼83% -17%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	110 fps ∼78% -22%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (Laptop) Schenker XMG U716, Intel Core i7-6700	78.1 fps ∼56% -44%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	77.1 fps ∼55% -45%

Gaming Benchmarks

The Titan X can easily cope with VR requirements — very good for VR

Obviously, the actual performance in games has much more significance. After we ran all the games in our benchmark list from 2015 and 2016 on the Nvidia Titan X, we can say with certainty that all current games run smoothly in 4K with a "high preset". There are often still reserves, so that the Nvidia Titan X can even cope with "ultra preset" at a resolution of 3840x2160 pixels.

At lower resolutions, the combination with a higher clocked CPU is often the better choice. The lack of multi-core support ensures that the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 as well as the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 perform better in FHD resolution than the Intel Xeon E5 2680v4 with the Nvidia Titan X. This changes with increasing the resolution, so that the Titan X can often be outperformed only by multi GPU systems in UHD resolution. Even if you ignore the price performance ratio, this GPU only makes sense when you want to run games with resolutions above 1080p and a correspondingly high preset.

Deus Ex Mankind Divided - 3840x2160 High Preset AF:4x
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	41.1 (35.6^min - 47.6^max) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	30.8 (26^min - 36^max) fps ∼75% -25%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	28.3 (24^min - 34^max) fps ∼69% -31%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	25.1 (11^min - 34^max) fps ∼61% -39%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	24.8 (21.3^min - 28.4^max) fps ∼60% -40%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-6700K	18 (15^min) fps ∼44% -56%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M Schenker W504, Intel Core i7-4700MQ	13.3 (12^min) fps ∼32% -68%

No Man's Sky - 3840x2160 High AA:FX AF:8x
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	79.9 (65^min - 96^max) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	58.5 (21^min - 68^max) fps ∼73% -27%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	46.7 (38^min - 53^max) fps ∼58% -42%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	35.7 (26^min - 41^max) fps ∼45% -55%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-6700K	33.9 (27^min) fps ∼42% -58%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M Schenker W504, Intel Core i7-4700MQ	23.7 (14^min) fps ∼30% -70%

Mirror's Edge Catalyst - 3840x2160 High Preset AF:16x
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	61.1 (58^min - 68^max) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	47 (44^min - 50^max) fps ∼77% -23%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	38.3 (35^min - 42^max) fps ∼63% -37%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	38.2 (35^min - 41^max) fps ∼63% -37%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	31.5 (23^min - 35^max) fps ∼52% -48%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-6700K	28.3 (26^min) fps ∼46% -54%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M Schenker W504, Intel Core i7-4700MQ	20.6 (17^min) fps ∼34% -66%

Overwatch - 3840x2160 High (Render Scale 100 %) AA:SM AF:4x
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	165.8 (158^min - 234^max) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	104 (88^min - 121^max) fps ∼63% -37%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	87 (75^min - 101^max) fps ∼52% -48%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	85.5 (74^min - 98^max) fps ∼52% -48%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	77 (64^min - 91^max) fps ∼46% -54%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-6700K	62.3 (53^min) fps ∼38% -62%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M Schenker W504, Intel Core i7-4700MQ	47.3 (39^min) fps ∼29% -71%

Doom - 3840x2160 High Preset AA:FX
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	86.4 (71^min - 112^max) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	56.5 fps ∼65% -35%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	48.6 (42^min - 60^max) fps ∼56% -44%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	46 (41^min - 60^max) fps ∼53% -47%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	38.2 (33^min - 51^max) fps ∼44% -56%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-6700K	34.4 (30^min) fps ∼40% -60%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M Schenker W504, Intel Core i7-4700MQ	22.6 (19^min) fps ∼26% -74%

Hitman 2016 - 3840x2160 High / On AA:FX AF:8x
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	62.4 (47^min - 73^max) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	42 (34^min - 53^max) fps ∼67% -33%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	38.9 (26^min - 46^max) fps ∼62% -38%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	37.7 (26^min - 46^max) fps ∼60% -40%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	35.6 (30^min - 43^max) fps ∼57% -43%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	32.6 (24^min - 42^max) fps ∼52% -48%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-6700K	26.2 (19^min) fps ∼42% -58%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M Schenker W504, Intel Core i7-4700MQ	18.4 (15^min) fps ∼29% -71%

The Division - 3840x2160 High Preset AF:8x
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	52.4 fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	48.5 (19^min - 65^max) fps ∼93% -7%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	39.8 (14^min - 51^max) fps ∼76% -24%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	39.7 (17^min - 52^max) fps ∼76% -24%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	34.5 (19^min - 51^max) fps ∼66% -34%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-6700K	27.7 (10^min) fps ∼53% -47%

Far Cry Primal - 3840x2160 High Preset AA:SM
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	62 (55^min - 68^max) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	49 (46^min - 53^max) fps ∼79% -21%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	40 (37^min - 44^max) fps ∼65% -35%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	38 (36^min - 42^max) fps ∼61% -39%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	37 (33^min - 42^max) fps ∼60% -40%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-6700K	29 (27^min) fps ∼47% -53%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M Schenker W504, Intel Core i7-4700MQ	20 (18^min) fps ∼32% -68%

XCOM 2 - 3840x2160 High Preset AA:FX AF:8x
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	42.8 (38^min - 49^max) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	30.4 (27^min - 34^max) fps ∼71% -29%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	25.6 (39^min - 47^max) fps ∼60% -40%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	25 (24^min - 28^max) fps ∼58% -42%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	22 (19^min - 24^max) fps ∼51% -49%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-6700K	18.7 (17^min) fps ∼44% -56%

Rise of the Tomb Raider - 3840x2160 High Preset AA:FX AF:4x
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	68.4 (62^min - 76^max) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	50 fps ∼73% -27%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	47.8 (43^min - 54^max) fps ∼70% -30%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	40.6 (36^min - 46^max) fps ∼59% -41%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	38.9 (35^min - 44^max) fps ∼57% -43%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	32.4 (29^min - 37^max) fps ∼47% -53%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-6700K	27.9 (25^min) fps ∼41% -59%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M Schenker W504, Intel Core i7-4700MQ	20.8 (19^min) fps ∼30% -70%

Just Cause 3 - 3840x2160 High / On AA:FX AF:8x
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	81.6 (71^min - 123^max) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	62 (56^min - 67^max) fps ∼76% -24%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	49.6 (44^min - 53^max) fps ∼61% -39%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	48 (42^min - 52^max) fps ∼59% -41%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-6700K	36.6 (33^min) fps ∼45% -55%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	36.3 (33^min - 41^max) fps ∼44% -56%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M Schenker W504, Intel Core i7-4700MQ	23.6 (20^min) fps ∼29% -71%

Rainbow Six Siege - 3840x2160 High Preset AA:T AF:4x
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	106.9 (45.6^min - 206.2^max) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	82 fps ∼77% -23%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	67.4 (52^min - 88^max) fps ∼63% -37%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	67 (50^min - 95^max) fps ∼63% -37%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	62 (47^min - 76^max) fps ∼58% -42%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop) MSI GT80S 6QF, Intel Core i7-6820HK	50.2 fps ∼47% -53%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-6700K	50.1 (35^min) fps ∼47% -53%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M Schenker W504, Intel Core i7-4700MQ	35.9 (28^min) fps ∼34% -66%

Assassin's Creed Syndicate - 3840x2160 High Preset AA:FX
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	65.1 (58^min - 75^max) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	47.3 (44^min - 51^max) fps ∼73% -27%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	38 (35^min - 42^max) fps ∼58% -42%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop) MSI GT80S 6QF, Intel Core i7-6820HK	37.7 fps ∼58% -42%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	37.4 (35^min - 41^max) fps ∼57% -43%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	31.5 (29^min - 37^max) fps ∼48% -52%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-6700K	27.6 (26^min) fps ∼42% -58%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M Schenker W504, Intel Core i7-4700MQ	20.7 (18^min) fps ∼32% -68%

Star Wars Battlefront - 3840x2160 High Preset AA:FX
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	88.6 (79^min - 103^max) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	67 (58^min - 79^max) fps ∼76% -24%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop) MSI GT80S 6QF, Intel Core i7-6820HK	62.6 fps ∼71% -29%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	53 (46^min - 64^max) fps ∼60% -40%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	52.7 (45^min - 63^max) fps ∼59% -41%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	50 (43^min - 60^max) fps ∼56% -44%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-6700K	40.4 (35^min) fps ∼46% -54%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M Schenker W504, Intel Core i7-4700MQ	27.9 (23^min) fps ∼31% -69%

Fallout 4 - 3840x2160 High Preset AA:T AF:16x
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	74 (60^min - 89^max) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop) MSI GT80S 6QF, Intel Core i7-6820HK	55.6 fps ∼75% -25%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	54 (42^min - 66^max) fps ∼73% -27%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	46 (37^min - 56^max) fps ∼62% -38%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	45.2 (35^min - 55^max) fps ∼61% -39%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	38.7 (30^min - 49^max) fps ∼52% -48%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M Schenker W504, Intel Core i7-4700MQ	24 (18^min) fps ∼32% -68%

Anno 2205 - 3840x2160 High Preset AA:4x
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	88.1 (82^min - 93^max) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	67 (64^min - 70^max) fps ∼76% -24%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	54 fps ∼61% -39%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	52.2 (49^min - 55^max) fps ∼59% -41%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop) MSI GT80S 6QF, Intel Core i7-6820HK	35.4 fps ∼40% -60%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	34.3 (32^min - 36^max) fps ∼39% -61%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M Schenker W504, Intel Core i7-4700MQ	23.8 (20^min) fps ∼27% -73%

FIFA 16 - 3840x2160 High Preset AA:2x MS
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	270.9 (259^min) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	208 (194^min - 218^max) fps ∼77% -23%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	162 fps ∼60% -40%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	157 (143^min - 167^max) fps ∼58% -42%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop) MSI GT80S 6QF, Intel Core i7-6820HK	118.6 fps ∼44% -56%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M Schenker W504, Intel Core i7-4700MQ	88.2 (35^min) fps ∼33% -67%

World of Warships - 3840 x 2160 Very High Preset AA:High FX AF:16x
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	109 (81^min - 150^max) fps ∼100% +5%
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	104.1 (54^min - 156^max) fps ∼96%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	100 (53^min - 133^max) fps ∼92% -4%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	87 (64^min - 132^max) fps ∼80% -16%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	64 (50^min - 82^max) fps ∼59% -39%

Dirt Rally - 3840x2160 High Preset
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	137 (110^min - 143^max) fps ∼100% +41%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	126 (99^min - 154^max) fps ∼92% +30%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	109 (88^min - 139^max) fps ∼80% +12%
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	97 (66.8^min - 160.3^max) fps ∼71%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop) MSI GT80S 6QF, Intel Core i7-6820HK	85.6 fps ∼62% -12%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	81 (53^min - 104^max) fps ∼59% -16%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M Schenker W504, Intel Core i7-4700MQ	58.6 (45^min) fps ∼43% -40%

The Witcher 3 - 3840x2160 High Graphics & Postprocessing (Nvidia HairWorks Off)
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	68.1 (59^min - 77^max) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	55 fps ∼81% -19%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop) MSI GT80S 6QF, Intel Core i7-6820HK	51.2 fps ∼75% -25%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	44 (39^min - 49^max) fps ∼65% -35%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	43 fps ∼63% -37%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	35.9 (32^min - 39^max) fps ∼53% -47%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M Schenker W504, Intel Core i7-4700MQ	22.8 (19^min) fps ∼33% -67%

GTA V - 3840x2160 High/On (Advanced Graphics Off) AA:FX AF:8x
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	95.5 (37.9^min - 174.5^max) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	79 fps ∼83% -17%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	71.2 (11.6^min - 170^max) fps ∼75% -25%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	59.1 fps ∼62% -38%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	46.6 fps ∼49% -51%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M Schenker W504, Intel Core i7-4700MQ	41.4 (15^min) fps ∼43% -57%

Battlefield 4 - 3840x2160 High Preset
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	126.2 (107^min - 152^max) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop) MSI GT80S 6QF, Intel Core i7-6820HK	91.6 fps ∼73% -27%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	90 fps ∼71% -29%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	70 (63^min - 84^max) fps ∼55% -45%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	69.8 (61^min - 83^max) fps ∼55% -45%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	56 (49^min - 65^max) fps ∼44% -56%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M Schenker W504, Intel Core i7-4700MQ	35.2 (30^min) fps ∼28% -72%

Boost Clock and Performance Under Load

Let us turn to the aspects of stress test and performance under prolonged load. We used the program FurMark, which demands everything from the GPU with the manual settings 4K and 8x MSAA. We have increased the "Temperature Target" to 90 °C (~194 °F) for this test. The Titan X reaches a very high 1835 MHz directly after the start. After a short time the frequency hovers at 1733 MHz. Consequently, the memory clock of the Titan X remains at 5005 MHz (effectively 10010 MHz). In the stress tests we have run (“Time Spy” and “Sky Diver”), which are included in Futuremark 3DMark, our test sample achieved 90.9% and 97.3%, respectively. So far, all tests were carried out with the standard cooler and keeping the default rotation speed setting of "auto". Hence, the performance loss falls slightly under prolonged GPU stress with the standard cooler. Due to Titan X's enormous performance, this small difference can be measured, but is not noticeable.

Professional Applications

If you only consider the technical specifications and the results of the Titan X in gaming benchmarks, you might suspect that it would also be more than sufficient for professional use. However, the significantly more expensive Quadro cards from Nvidia are out of reach for the consumer card. Unfortunately, the Titan X lacks the driver support of the Quadro GPUs.

	NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop) MSI GT80S 6QF, Intel Core i7-6820HK	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (Laptop) Schenker XMG U716, Intel Core i7-6700	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (Laptop) MSI GT72S 6QF, Intel Core i7-6820HK	NVIDIA Quadro M5000M MSI WT72-6QM, Intel Xeon E3-1505M v5	NVIDIA Quadro M3000M Schenker W706, Intel Core i7-6700
SPECviewperf 12		9%	-32%	-30%	-39%	115%	49%
1900x1060 Solidworks (sw-03)	48.75	67.7 39%	50.83 4%	49.23 1%	43.23 -11%	101.01 107%	92 89%
1900x1060 Siemens NX (snx-02)	8.58	8.67 1%	6.05 -29%	6.11 -29%	5.69 -34%	86.87 912%	52 506%
1900x1060 Showcase (showcase-01)	126.43	112 -11%	61.15 -52%	59.31 -53%	52.13 -59%	44.14 -65%	37 -71%
1900x1060 Medical (medical-01)	59.91	45.6 -24%	30.18 -50%	30.94 -48%	29.57 -51%	31.35 -48%	22 -63%
1900x1060 Maya (maya-04)	114.54	163 42%	88.88 -22%	107.02 -7%	75.24 -34%	69.57 -39%	61 -47%
1900x1060 Energy (energy-01)	13.16	10.4 -21%	6.8 -48%	7.17 -46%	5.61 -57%	6.86 -48%	4.8 -64%
1900x1060 Creo (creo-01)	43.74	60.9 39%	35.42 -19%	34.82 -20%	32.6 -25%	81.34 86%	66 51%
1900x1060 Catia (catia-04)	83.52	86.3 3%	52.21 -37%	53.61 -36%	49.52 -41%	94.45 13%	77 -8%

Compute Performance

The Titan X can clearly show its strengths in LuxMark and ComputeMark. In the LuxMark benchmark, only the SLI combination from two Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 can beat the currently fastest desktop graphics card into the second place. Currently, no other graphics card can keep up with the Titan in single GPU operation. It is as much as 40% faster than the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founder's Edition.

LuxMark v2.0 64Bit | ComputeMark v2.1

LuxMark v2.0 64Bit
Room GPUs-only
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop) MSI GT80S 6QF, Intel Core i7-6820HK	3660 Samples/s ∼100% +22%
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	2991 Samples/s ∼82%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	2490 Samples/s ∼68% -17%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	2474 Samples/s ∼68% -17%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	2327 Samples/s ∼64% -22%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (Laptop) Eurocom Sky DLX7, Intel Core i7-6700K	1938 Samples/s ∼53% -35%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	1566 Samples/s ∼43% -48%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M DogHouse Systems Mobius SS, Intel Core i7-6700K	1407 Samples/s ∼38% -53%
Sala GPUs-only
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	6920 Samples/s ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop) MSI GT80S 6QF, Intel Core i7-6820HK	5814 Samples/s ∼84% -16%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	5012 Samples/s ∼72% -28%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	4708 Samples/s ∼68% -32%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	3919 Samples/s ∼57% -43%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	3125 Samples/s ∼45% -55%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (Laptop) Eurocom Sky DLX7, Intel Core i7-6700K	3077 Samples/s ∼44% -56%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M DogHouse Systems Mobius SS, Intel Core i7-6700K	2319 Samples/s ∼34% -66%

ComputeMark v2.1
1024x600 Normal, QJuliaRayTrace
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	7847 Points ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	6191 Points ∼79% -21%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	4761 Points ∼61% -39%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	4270 Points ∼54% -46%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (Laptop) Eurocom Sky DLX7, Intel Core i7-6700K	3229 Points ∼41% -59%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop) MSI GT80S 6QF, Intel Core i7-6820HK	3091 Points ∼39% -61%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	3082 Points ∼39% -61%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M DogHouse Systems Mobius SS, Intel Core i7-6700K	2418 Points ∼31% -69%
1024x600 Normal, Mandel Scalar
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	5096 Points ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	3646 Points ∼72% -28%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	3233 Points ∼63% -37%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	2861 Points ∼56% -44%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	2710 Points ∼53% -47%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (Laptop) Eurocom Sky DLX7, Intel Core i7-6700K	1960 Points ∼38% -62%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop) MSI GT80S 6QF, Intel Core i7-6820HK	1854 Points ∼36% -64%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M DogHouse Systems Mobius SS, Intel Core i7-6700K	1461 Points ∼29% -71%
1024x600 Normal, Mandel Vector
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	4284 Points ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	3284 Points ∼77% -23%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	2706 Points ∼63% -37%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	2602 Points ∼61% -39%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	2479 Points ∼58% -42%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (Laptop) Eurocom Sky DLX7, Intel Core i7-6700K	1926 Points ∼45% -55%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop) MSI GT80S 6QF, Intel Core i7-6820HK	1856 Points ∼43% -57%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M DogHouse Systems Mobius SS, Intel Core i7-6700K	1564 Points ∼37% -63%
1024x600 Normal, Fluid 2DTexArr
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	2032 Points ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	1758 Points ∼87% -13%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	1390 Points ∼68% -32%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	1382 Points ∼68% -32%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	1114 Points ∼55% -45%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (Laptop) Eurocom Sky DLX7, Intel Core i7-6700K	1031 Points ∼51% -49%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop) MSI GT80S 6QF, Intel Core i7-6820HK	1020 Points ∼50% -50%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M DogHouse Systems Mobius SS, Intel Core i7-6700K	760 Points ∼37% -63%
1024x600 Normal, Fluid 3DTex
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	2254 Points ∼100%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	1860 Points ∼83% -17%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	1730 Points ∼77% -23%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	1531 Points ∼68% -32%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	1402 Points ∼62% -38%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop) MSI GT80S 6QF, Intel Core i7-6820HK	1070 Points ∼47% -53%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (Laptop) Eurocom Sky DLX7, Intel Core i7-6700K	1059 Points ∼47% -53%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M DogHouse Systems Mobius SS, Intel Core i7-6700K	783 Points ∼35% -65%
1024x600 Normal, Score
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4	21512 Points ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	16610 Points ∼77% -23%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, Intel Core i7-4790K	13121 Points ∼61% -39%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4790K	12373 Points ∼58% -42%
AMD Radeon R9 Fury XFX Radeon R9 Fury Pro, Intel Core i7-4790K	11890 Points ∼55% -45%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (Laptop) Eurocom Sky DLX7, Intel Core i7-6700K	9204 Points ∼43% -57%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop) MSI GT80S 6QF, Intel Core i7-6820HK	8892 Points ∼41% -59%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M DogHouse Systems Mobius SS, Intel Core i7-6700K	6986 Points ∼32% -68%

Emissions

The Nvidia Titan X is not fully convincing in terms of emissions. The radial fan, which sits at the rear part of the graphics card, should blow hot air out of the case under load. This works well enough to largely keep the Boost clock, but the noise is distracting. Nevertheless, the cooler ensures that the performance of the graphics card remains high. The almost 5 minutes long video is supposed to show how the fan behaves when idling, under maximum load and during the stress test (FurMark). All three test scenarios have been recorded with open case and at a distance of about 30 cm (~1 ft). When idling or even during Windows use, the fan rotates at approximately 1100 RPM (26%). Thereby, the card reaches a temperature of 38 °C (~100 °F) and the fan is not audible. When the rotation speed is manually set to 100%, which conforms to 4800 RPM, the Titan X is quite clearly audible and silent working is not possible even when the case is closed. During the stress test, the radial fan could keep the GPU temperature at a constant 86 °C (~187 °F) with a rotation speed of 68% and the card was still clearly audible.

It is a pity that Nvidia only sells the Titan X with this cooler. Partner cards or custom designs might bring other cooling units, which might not limit the performance of the GPU that quickly.

Hence, we recommend using water cooling with the Titan X. Known manufacturers offer compatible models for the Pascal based Titan X. We will explain the advantages and disadvantages here.

The emissions also include power consumption. The energy demand is about 12 watts in Windows use without load. With an unchanged power target of 100%, the Titan X requires a maximum of 254 watts. When manually changed to 120%, the energy demand is significantly higher and we record a maximum of 295 watts.

Power consumption under load (Power Target: 100%)

Power consumption under load (Power Target: 120%)

Cooling Modifications

EKWB cooler compatible for the Pascal based Titan X

We decided to use a compatible water cooler from EKWB with suitable backplate. You have to first remove the original backplate, which exposes all the screws connecting the cooler and PCB. Once you have removed these twenty screws, you can carefully take off the cooler. However, you have to be very careful: The cooling unit is also fixed to the PCB with two cables at the rear. Once you have disconnected these, you can finally remove the entire cooling unit (see pictures).

Before installing the new cooler, you have to remove all remnants of thermal grease and the thermal pads. This is easily done with a little alcohol, a dust-free cloth or a few cotton buds. The scope of delivery of the water cooler includes all suitable thermal pads in the right size. You have to put them on the right components and spread the included thermal grease on the GPU. Now, you can carefully lay the full cover water cooler on the card, which is fixed to the PCB with suitable screws. The same applies to the backplate.

First Impressions after Modifications

This modification aims to reduce the noise of the Titan X significantly. In addition, the temperature of the GPU should remain acceptable. In short, both "problems" have improved significantly after the modification. The GPU temperature hovered at about 50 °C (~122 °F) during prolonged gaming sessions (“Forza Horizon 3”) for several hours. In addition, the better cooling ensures a more constant and better boost clock of 1835 MHz. The frequency can be maintained throughout the whole load period without problems now. The temperature target of 84 °C (~183 °F) is much higher. The better values are also reflected positively in the benchmark results. In “3DMark Fire Strike Ultra”, the graphics card achieved a 300 points higher result. Since the water cooler on the graphics card does not have an active fan, the Titan X works almost silently now. You can only hear the familiar coil whining, which is also audible in the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 in certain scenarios when the 200 fps level is exceeded. You can mitigate this problem with the useful "G-Sync" feature.

3DMark Fire Strike Ultra (water cooling)

Time Spy Stress test - prior to the modification ...

Verdict

the Nvidia Titan X - the fastest consumer desktop GPU so far

We have deliberately ignored the price performance ratio since a price of 1299 Euros (~$1446), which Nvidia charges for their consumer range flagship, cannot be called reasonable at all. Nevertheless, buyers who are looking for something special and are also willing to pay for it, might consider buying it. However, an extra charge of 500 Euros (~$557) compared with the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founder's Edition is not reasonable since it bears no relation to the performance gain. In the meanwhile, there are many partner cards with the GTX 1080 chip, which bring even more performance due to factory-set overclocking.

Those who really dare to buy an Nvidia Titan X (Pascal), should consider implementing a water cooling circuit. With it, the Titan X will live longer thanks to lower waste heat.

If we judge the performance without considering the price, Nvidia offers the fastest single GPU so far with the Titan X. Only multi GPU systems consisting of two Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 are able to beat the Titan X. However, the Titan X performs better if SLI support is missing. Those who follow rumors will notice that the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti might be released in the coming months. The Internet site www.fudzilla.com mentions CES 2017 as possible release date. The technical specifications are supposed to be similar to the Titan X, but the GTX 1080 Ti will only feature 3328 CUDA cores (96 ROPs/208 TMUs). The GPU core frequency will be slightly increased compared to the Titan X (1503 MHz, Boost 1623 MHz). The price of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti will be in between the non-Ti model and the test model.

Who would be interested in this graphics card? Certainly the gamers. But those who still want to run games in FHD or WQHD in the near future might also be satisfied with the performance of Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 or Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070. Currently, the Titan X only makes sense if demanding games are supposed to run in UHD and with suitable quality settings (high/ultra preset) without stuttering.

Pricecompare

Benchmarks

3DMark - Time Spy Score 2560x1440

min: 8942 avg: 9304 median: 9303.5 (53%) max: 9665 Points

+ 2 benchmarks and specifications + Show comparison chart

3DMark - Time Spy Graphics 2560x1440

min: 9031 avg: 9333 median: 9333 (49%) max: 9635 Points

+ 2 benchmarks and specifications + Show comparison chart

3DMark - Ice Storm Unlimited Graphics Score 1280x720 offscreen

min: 238961 avg: 314042 median: 314042 (58%) max: 389123 Points

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3DMark - Ice Storm Extreme Graphics 1920x1080

min: 215098 avg: 261203 median: 261203 (36%) max: 307308 Points

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3DMark - Cloud Gate Standard Score 1280x720

min: 36851 avg: 40552 median: 40551.5 (61%) max: 44252 Points

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3DMark - Cloud Gate Standard Graphics 1280x720

min: 102781 avg: 107251 median: 107251 (55%) max: 111721 Points

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3DMark - Fire Strike Score 1920x1080

min: 19107 avg: 20848 median: 20847.5 (69%) max: 22588 Points

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3DMark - Fire Strike Graphics 1920x1080

min: 27282 avg: 27316 median: 27315.5 (63%) max: 27349 Points

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3DMark - Ice Storm Standard Graphics 1280x720

min: 226697 avg: 275706 median: 275706 (37%) max: 324714 Points

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3DMark 11 - Performance 1280x720

min: 23186 avg: 23578 median: 23577.5 (61%) max: 23969 points

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3DMark 11 - Performance GPU 1280x720

min: 27632 avg: 30758 median: 30758 (52%) max: 33884 points

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3DMark 03 - Standard 1024x768

101407 Points (53%)

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3DMark 05 - Standard 1024x768

24206 Points (46%)

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3DMark 06 Standard 1280x1024 +

Unigine Valley 1.0 - Extreme HD DirectX 1920x1080

88.5 fps (48%)

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SPECviewperf 12
Solidworks (sw-03) 1900x1060 +

Siemens NX (snx-02) 1900x1060 +

Showcase (showcase-01) 1900x1060 +

Medical (medical-01) 1900x1060 +

Maya (maya-04) 1900x1060 +

Energy (energy-01) 1900x1060 +

Creo (creo-01) 1900x1060 +

Catia (catia-04) 1900x1060 +

3ds Max (3dsmax-05) 1900x1060 +

SPECviewperf 13 Solidworks (sw-04) +

Siemens NX (snx-03) +

Showcase (showcase-02) +

Medical (medical-02) +

3ds Max (3dsmax-06) +

Cinebench R10 Shading 32Bit +

Cinebench R11.5 OpenGL 64Bit +

Cinebench R15
OpenGL 64Bit +

Ref. Match 64Bit +

Cinebench R15
CPU Single 64Bit
Asus G752VS-XB78K	160 Points ∼100% +60%
MSI GT72VR 6RD-063US	139 Points ∼87% +39%
Eurocom Panther 5D	105 Points ∼66% +5%
Nvidia Titan X (Pascal)	100 Points ∼63%
CPU Multi 64Bit
Nvidia Titan X (Pascal)	1657 Points ∼100%
Eurocom Panther 5D	1550 Points ∼94% -6%
Asus G752VS-XB78K	789 Points ∼48% -52%
MSI GT72VR 6RD-063US	669 Points ∼40% -60%

Cinebench R11.5
CPU Single 64Bit
Asus G752VS-XB78K	1.77 Points ∼100% +57%
MSI GT72VR 6RD-063US	1.59 Points ∼90% +41%
Eurocom Panther 5D	1.25 Points ∼71% +11%
Nvidia Titan X (Pascal)	1.13 Points ∼64%
CPU Multi 64Bit
Nvidia Titan X (Pascal)	17.65 Points ∼100%
Eurocom Panther 5D	17.6 Points ∼100% 0%
Core i7-3960x, Radeon HD 6450	10.54 Points ∼60% -40%
Asus G752VS-XB78K	8.63 Points ∼49% -51%
MSI GT72VR 6RD-063US	7.4 Points ∼42% -58%

Cinebench R10
Rendering Multiple CPUs 64Bit
Nvidia Titan X (Pascal)	40835 Points ∼100%
Core i7-3960x, Radeon HD 6450	32120 Points ∼79% -21%
Asus G752VS-XB78K	30656 Points ∼75% -25%
Rendering Single CPUs 64Bit
Asus G752VS-XB78K	7881 Points ∼100% +13%
Nvidia Titan X (Pascal)	6962 Points ∼88%
Core i7-3960x, Radeon HD 6450	6305 Points ∼80% -9%

Model	CPU	Memory	Core / Memory	GPU Memory	Value
Nvidia Titan X (Pascal)	E5-2680 v4	65536 MB	1418 / 5005 MHz	12288MB GDDR5X 372.70	8942
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal	TR 1950X	65536 MB	1418 / 5005 MHz	12288MB GDDR5X 372.70	9665

Model	CPU	Memory	Core / Memory	GPU Memory	Value
Nvidia Titan X (Pascal)	E5-2680 v4	65536 MB	1418 / 5005 MHz	12288MB GDDR5X 372.70	9031
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal	TR 1950X	65536 MB	1418 / 5005 MHz	12288MB GDDR5X 372.70	9635