Firstly, let's discuss the TITAN's main stumbling block - the price. £800-£1000 could buy you a lot of things, not least a very powerful PC capable of playing all the modern games at a decent resolution so why would you want to spend the same amount on a single graphics card? It would be fair to assume NVIDIA had lost their minds when they slapped such a high price tag on the GTX TITAN which by the way just seems to be increasingly daily as stock levels dwindle. £1k for a GPU, NVIDIA you have to be kidding surely?
Well clearly they are not and with many enthusiasts willing to pay for such a prestigious item, it seems NVIDIA have got the price about right. You see, NVIDIA's thinking is along the same as Bugatti's. If you want an every day motor vehicle capable of getting you to work and back - go buy a Ford. If however, you want the very best there is (and this is indeed the very best single core GPU available by a long way) then price is secondary. NVIDIA are not forcing anyone's hand to pay the price they are asking and for 99% of us we can only look on with envy. Much like we do when we see that lucky so and so who drives down the road in a Veyron.
For the 1% who can afford such luxuries then the GTX TITAN makes perfect sense. It is the ultimate sports car in the GPU world. Its outrageously fast and has sublime aesthetics. Yes, there are cheaper alternatives that work out quicker, a GTX 660Ti Boost SLI setup will beat it and cost less than half the price for example. However, if you want the best, if you want to top the benchmark charts, then budgeting goes out of the window because the GTX TITAN is the fastest single core GPU on the planet bar none.
We found it laughable that NVIDIA display a warning when unlocking the voltage control. To do so is like having Megan Fox upstairs waiting in bed while you opt to sleep on the sofa. You just don't spend that much money on a graphics card to not make full use of it and by full use we mean to overclock the hind legs off it.
The speed of the GTX TITAN astounded us and if this is a hint of what's to come with the GTX 7 series then AMD must be very worried because what NVIDIA have done here is not only push the envelope, they have moved the whole filing cabinet! So while AMD HD7970 may have the very slight advantage of the GTX680, the TITAN simply takes both of them apart - it really is that quick! Add a second card for SLI goodness and there will be very few desktop PC's in the world which have more GPU grunt. Herein lays the appeal of the GTX TITAN. You are not just buying into speed - you are also buying into exclusivity.
To summarise:
The GTX TITAN is the fastest, most elegant graphics card available. If you happen to have robbed a bank, won the lottery or got lucky with the divorce settlement then we say go buy one because for the cost of a cheap holiday in the Mediterranean, you will get longer lasting smiles and satisfaction from this chunk of NVIDIA goodness without the nasty rash.
Pros
+ Fastest single core GPU available
+ Stunning looks
+ Low-noise
+ Bragging rights
Cons
- Selling a kidney to get one
+ Fastest single core GPU available
+ Stunning looks
+ Low-noise
+ Bragging rights
Cons
- Selling a kidney to get one
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