NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z is an end-of-life flagship from the GeForce 700 generation, released on 2014-05-27. It uses the GK110B chip on the Kepler architecture, manufactured by TSMC on a 28 nm process. The die contains 7,080 million transistors on a 561 mm² surface, for a transistor density of 12.6M per mm². The card features 2,880 shading units, 240 texture units, and 48 ROPs, with a launch MSRP of 2,999 USD.

Who Should Consider It

The GTX TITAN Z scores 22,006 in Geekbench Vulkan, placing it at the 65th percentile against all GPUs in the database. That means it outperforms the majority of other recorded graphics cards, though it is not near the top of the field. The nearest rival data puts this performance into context: it is 0.9% behind the RTX 2070 SUPER, 1.3% behind the RTX A400, 1.5% ahead of the RX 5700, and 2.9% ahead of the RTX A4000 Mobile. This cluster of results is separated by less than three percentage points across four products, so the TITAN Z should feel like a close peer of all of them in Vulkan workloads.

For users building a system around this card, the score suggests it belongs in the upper-mid tier for modern Vulkan-based games. It can be considered for demanding settings at mainstream resolutions, with the 6 GB GDDR5 memory and 384-bit bus making it more capable at high resolution than cards with smaller memory interfaces. It is not a reasonable option for users who need hardware-accelerated ray tracing, because the specification does not include RT cores. The card is also a large, high-power product, so it suits builders who can accommodate a triple-slot cooler and a 375 W TDP.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The GTX TITAN Z specification lists no RT cores and no tensor cores. Consequently, hardware-accelerated ray tracing features are not part of this product’s feature set. The underlying architecture is Kepler, and the supported API set is DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.175. That Vulkan version is useful for modern Vulkan renderers, but the card does not have the dedicated compute units found in later NVIDIA ray tracing designs.

The card is built for PCIe 3.0 x16 connectivity. Its display output configuration includes 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, and 1x DisplayPort 1.2. This is a legacy-oriented output set, with DVI still prominent. The HDMI 1.4a and DisplayPort 1.2 outputs limit available display features relative to newer display standards, but the four outputs provide multi-monitor flexibility.

Because the architecture is Kepler, the API list includes DirectX 12 (11_1). That designation indicates a feature level rather than a full next-generation feature set, which is relevant for users expecting modern DirectX 12 capabilities. OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.2.175 give the card access to current cross-platform rendering APIs, but again without ray tracing acceleration.

Power and Cooling

The GTX TITAN Z has a TDP of 375 W, making it a high-power card by any measure. The power delivery system requires 2x 8-pin power connectors, and NVIDIA’s suggested PSU rating is 750 W. Builders need to verify that their power supply has both 8-pin connectors available, along with sufficient total capacity for the rest of the system.

The cooling solution occupies a triple-slot width. Physical dimensions are 267 mm (10.5 inches) in length, 111 mm (4.4 inches) in height, and 62 mm (2.4 inches) in width. Because the card is triple-slot, it will block access to adjacent expansion slots in most cases. The 267 mm length also requires a case with enough clearance, and the 111 mm height must be checked against motherboard and case tolerances.

This is an end-of-life product, so the original cooling solution is no longer in production. Users who acquire a GTX TITAN Z through the used market should verify that the cooler is fully functional, because replacement options for a triple-slot, 375 W card are not universal. The 750 W PSU recommendation should be treated as a minimum target, not an optional suggestion.

FAQ

Q: What chip and architecture does the GTX TITAN Z use?

A: It uses the GK110B chip on the Kepler architecture, manufactured by TSMC on a 28 nm process. The die is 561 mm² and contains 7,080 million transistors.

Q: How fast is the memory subsystem?

A: The card has 6 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, with a memory clock of 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) and a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s.

Q: What are the core clocks?

A: The base clock is 705 MHz and the boost clock is 876 MHz.

Q: Does the GTX TITAN Z support hardware ray tracing?

A: No. The specification lists no RT cores and no tensor cores. The supported APIs are DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.175.

Q: How does the GTX TITAN Z compare to its nearest rivals in Vulkan?

A: Its Geekbench Vulkan score is 22,006. It is 0.9% behind the RTX 2070 SUPER, 1.3% behind the RTX A400, 1.5% ahead of the RX 5700, and 2.9% ahead of the RTX A4000 Mobile.

Q: What display outputs does the card provide?

A: It provides 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, and 1x DisplayPort 1.2.

Benchmark Performance

The only benchmark recorded for the GTX TITAN Z is Geekbench Vulkan, where it produced a score of 22,006. The average benchmark score is also 22,006, reflecting the same single result. Against all GPUs in the database, this places the card at the 65th percentile.

The nearest rival comparison is tightly packed. The RTX 2070 SUPER has an average score of 22,206, representing a 0.9% advantage over the TITAN Z. The RTX A400 has an average score of 22,307, putting it 1.3% ahead. On the other side, the RX 5700 scores 21,670, which is 1.5% behind the TITAN Z, and the RTX A4000 Mobile scores 21,379, which is 2.9% behind. These deltas are small enough that the TITAN Z and its closest rivals occupy essentially the same Vulkan performance band.

The compute resources behind this score include 2,880 shading units, 240 texture units, and 48 ROPs. The card’s peak FP32 throughput is 5.046 TFLOPS. Pixel fill is 52.56 GPixel/s, and texture fill is 210.2 GTexel/s. These raw throughput figures are consistent with a high-end GPU of the GeForce 700 generation, and they explain why the card lands in the 65th percentile despite its age. The base clock of 705 MHz and boost clock of 876 MHz are modest by modern standards, but the wide 384-bit memory bus and high shader count compensate in many workloads.

Memory Subsystem

The GTX TITAN Z is equipped with 6 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 384-bit bus. The memory clock is 1750 MHz, which translates to 7 Gbps effective, and the resulting bandwidth is 336.0 GB/s. This is a large memory bus, and it is one of the strongest attributes of the card because it allows a substantial volume of data to move between memory and the GPU cores.

For high-resolution workloads, capacity and bandwidth are critical. The 6 GB framebuffer can hold more texture and geometry data than smaller memory configurations, while the 336.0 GB/s bandwidth reduces the likelihood that memory transfer becomes a bottleneck. The 384-bit bus width is the structural reason this bandwidth is achieved; a narrower bus would require significantly higher memory clocks to reach the same throughput.

The memory subsystem feeds the 2,880 shading units and 48 ROPs, enabling a pixel rate of 52.56 GPixel/s. This combination of wide bus, high capacity, and substantial pixel throughput makes the GTX TITAN Z best suited for workloads where large framebuffers and high-resolution textures are the primary demand. Users should still keep the 6 GB limit in mind, as modern games with very large texture sets can exceed that capacity on higher resolutions, but for the performance tier indicated by its nearest rivals, the memory subsystem is a clear strength.