NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 & RTX 4080 PCB Detailed: AD102 GPU Pin Compatible With GA102, 24 GB GDDR6X Memory, Up To 600W TDP
The latest information regarding the PCB of next-generation NVIDIA GeForce gaming graphics cards comes from Igor’s Lab. Igor states that the upcoming GeForce RTX 3090 Ti has been one crucial learning curve for NVIDIA and its AIB partners to ready themselves for the next-gen Ada Lovelace GPU lineup featured on the GeForce RTX 40 series. That’s the reason the RTX 3090 Ti brings forward support for higher-frequency memory, higher TDP, and the first consumer card packing PCIe Gen 5 connectors. According to Igor, the Ampere GA102 and Ada Lovelace AD102 GPUs are likely to be pin-compatible which means they can be featured on similar PCB designs or ones with little modifications than to design completely brand new boards. This will allow AIBs to ease down the development process of their next-gen GeForce RTX 40 series custom models, helping them save production time & money. Besides that, the PCB blueprint that Igor has churned up based on information from his sources shows that the AD102 GPU boards for the GeForce RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 are once again going to come in a compact layout. The layout shows a 28 phase power delivery of which 24 phases have been dedicated to the GPU & PLL while the remaining 4 phases power the memory. Currently, the RTX 3090 Founders Edition & reference variant for AIBs feature 20 phases, and both are reference designs. It is likely that the custom models could feature an even higher count if the next bit is true about the power limit.
NVIDIA Ada Lovelace & Ampere GPU Comparison
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 series graphics cards equipped with the AD102 GPUs are expected to offer TDPs of up to 600W. That is at least what the current BIOS shipping to board partners is rated at so the rumors about 450-600W TDPs might be true but we haven’t yet seen the final figures. The power ratings are usually on the high side during the testing phase so those could be optimized when the cards actually launch. The cards will be outfitted with the PCIe Gen 5 connectors and will ship with a 4 x 8-Pin to 1 x 16-pin adapter to support the huge power draw. The upcoming GeForce RTX 3090 Ti itself will be shipping with a 3 x 8-Pin to 1 x 16-Pin adapter. The final part of the PCB design talks about the memory and as you can see, there are 12 solder points on the PCB and all are compatible with Micron’s GDDR6X memory. Higher-end cards might go with single-sided and dual-capacity memory since that offers the best power/temperature balance and feature up to 24 GB capacities but at higher speeds (21 Gbps+). As for the mainstream segment, we are likely to see 20 Gbps+ designs but in 8 GB and up to 16 GB flavors which can help reduce power since the power regulation will be dropped to 3 VRMs for the memory. As for cooling these monster PCBs, Intel is reportedly going to reuse their triple-slot BFGPU design while board partners are going to utilize 3.5 and even quad-slot cooling solutions weighing over 2 kg. Most AIBs might just end up utilizing AIO and Hybrid cooling designs, something that you will be seeing in the RTX 3090 Ti.
NVIDIA CUDA GPU (RUMORED) Preliminary:
The NVIDIA Ada Lovelace GPU family is expected to bring a generational jump similar to Maxwell to Pascal. It is expected to launch in the second half of 2022 but expects supply and pricing to be similar to current cards despite NVIDIA spending billions of dollars to acquire those good good TSMC 5nm wafers.
