What Does “Ti” Mean in a GPU? | Is the Upgrade Worth it?

When you see a graphics card with the word “Ti” in it, that means that it’s a model of GPU that’s been improved upon. Today we are gonna talk in-depth about the “Ti” acronym which can be seen in Nvidia Graphics Cards.

The first card to get a superior version was the GeForce 2 Ti which was introduced way back in October of 2001. However, the modern era of Ti GPUs started with the 500 series. Let’s dive into the details!

Key Takeaways

  • “Ti” stands for Titanium and is used in the Nvidia GPU series to indicate that the video card is better than its predecessor. They do not contain actual titanium, they contain tungsten which can withstand higher temperatures.
  • Ti graphics cards tend to use more power and are more expensive, but they offer better performance and reliability. They achieve that by having extra memory, more Shader(CUDA) cores, and a performance increase of about 10%.
  • The “SUPER” version may be a better value-for-money deal.

What does “Ti” mean in a GPU?

The acronym “Ti” means Titanium and it can be seen in the Nvidia GPU Series. It’s made for marketing purposes to show that the “Ti” video card is superior and more powerful than its predecessor in most aspects.

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Well-known examples of such cards are the RTX 3070 Ti and RTX 3080Ti.

Are Ti graphics cards worth buying?

Because they’re designed to have better performance, they tend to use more power than other kinds of GPUs. This can make them more expensive than others—but if you’re looking for performance and reliability, they may be worth it.

Some Ti video cards are worth buying while other models… not so much. This highly depends on the quality that they offer and their pricing. A good example is the RTX 3080Ti which costs almost double the price tag of its non-Ti version.

Is a “Ti” GPU made of Titanium?

While it’s true that the prefix “Ti” is commonly used for titanium in other contexts, such as when describing the metal’s chemical symbol, such graphics cards are obviously not infused with actual Titanium.

In fact, Ti GPUs and graphics cards, in general, contain a material called tungsten. Tungsten has a higher melting point than titanium, which means that it can withstand higher temperatures without being damaged by heat.

This makes it ideal for use in devices like GPUs which are often subjected to high temperatures.

What performance increase do “Ti” GPUs offer?

Ti GPUs offer better performance by having extra memory, more Shader(CUDA) cores, etc… For instance, the extremely powerful RTX 3080Ti offers 12GB of VRAM and 10240 CUDA cores compared to the 10GB and 8704 of the RTX 3080.

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At the moment, the best performance increase you can get from a Ti GPU is about 10%. It’s significant to know that not every Ti card offers the same improvements, though. Some cards like the 3070 Ti are not that much better than their standard version.

Below you can see the differences between some of the most recent Ti GPUs versus their non-Ti versions:

SpecsGTX 1080GTX 1080Ti
CUDA Cores25603584
Boost Clock1.73 GHz1.58 GHz
Base Clock1.6 GHz1.48 GHz
VRAM8GB GDDR511GB GDDR5
Memory Interface256-bit352-bit
Power Consumption180W250W
The differences between GTX 1080 and 1080Ti
SpecsRTX 2080RTX 2080Ti
CUDA Cores29444352
Boost Clock1.8 GHz1.64 GHz
Base Clock1.52 GHz1.35 GHz
VRAM8GB GDDR611GB GDDR6
Memory Interface256-bit352-bit
Power Consumption215W250W
The differences between RTX 2080 and 2080Ti
SpecsRTX 3070RTX 3070Ti
CUDA Cores58886144
Boost Clock1.725 GHz1.77 GHz
Base Clock1.5 GHz1.575 GHz
VRAM8GB GDDR68GB GDDR6X
Memory Interface256-bit256-bit
Power Consumption220W290W
The differences between RTX 3070 and 3070Ti
SpecsRTX 3080RTX 3080Ti
CUDA Cores870410240
Boost Clock1.71 GHz1.67 GHz
Base Clock1.44 GHz1.37 GHz
VRAM10GB GDDR612GB GDDR6X
Memory Interface320-bit384-bit
Power Consumption320W350W
The differences between RTX 3080 and 3080Ti

Is Ti or SUPER version better?

Performance-wise, the “Ti” version is a cut above the “SUPER” variant. For instance, an RTX 2080 SUPER has 8GB of VRAM instead of the 2080 Ti’s 11GB, making it somewhat slower than the latter.

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Alongside the RTX 2080, the GeForce GTX 1660 is the only GPU available that comes in all three variations. And just like the former, it follows the same performance principle which goes like this: 1660 Ti > 1660 SUPER > 1660

It’s worth mentioning that the SUPER version, albeit slower than the Ti, is frequently a better value-for-money deal.

Final Thoughts

Nvidia is a smart company, and the main reason they introduced the Ti series was that they needed an “in-between” graphics card. Take the GTX 1070 and 1080 for example.

Nvidia could name the card GTX 1075 but instead, they went for GTX 1070 Ti. Now, are they worth buying? I’ll just leave that to you. If you want extra performance and you have the budget to afford it, then go ahead and make the purchase.

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Lampros Koukis
Lampros Koukis

I am Lampros, co-founder of c4re.gr. I am passionate about gaming, technology, and computers. I have been involved in that industry for about 15 years. I have been a tech writer for the last 5 years so I am bringing to you guys the expertise and knowledge I have gathered through the years.

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