August 2, 2016 Nvidia released their top of the line video card the Titan-X. There is a previous generation Titan-X. To distinguish between the previous gen and the current generation we have to include the architecture descriptor; Maxwell (previous) or Pascal (new).
How much faster is this Titan-X Pascal than the previous one? Almost twice as fast.
You can see the card is about 30% faster than the GTX1080.
The Titan-X is the fastest card on the market right now. As I write this the card has been out 13 days. Google in general is still showing the GTX1080 has the fastest card. The Net hasn’t caught up with events.
The PassMark video card benchmark results are here: High End Videocard Benchmarks. These results are supplied by users and while no many have a Titan-X Pascal to run, there are some results.
So, is this a good card for Second Life? Well, yes and no. Provided the rest of the computer can support the card then there is no better card. At least for now. PassMark, a bench marking site, is showing the best performance per dollar is still the GTX950 (US$130). I think that is out of date.
eBay has NEW… I repeat, NEW… GTX 950’s for as low as $88 (that is closing-sold price). So, that might make it true. The 950 and 1060 compete for best performance per dollar but, only if you ignore VR and future proofing.
NowInStock is showing the Titan-X Pascal out of stock everywhere and only the Nvidia store is listed as a source. The MSRP is $1,200. eBay peeps are selling in hand Titan-X Pascal cards ship today for $1,700.
NowInStock is showing the GTX 1080 as in stock in a few places and generally selling for >$700. On eBay prices range from $690 to $1,900.
NowInStock shows the GTX 1070 and 1060 as being more commonly in stock these days and selling for >$400 and >$260 respectively. The 1060 is selling on eBay for $250 to $600 for a ROG Strix version, which is what I have but, I bought it from Newegg for <$350 with shipping.
The Titan-X is >170% the cost of a 1080 and provides 130% of the performance. So, it is by no means the best buy for your dollar. So, while it will run SL well, there is no one bragging about their Titan-X Pascal in the SL Forum… yet. At least I didn’t find anyone.
I’m building a mid-range gaming/work machine. I want Blender and Adobe performance as well as SL performance while looking toward Sansar and Obduction (Obduction is supposed to make it out this month – multiple postponements) . So, I think the GTX 1060 (at 9,464 PassMark) is the best choice. The 1080 (at 12,684) provides 134% of the 1060 performance at at 269% of the cost. The 1070 (at 11,647) provides 123% of the 1060 performance at 159% of the cost.
The cost of mid-range video cards is coming down. The Nvidia 10 series cards are priced way lower than previous generations. We are just starting to the the 9 series card prices starting to drop on eBay. Another couple of months and the 970 and 980 cards will be a deal. If you aren’t interested in supporting a VR headset, I don’t see much reason to spend more on a 10 series card.