INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
When it comes to the best graphics cards, Nvidia’s varied selection of titanic GPUs is matched by none
From the wickedly powerful, 4K graphics-pumping GeForce GTX 1080 Ti to the entry-level GTX 1050 – and everything in between – Nvidia
remains the crown ruler of the GPU world.However, because gamers always demand the highest levels of graphical ability and tech companies
and researchers both require greater AI functionality and GPU computation, the best graphics card constantly need to become better
This is why Nvidia is hard at work developing Nvidia Volta – the next-generation architecture for professionals.Nvidia actually has
released two Volta cards already, back in 2017, but they were prohibitively expensive – as they were aimed at data scientists and
professional artists – so, don’t expect to see them in the best gaming PCs any time soon
Still, we’re extremely eager to see what the next GeForce GTX cards will be, considering the massive performance leap we’re
expecting.However, if we were you, we wouldn’t expect to see Volta-powered GTX cards, as the architecture seems to be built entirely
around AI and research use-cases
And, if leaked information about a GTX 1180 is to be believed, Turing is the architecture that will be behind the GeForce GTX 11 series
cards. Eager for an upgrade Here's everything that we've heard so far.Cut to the chaseWhat is it Nvidia's next-gen, 12nm GPU lineWhen is it
out The Tesla V100 and Titan V are out now, but GeForce cards are TBDWhat will it cost TBDNvidia Volta release dateAs mentioned, Nvidia's
Volta architecture is already on the market, albeit not in any form that you're likely to slide into your gaming PC
The Tesla V100 was first out the gate in May 2017, as a professional-level GPU built to empower artificial intelligence applications and
It's not a consumer-level device by any stretch of the imagination.On the other hand, the Nvidia Titan V – released in December 2017 –
is considered a consumer device, but you might scoff at the $2,999 (about £2149, AU$3800) price point
The Titan V is targeted towards researchers and other high-performance computing needs rather than making PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds look
pretty.But if you are looking for a new graphics card, will you be able to buy a fresh, top-of-the-line GeForce GTX 1180 soon Honestly,
The GTX 10-series line was announced back in May 2016 and began rolling out that month, so we're nearing the two-year mark since Nvidia's
Pascal-powered cards first released
But they're still selling like crazy, especially with the current cryptocurrency craze leading to gouged prices and scarce
availability.Furthermore, Nvidia head Jensen Huang suggested last August that it's still too costly to produce consumer-level gaming
graphics cards at reasonable prices
Given that we didn't see any GeForce announcements at CES 2018 in January, and since the Titan V just recently rolled out at that
eye-popping price, it seems entirely possible that Nvidia isn't going to rush out Volta-powered gaming GPUs anytime soon.We expect to see
them in 2018, but our original expectation of a spring debut doesn't seem terribly firm, and there aren't enough solid rumors or leaks to
Nvidia Volta priceWithout a roadmap for releases, we can't say for sure what to expect from pricing for Volta-powered GeForce GTX graphics
The Titan V's pumped-up pricing shouldn't scare you, as the card was never intended for gamers
On the other hand, if Volta-powered GPUs were still too pricey to produce for graphics cards a few months ago, how long will it take until
they hit a point where Nvidia deems them worth sellingUntil then, we can look back at the base price points for the current 10-series line,
although you might find much higher prices due to the cryptocurrency boom.We'll have to wait and see whether Nvidia releases a similar range
of Volta-based cards, as well as whether they'll see any significant price increase from the 10-series starting points. Given that the
prices of Nvidia Pascal graphics cards came at a slightly higher premium – coinciding with the increased performance – over the Maxwell
cards they replaced, we can imagine that these 11-series parts could be more expensive.Nvidia Volta specsVolta introduces a new 12-nanometer
manufacturing process, which marks a significant step up from the 16nm process seen with the Pascal GPUs. What exactly does that
mean Well, it means that Nvidia's manufacturing partner TSMC can jam a whole lot more transistors into a comparable amount of space, thus
yielding a massive surge in computing ability
You'll get better performance, not to mention significant power savings.The Titan V packs in 21.1 billion transistors, which collectively
provide a stunning 110 teraflops of computing power
New tensor cores are designed to speed up deep learning ability, with nine times more peak computing teraflops over the previous Titan Xp
And it's twice as energy-efficient too.Additionally, the Titan V has six graphics processing clusters with 5,120 CUDA cores (up from 3,840
in the Titan Xp) and 320 texture units, and a base clock of 1200MHz that can boost up to 1455MHz
With 12GB HBM2 memory onboard, the Titan V boasts a memory bandwidth of 652.8GB/sec. The last bit on the specs side is surprising from
Nvidia, whom just the last year championed the enhanced speed of GDDR5X memory on its high-end GPUs. The Nvidia Titan V is the first
mainline card to feature high-bandwidth memory outside of the company’s Quadro and Tesla parts
Whether this means HBM2 will be a mainstay of Volta remains to be seen.All told, it's a potentially enormous upgrade over the last
generation of Nvidia cards.But let's step back for a moment, because all we can do right now is compare a $2,999 graphics card to the $1,200
card that came before it—and neither of those figures gives us a whole lot of insight into what we'll actually see from the cheaper
GeForce cards that ultimately come our way
We'll likely get scaled-down versions of the Nvidia Titan V at lower prices, so they may not hit the same kinds of peaks as their progenitor
is capable of.Even so, however, the promise of dramatically increased performance on the top end suggests that we'll see similar kinds of
improvements at the more approachable price points
And if so, then the GTX 11-series really should provide dramatic boosts in graphical output
On the high end, we should get 4K gaming nearer to the sweet spot of 60 frames per second, while cheaper versions should be more capable of
smooth VR performance and strongly support resolutions in excess of 1080p.Until Nvidia releases a roadmap for its GeForce GTX offerings and
hints at what form those cards will take, we're still spit-balling for now. But based on these initial pro-level renditions, Volta seems
capable of so much more than the previous Pascal-powered GPUs – and even if those are plenty powerful today, Volta appears poised to
elevate PC gaming to previously unseen levels
We'll keep you updated as further details or leaks emerge.tZskCJue9eXe7NYkN87kh.jpg#
