Titan X is 50% faster than GTX 1080 at 11,520 x 2160

Introduction & Test Setup Configuration

I still remember back to when NVIDIA released the GeForce GTX Titan X, and with its 12GB of GDDR5, it was a monster. Multi-monitor setups like triple 4K with a native resolution of 11,520 x 2160 are starved of frame buffer and memory bandwidth, which is why I like to test these resolutions with new graphics cards.

We're back again with NVIDIA's new Pascal-based Titan X graphics card, which has quite the leap in virtually every way over the Maxwell-based GeForce GTX Titan X. The original Titan X was made on the 28nm FinFET process with 3072 CUDA cores and its GPU clocked at 1.08GHz while the new Titan X is made on the exciting new 16nm FinFET process with 3584 CUDA cores and the GPU clocked at 1.53GHz. This offers around 60% more performance over the original Maxwell-based Titan X, and a pretty decent 20% or so leap over the current GeForce GTX 1080.

NVIDIA's new Titan X still features 12GB of VRAM, but the company has used the faster GDDR5X standard that it used on the GeForce GTX 1080. The 12GB of GDDR5X has 10Gbps of bandwidth, and on the 384-bit memory bus, we're looking at a hefty 480GB/sec of memory bandwidth, an increase 42.8% from the 336GB/sec on the GeForce GTX Titan X. The boost comes courtesy of the increased 10Gbps bandwidth on the GDDR5X memory, compared to the 7Gbps on the Maxwell-based Titan X.

The increased 480GB/sec memory bandwidth is something I wanted to test with 11,520 x 2160, as I suspected it would provide a huge increase over the 8GB of GDDR5X on the GTX 1080, as its 256-bit memory bus is only providing the card with 320GB/sec memory bandwidth available.

If you thought 2560x1440 or even 3840x2160 was hard on a video card or two, then you'll want to see how the new Pascal-based Titan X handles 11,520 x 2160. Running three 4K monitors isn't an easy task, but with the right amount of desk space and the right hardware, man is it a blast to play on. We don't have the hardware to comfortably play games at 60FPS+ at 11,520 x 2160 - so that's what we're to see - how far away are we from ~8K @ 60FPS average on 1-2 graphics cards?

We've been doing 11,520 x 2160 testing for a while now, with one of the last ones being the 4-way AMD Radeon R9 Fury X cards in CrossFire, which didn't turn out so well. We thought we'd re-run our testing with some new games, fresh drivers, and the new GeForce GTX 1080.

How Many Pixels Are We Rendering?

11,520 x 2160 consists of three 4K monitors, with each monitor running 3840 x 2160, combining all of the resolutions together for the massive 11,520 x 2160 resolution. But just how many pixels are we rendering here, versus 1080p, 1440p, 4K, and even consoles?

Test Setup Configuration

Anthony's Video Card Test System Specifications

• Motherboard: ASUS Rampage V Extreme - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• CPU: Intel Core i7 5960X - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Cooler: Corsair H110 - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Memory: Kingston 16GB (4x4GB) HyperX Predator DDR4 3000MHz - Buy from Amazon
• Storage #1: SanDisk Extreme II 240GB - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Storage #2: Intel 730 Series 480GB - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Case: Lian Li PC-T80 Open-Air - Buy from Amazon
• Power Supply: Corsair AX1500i - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64-bit - Buy from Amazon
• Drivers: NVIDIA GeForce 369.38 and AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.7.3

Benchmarks - Synthetic

Heaven - Triple 4K (11,520 x 2160)

Heaven is an intensive GPU benchmark that really pushes your silicon to its limits. It's another favorite of ours as it has some great scaling for multi-GPU testing, and it's great for getting your GPU to 100% for power and noise testing.

In our only synthetic benchmark, NVIDIA's new Titan X absolutely demolishes the GTX 1080 and original Titan X. It beats the GeForce GTX 1080 by 51%, and by 57% against the original Titan X. If we compare the new Titan X against AMD's Radeon R9 Fury X, which is powered by HBM1 technology, but limited with its 4GB frame buffer, the Titan X is nearly twice as fast with a 90% increase over the Fury X.

DirectX 12 - Ashes of the Singularity

I was expecting a good leap in DX12 performance with Ashes of the Singularity, with the new Titan X pulling in at 34% faster than the GTX 1080. Comparing the new Titan X against the old Titan X, the Pascal-based Titan X is 78% faster, quite the leap, isn't it?

The Fury X falls far behind because of its 4GB limit, but the Titan X has no such issues thanks to its 12GB frame buffer, with a mammoth 646% increase over the Fury X. Yeah, 646%... those numbers are real.

Benchmarks - 11,520 x 2160

Far Cry Primal is a game built on the impressive Dunia Engine 2 with wide open, beautiful environments. It might look stunning, but the performance is actually quite good - but most cards will be stressed at 1440p, and especially so at 4K and beyond.

You can buy Far Cry Primal at Amazon.

We recently changed over to Metro: Last Light Redux, with developer 4A Games making the Redux version of Metro: Last Light the 'definitive' version of the game. Redux had a fresh coat of paint on the already impressive 4A Engine, and it really pushes our GPUs to their limits.

You can buy Metro: Last Light Redux at Amazon.

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is one of the most graphically intensive games we test, with Monolith using their own Lithtech engine to power the game. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.

You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor at Amazon.

Tomb Raider is still such a gorgeous game, with developer Crystal Dynamics using their own 'Foundation' engine to build Lara Croft into the new world. One of the best parts about Tomb Raider is the absolutely stellar multi-GPU scaling, so this is an important test to see how well our NVIDIA GeForce SLI and AMD Radeon CrossFire setups scale.

You can buy Tomb Raider at Amazon.

Performance Analysis & Final Thoughts

NVIDIA's new Titan X is the new champion of 11,520 x 2160

Once I started benchmarking the new Titan X, I saw that it was going to be a monster, but didn't expect this type of performance improvement over the GeForce GTX 1080 at 11,520 x 2160. But, here we are, with the new Titan X absolutely dominating the charts, with nothing else coming even remotely close to it.

Far Cry Primal - While the Titan X had an average 20% performance boost over the GTX 1080, the increase is much higher with triple 4K displays at 11,520 x 2160. If we look at Far Cry Primal, the new Titan X is capable of 23FPS which represents an increase of 35% over the GTX 1080 and 64% faster than the original Titan X. The HBM1-based Radeon R9 Fury X falls so far behind with just 7FPS, making the new Titan X a huge 228% faster than the Fury X.

Metro: Last Light Redux - Metro is pretty hardcore in normal single monitor resolutions, but at 11,520 x 2160, it's even harder on the graphics card. The new Titan X is capable of 17FPS average, compared to the 11.5FPS of the GTX 1080 which is an increase of 50%. Compared to the Fury X and its 9.5FPS average, the new Titan X is 82% faster.

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor - This is my favorite game to test at high resolutions, so I was expecting some good results from the Titan X, and I wasn't disappointed. The Pascal-based Titan X is 30% faster than the GeForce GTX 1080, and 72% faster than the original Titan X. AMD's Radeon R9 Fury X falls behind, with a 109% increase in performance for the Titan X.

Tomb Raider - Another game I love to test is Tomb Raider, with the same massive gains in performance over the rest of our high-end graphics cards on the new Titan X. Comparing the Pascal-based Titan X against the GeForce GTX 1080, we have a performance improvement of 37%. The new Titan X is 71% faster than the original Titan X, while it's also 71% faster than the HBM1-based Radeon R9 Fury X graphics card.

Final Thoughts

NVIDIA might be commanding $1200 for its latest Titan X graphics card, but when you see these performance numbers, the picture becomes clear. NVIDIA doesn't need HBM2 to reach high memory bandwidth numbers, at least not right now, with 480GB/sec being enough for today's games and today's' resolutions. 11,520 x 2160 is far from standard, and you'd never run this resolution on a single graphics card, ever.

The leap in performance over the Maxwell-based GeForce GTX Titan X is impressive in itself, as many people think the 12GB of VRAM is enough to run 11,520 x 2160 and that there shouldn't be too much of an improvement with the new Titan X. But, the 10GHz clock on the GDDR5X along with the 384-bit memory bus drives the memory bandwidth up to 480GB/sec. This is enough to provide quite a large difference in performance over the GTX 1080 and the older Titan X.

While the 20% performance increase over the GTX 1080 is great at 1080p, 1440p, and especially at 4K, the near 50% average leap in performance over the GTX 1080 at 11,520 x 2160 is simply incredible. I didn't expect this jump, at least not 50% average, but here we are. Now I need a second card to see if Titan X cards in SLI could bring us closer to 60FPS at 11,520 x 2160.