NVIDIA Could Release HBM2-equipped TITAN X Successor In April

2016 is shaping up to be an exciting year for graphics cards. Both AMD and NVIDIA are expected to launch cards that sport dramatically improved or overhauled architectures, with both set to utilize HBM2 memory for their higher-end parts. By this summer, even the mainstream segment could be treated to something special: GDDR5X-equipped cards.

Nonetheless, both AMD and NVIDIA have big challenges ahead of them to get their respective products released in good time. That “time” for the green team could be sooner than most of us thought if the results of TweakTown‘s sleuthing proves true.

The bulk of an example Pascal graphics card, first shown off at GTC 2014

It’s being said that NVIDIA could launch the successor to its mammoth GeForce TITAN X at its forthcoming GPU Technology Conference, which takes place in early April. You might remember that NVIDIA chose its last GTC to launch its top-end TITAN X. Before that, the TITAN Z was revealed. Unless NVIDIA wants to create a dual-GPU card, there does seem to be some credence to this rumor – unless of course the company runs into some show-stopping issues between now and then.

If NVIDIA’s promises are even partially lived up to, the “TITAN X 2” could be a true monster, one that might even make top-end enthusiasts not require SLI. At last spring’s GTC, we learned that the upcoming Pascal cards will deliver outstanding double-precision performance (half of single-precision), 3x the memory bandwidth and density, as well as NVLink, NVIDIA’s super-fast multi-GPU interconnect that’s 12x beefier than PCIe.

If this rumor does prove true, we can’t help but wonder how far out AMD will be with Polaris. Whereas NVIDIA launched Maxwell in the fall of 2014, AMD only launched its first-gen HBM cards last summer. Given that, it might take quite a bit longer to turn around and churn out a second iteration, which is something that’s sure to drive the company’s execs bonkers if NVIDIA’s Pascal lives up to the hype.