Nvidia's RTX 4080 is supposed to get a new twist on the GPU that could bring cost down, but any cost reduction is likely going to be tiny, unfortunately, if it happens at all.
Tom's Hardware (opens in a new tab) flagged this rumour, and treats it with a grain of salt, as with anything from the ever-changing factory, which was produced at HKEPC (opens in a new tab) (a tech place in Hong Kong City), stating that while the current RTX 4080 graphics card is based on the AD103-103 chip, Nvidia will be using a slightly different GPU in the future, namely the ADXNUMX-XNUMX.
There is now more evidence that this actually happens, Tom points out, thanks to a graphics card manufacturer, Galax, which lists the GPU as "AD4080-103/300" in its RTX 301 product details.
Additionally, VideoCardz (opens in a new tab), which picked this up as well, notifies us that Gainward, another card maker, also included the updated AD103-XNUMX GPU variation in their product specifications.
With two independent graphics card manufacturers touting this new twist on the GPU in their specs, it seems pretty likely that it will actually happen; but, not surprisingly, this is yet to be confirmed by Nvidia.
HKEPC further asserts that the incoming RTX 104 (the vanilla version of the RTX 104 Ti, which just launched) could also take the approach of having two different chips, which in such a case would theoretically be ADXNUMX-XNUMX. fifty and ADXNUMX-two hundred fifty-one. The difference is that the former apparently uses a comparator circuit, but the latter does not and would use a different circuit board, potentially reducing the cost of manufacturing the board.
The same goes for the RTX 4080 and the new AD103-XNUMX, which could lower the cost to build it (the BOM, or BOM as it's known in the industry). The key question is: if all this works for both GPUs or for one or the other, how much more affordable could the second variations be?
Analysis: Is this going to mean more affordable graphics cards, or is it a false hope?
HKEPC estimates that the difference in cost between the various rumored builds of the RTX 1 could be as low as $XNUMX in BOM, which is clearly a small amount and certainly wouldn't make a difference to the cost paid by the consumer. A source consulted by VideoCardz also asserts that any difference in cost would not be significant.
We don't have figures on the potential difference in manufacturing cost of the RTX 4080 versions, but the new AD103-4080 could lower the bill even further and likely represent the graphics card becoming cheaper for the consumer. It could be a very small BOM reduction though, which would arguably not affect the cost of the second round on the RTX XNUMX.
Time will tell, but given Nvidia's stance on the costs of Lovelace GPUs generally, it's pretty hard to be optimistic.
Another question given is the RTX 4080 chip change, will this affect performance? The gossip is pretty clear that it won't, and that the AD103-103 chip won't outperform the existing AD4080-XNUMX. This makes sense as Nvidia would surely be wary of dropping a dose of buyer's remorse on those who already paid for an RTX XNUMX and spent a lot of money to do so.
The overall result of this is likely to be graphics cards with the same level of performance, or close enough to be inconsequential, and small savings for card manufacturers that are unlikely to be passed on to users. Hopefully a more cost-effective situation unfolds, though, so cross your fingers if you're looking for a higher-end GPU.
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