The “TI” abbreviation in the names of various GPUs you may have seen refers to titanium. It does not have titanium, but TI stands to signify superior GPU models.
Now, that is more than a simple abbreviation – you want to know if this means that a TI variant of any graphics card is better: the answer is yes, it is. The latest TI GPU is also more expensive. Think of TI versions as a super GPU tier of the original card. For example, the 3080 TI is leaps and bounds better than the normal TI and more than the non-TI counterparts. It has newer, shiny specs – such as 1536 more Cuda Cores.
You may have also seen other names, such as 2060 Super. This is also an NVIDIA GPU variant – it is not as good as the TI version. It is marginally slower than a 2080 TI while having just 8GB of VRAM vs. the 2080 Tis 11GB of VRAM. In layman’s terms, the more ram, the better performance.
Are TI GPUs worth the money?
These graphics cards are a lot more expensive, though. However, those who can afford it will find that the investment is worth every dollar. Not only for the fact that you’ll be getting extra performance – almost the best performance available in the market – you will also make a purchase that has longevity. You can still keep using these TI cards even when the next model comes out.
For many gamers, always upgrading whenever new PC gaming technology gets developed isn’t feasible, affordable, or realistic. However, an NVIDIA TI GPU is strong enough and a very powerful version of the non-TI cards, so it can last you even after the next super variant is released. Now you know they are better performing – but by how much?
You might have read the term “Cuda Core” in this article. If you didn’t know its significance, you’d get it now.
What sets the “Cuda Core” NVIDIA Graphics Cards Apart?
Basically, without getting into the technical side of it – more Cuda Cores means a better GPU. For those who are a little into specs, Cuda Cores work as parallel processors. They are responsible for processing every last bit of data in and out of your GPU.
Cuda Core Graphics Card Compared to a non-TI NVIDIA GPU.
Cuda Cores also help improve graphics a fair bit. Your games will notice better shading, environments, textures, lighting, and shadows. The NVIDIA Cuda Core technology provides technical improvement and support to your PC to handle graphically demanding tasks a lot better without impacting performance.
While Cuda Cores are not specifically used for gaming, they provide benefits to your overall gaming experience. That isn’t a bad thing, and it just means this technology will help in more ways than one.
Overall, if you have the budget for it, getting a TI version of your NVIDIA GPUs is a no-brainer. It does not just make your gaming experience better, and it makes your entire PC more powerful. Animation, photoshopping, videography, any graphically demanding task will go smoother with these cards. In general, the processing speeds of your PC will see noticeable improvements when a TI version of NVIDIA graphics cards is installed.
However, they are quite costly. The 3080 TI NVIDIA cards start at $1199. You can build a whole PC in that or purchase a next-gen gaming console. For some people, the improvements are not worth the money. Some TI variants do not have that much of an edge over their counterparts, making purchasing them hard to justify.