The monstrous Nvidia GTX Titan Z

With 4K display technology just beginning to make its first steps into mainstream homes, few would have anticipated the bombshell that Nvidia dropped on Tuesday afternoon. During their annual “Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) Technology Conference in California, Nvidia broke the news on their new graphics card dubbed the “GTX Titan Z”. This dual GPU metal powerhouse boasts multi-monitor 5K video support (4800 x 2700), and has been referred to as a “supercomputer you can fit under your desk”. It packs two Kepler GPUs with 12GB of on-board V-RAM coupled with 5,760 CUDA cores, resulting in a earth-trembling 9 teraflops of raw computing power.

Whilst the above specs of the Titan Z suggest it would be better placed inside the Starship Enterprise, NVIDIA Ceo Jen Hsung-Huang insits it is targeted at true pc-gaming enthusiasts. A statement by Nvidia in their press release explains just this:

“Unlike traditional dual-GPU cards, Titan Z’s twin GPUs are tuned to run at the same clock speed, and with dynamic power balancing. So neither GPU creates a performance bottleneck. And that performance is delivered in a card that is cool and quiet, rather than hot and loud. Low-profile components and ducted base plate channels minimize turbulence and improves acoustic quality.”

Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsung Huang displaying the GTX GeForce Titan Z at launch

This being said, the Titan Z won’t be exclusively aimed at pc gamers who are crazy about home gaming, but it will also be marketed as a supercomputing card that professionals will want as well.  A single server with three GTX Titan Z GPUs could run the entire workload of Google’s current £3 million deep learning research project named “Google Brain”. Furthermore, according to Nvidia, the Titan Z server would only require 2 kilowatts of power to equal the performance of Google Brain, which in turn would need 600 kilowatts just to keep up.

However, despite the fact that the Titan Z appears to be the holy grail for most pc enthusiasts , it wouldn’t be wise to purchase one just yet.  Nvidia’s new flagship GPU will set you back an eye-watering £1800 when it finally launches in April. With a price tag that seems to exceed NASA’s entire spending budget – let alone the average gaming pc, Nvidia appear to have limited the Titan Z to a very select few. Nevertheless, consumers may wish to wait until prices drop later this year following AMD’s release of their new line of GPU’s in the upcoming months. Thus, inevitably sparking the annual price-war, leaving the two top-dogs of the industry to battle it out over who’s king.