Nvidia's Rumored Graphics Card Refreshes: What to Expect

October 23, 2023

Source: NVIDIA

Rumors have been circulating about Nvidia’s upcoming graphics card refreshes, specifically for their Lovelace series. The latest speculation suggests that an RTX 4080 Super with a VRAM upgrade may be in the works.

Reports from IT Home and Benchlife

{Nvidia unveils monstrous A100 AI chip with 54 billion transistors ...}

Source: VentureBeat

According to IT Home, a Chinese tech site, there have been recent leaks and reports hinting at three new graphics card refreshes from Nvidia. These include the RTX 4080 Super and two variations of the RTX 4070.

Benchlife, another Chinese site, reached out to Nvidia’s graphics card manufacturing partners in Asia to confirm these rumors. While specific details are still unknown, it has been confirmed that three new Lovelace models are in development.

Possibility of an RTX 4080 Super with 20GB VRAM

{GeForce RTX Founders Edition Graphics Cards: Cool and Quiet, and ...}

Source: NVIDIA

One interesting tidbit that emerged from these rumors is that the new version of the RTX 4080, possibly the Super variant, will feature an upgrade in video memory from 16GB to 20GB of GDDR6X VRAM.

Implications of the VRAM Upgrade

{NVIDIA 900-52401-0020-000 GRID K1 16GB Graphics Card}

Source: Amazon

Upgrading the video RAM to 20GB would require a heftier memory bus, necessitating an upgrade from the current 256-bit to a 320-bit bus. This would likely involve using the AD102 GPU, which is the engine behind the RTX 4090.

However, there are doubts about whether Nvidia would switch to the AD102 chip for the RTX 4080 Super. Some suggest that it may be possible to utilize the full capacity of the AD103 chip, which powers the vanilla RTX 4080, while still achieving an upgrade in VRAM. This could be achieved by optimizing the CUDA Core count.

Speculation and Future Releases

Source: ZDNet

At this point, it is important to approach all these rumors with skepticism, as nothing is confirmed until Nvidia makes an official announcement. However, the idea of Nvidia releasing multiple refreshed graphics cards, possibly including the RTX 4080 Super, is gaining traction.

If these rumors hold true, we may see the release of the RTX 4080 Super (or a possible Ti version) in early 2024. Until then, gamers and technology enthusiasts will eagerly await any further leaks or announcements from Nvidia.