With the RTX 3090 Ti graphics card, Nvidia squeezed the last bit of performance it could from the Ampere architecture by raising the power limit to 450 watts. Independent testing has also revealed the card is surprisingly efficient when the power limit is set to a more sane 300 watts. The next-generation Ada Lovelace architecture is still shrouded in mystery, but that hasn’t stopped the rumor mill from turning hints about what to expect. According to notorious Twitter leaker @kopite7kimi, Nvidia could be preparing a monster GPU that will dwarf the RTX 3090 Ti in many aspects. Specifically, the company is said to be testing a full-fat AD102 GPU with a TGP of no less than 900 watts, higher clock speeds, and 48 gigabytes of GDDR6X memory. The test board reportedly comes with two PCIe 5.0 16-pin power connectors as opposed to the RTX 3090 Ti which comes with a single connector.
This could be the first Nvidia Titan product in years or simply an indication that transient loads and power spikes on engineering samples are too high to handle with just one 16-pin power connector. Leaked layouts for reference RTX 4000 series boards only include one of these, and are otherwise very similar to Ampere reference designs. The worst-case scenario is one where the ridiculous April Fools concept from a year ago will materialize into an actual product. Kopite7kimi says the rest of the RTX 4000 series line-up will have similar TGP ratings to their Ampere predecessors. But more importantly, the RTX 4080 could come with 16 gigabytes of GDDR6X memory while the RTX 4070 will sport 12 gigabytes of GDDR6. These are only preliminary specs and thus subject to changes down the line, but it would be a welcome improvement over the RTX 3000 series. The GeForce RTX 4000 series lineup is expected to break cover this fall and could be the first Nvidia GPUs that are designed with the help of AI. In the meantime, PSU manufacturers are getting ready for this new generation of power-hungry graphics cards. The only model we’ve seen in stock so far is the Gigabyte GP-UD1000GM at Newegg, with a price tag of $189.99.
