Graphics Cards Asus NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z: Features Overview

A video card worth about 100 thousand rubles attracts the attention of all buyers in the computer market, however, not every user can afford to purchase the flagship of the NVIDIA line based on the GeForce GTX TITAN Z graphics core. In this article, the reader will get acquainted with the famous chip closer, see an overview of the characteristics and potential in working with 3D-graphics. Overview of the technical characteristics of the novelty will be produced as an example on the product of the famous Taiwanese manufacturer - the company Asus.

Positioning the product on the world market

Initially, the manufacturer of the video card NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z product was positioned in the market as a powerful professional video accelerator for performing complex tasks for processing video at high resolutions, as well as for working with graphics applications for processing 3D images. There were no speeches about any games, there is no place for entertainment in the professional segment.

However, it seemed to Russian distributors that the domestic gaming market simply must get acquainted with the masterpiece from NVIDIA. So in the shop windows there appeared video cards based on the GTX TITAN Z chip, the cost of which was explained rather prosaically: the best quality can not be cheap. Abundant advertising in the media has done its job - there were many buyers who decided to purchase the "King of video cards."

Technical characteristics of the chip

In the production of the video adapter, an architecture based on two physically separate GK110 cores is used, respectively, all parameters will certainly remind the owner of the GeForce GTX TITAN Z the characteristics of the previous generation GTX TITAN 6 Gb video accelerator:

• The frequency of each graphics core is 705 MHz (in the mode of Boost 876 MHz);
• The number of universal conveyors 5760 pieces, textural blocks 480 pieces, and blocks of rasterization of 96 pieces;
• Modern memory GDDR5 has a capacity of 12 GB (2x6), runs at a frequency of 7000 MHz and uses a 768-bit bus (384x2);
• The graphic core is built according to the technological process of 28 nanometers and has 14,200 million transistors (7100 × 2);
• The maximum power consumption of the video adapter in Boost mode is 390 Watts (195x2).

Comparing the basic characteristics of a single-core device with its dual-core follower, many potential buyers are wondering if there is any sense in buying the GTX TITAN Z, since the flagship's cost by logic should be twice as large, and not 5-6 times.

Opportunities for working with 3D graphics

The large functionality of NVIDIA's proprietary technologies contributes to the fact that the GeForce GTX TITAN Z video accelerator appealed to all fans of resource-intensive dynamic games. As practice shows, most of the applied technologies for professional processing of 3D-graphics are implemented in game solutions.

1. Smoothing FXAA and TXAA. Smooth line drawing and smoothing of textures with frequent changes of frames, as well as post-processing of high-definition images, are also in demand in gaming applications. However, many users do not know that by default this functionality is disabled in the video adapter, and it needs to be activated using the NVIDIA control panel.
2. Software environment CUDA. Drawing the performance of a dynamic application recently helps the graphics chip. With a graphics card on the GTX TITAN Z core, you do not have to worry that the CPU power for the game is not enough. Thanks to CUDA technology, the system will independently produce a balance of power.
3. Engine PhysX. Simulation of physical movements in 3D applications has found its application in dynamic games. Along with DirectX 12 support, the owner will get the most realistic picture in the game.

Concern of the manufacturer NVIDIA

The video adapter based on the GeForce GTX TITAN Z chip, reviewed in this article, has a number of power system requirements in its specification. And, as many owners note in their reviews, the claimed specification is not unfounded. It is about the power unit's power and its technical characteristics.

First of all, the user should count on the fact that for the operation of the video card the power system will have a reserve of 400 watts. Accordingly, if you take into account that the system will use the most powerful processor, large memory and several hard drives, the power supply should have a power of at least 850 watts (or 700 watts according to the GOLD standard). It should be noted that for a full-fledged operation of the video card, the power supply unit must have two 8-pin dedicated lines of 12 volts with a rated current of 42 amperes. Ignoring the manufacturer's specification can lead to the failure of an expensive video adapter (a power failure violates the warranty).

Introduction to the flagship

You can not buy a reference device in NVIDIA's factory version to an ordinary user (even a distributor of the company can not provide the original video adapter). Therefore, acquaintance will occur with the leader of sales in the domestic market. The video card Asus GeForce GTX TITAN Z, according to the sellers and owners of this product, ranks first in sales among similar products of competitors.

A famous Taiwanese manufacturer, apparently, is so accepted: to deliver their products in a conventional box of cardboard with a minimal bundle. Not only that, in addition to the device itself, drivers and installation instructions, there is nothing else in the packaging, so the manufacturer did not deign to stick the Asus logo on the video card's case. Many owners believe that the well-known manufacturer simply packed the reference device in a box without any modifications and introduced the product on the world market.

Features of the Asus GeForce GTX TITAN Z PCB

In fact, placing on one printed circuit board the elements that used to be placed on two video cards are not so easy as it seems. Here the manufacturer had to slightly refine and improve the power supply system and the placement of important elements for the operation of the adapter:

• All electrolytic capacitors have been replaced by more expensive, ceramic storage (and they are soldered on both sides of the PCB);
• The power system has two blocks of 5 phases (each unit is controlled by a separate controller);
• 48 Hynix memory chips are soldered around the graphics cores on both sides of the PCB (with this cost of the video card the manufacturer could install more resource-intensive modules).

The cooling system of the flagship of the NVIDIA line

The video card from Asus company based on the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z chip claims to occupy three full-length slots in the case. This volume is due to the increased size of the cooling system. As expected, the manufacturer provided each graphics core with its own aluminum radiator, which are connected by a thin plate (although, according to users, copper tubes would have been much more efficient than previous products of Asus).

Between the radiators and the printed circuit board , an aluminum plate is installed, which has a plurality of heat-conducting liners placed opposite all the memory chips. By the way, the same plate is also provided for the base of the printed circuit board (both plates are attached on both sides of the video card and are tightened with special screws). A powerful cooling fan is located between the evaporation radiator chambers. It works on the principle of a turbine, blowing air around the entire perimeter of the board, from the back of the video card, drawing hot air through the grating.

Testing in games graphics accelerator Asus

For many potential buyers on the video adapter based on the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z chip, the review is not so important as performance in dynamic games. Moreover, synthetic tests have long been of no interest to many players who want to see the flagship's potential in real conditions. As an alternative to the price-performance criterion, the flagship of the AMD line, the Radeon R9 295X2 accelerator, is quite suitable for this video adapter.

Quite a strange feature is observed in many gaming applications when setting the maximum screen resolution (256x1440 dots per inch). At high settings in the Sniper Elite V2, Sleeping Dogs, Crysis 3, Tomb Raider (2013) games, AMD is able to hold the leading positions with a separation of 20-30 FPS. But in the applications Crysis 3 and Metro Last Light the championship in the same 20-30 FPS passes to the flagship NVIDIA. In general, the impressions of testing games on the maximum settings are only positive. You just need to see this, because the realism of the picture can not be described in this article.

Potential for overclocking

The idea to disperse the flagship on the GeForce GTX TITAN Z chip sounds somehow absurd, because in logic one has to make a comparison with something more powerful, otherwise the meaning of the action itself is lost. And still, if we are talking about the potential and the percentage of growth in synthetic tests, we can safely say that the video card is accelerating. However, at the same time, the power consumption, heat dissipation and fan noise increase dramatically. And if you can cope with the power consumption by installing a powerful power supply, you need to look for a decent cooling system for efficient heat removal, since the standard cooler can not cope with the work (when heated to 100 degrees Celsius, the driver of the video card ejects the BSOD error and reboots the computer).

Finally

Overview of the characteristics of a remarkable device based on the GeForce GTX TITAN Z clearly leads to the thought that this is the most powerful video card in the world, which is able to cope with any existing load in both gaming and graphics applications. However, on this her dignity ends. Very high cost, even in the secondary market, discourages many potential buyers from the video adapter. Logically, two graphics cards in the SLI mode on the graphics core GTX 690 are able to show almost identical performance in overclocking, but the purchase on the secondary market will cost the user 10-15 times cheaper. Conclusion one - this video adapter is still recommended for the direct purpose of the manufacturer NVIDIA - in working with three-dimensional graphics and video files at high resolutions, rather than spend a fortune on meeting the needs for dynamic toys.