NVIDIA is possibly readying three memory-based variants of the upcoming GeForce RTX 4070 "Ada" performance-segment graphics card, suggests a GIGABYTE leak. The company put up a game bundle information page on its website, which inadvertently leaked the three RTX 4070 variants in its "eligibility" section; so this is slightly more credible than a case of GIGABYTE anticipating NVIDIA SKUs with the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) in its regulatory filings. The leak mentions three distinct SKUs—RTX 4070 10 GB, RTX 4070 12 GB, and RTX 4070 16 GB. The predecessors of the RTX 4070 tended to be NVIDIA's bestselling graphics cards each generation, next to the xx60 series.

The billion-dollar question hence would be exactly how NVIDIA segments the three SKUs—whether it stops at just memory size and memory bus width; or whether it will also tinker with core-configuration, and possibly even base one of the three SKUs on a physically smaller silicon, such as the AD106. The "RTX 4070" rumored to be a single SKU until now, was expected to be carved out of the AD104, with 5,888 out of 7,680 CUDA cores being enabled. NVIDIA faced stiff criticism from the media and gamers for such segmentation for its RTX 4080 16 GB and RTX 4080 12 GB, with the company being forced to cancel the market-release of the latter, and relaunch it under the name RTX 4070 Ti.

The PCI Resizable BAR feature can have a major impact on the performance of "Dead Space" (the 2023 reboot). sxKYLE on Reddit discovered that his GeForce RTX 4080 "Ada" experienced a major performance jump from 76 FPS up to 111 FPS (+46%) with resizable BAR enabled. NVIDIA Profile Inspector was used to enable resizable BAR for the game. The feature allows the CPU to see the graphics card's video memory as a single, continuously-addressable block, rather than through 256 MB apertures. We can imagine how "Dead Space" in particular could benefit from the feature, as the game's campaign is a single continuous action sequence with assets being constantly streamed to the GPU (and no level load screens).

CDProjekt Red today released a major update to Cyberpunk 2077, which adds support for the NVIDIA DLSS 3 performance enhancement. DLSS 3 leverages the Optical Flow Accelerator component of GeForce RTX 40-series "Ada" graphics cards to generate nearly every alternate frame entirely using AI, without involving the main graphics rendering pipeline, with which it nearly doubles frame-rates at quality comparable to native resolution. When used in conjunction with DLSS quality settings, DLSS 3 ends up working like a frame-rate multiplier. The feature also ends up positively impacting energy efficiency of the GPU. DLSS 3 requires a GeForce RTX 40-series GPU.

NVIDIA's next GeForce RTX 40-series "Ada" graphics card launch is widely expected to be the GeForce RTX 4070 (non-Ti), and as we approach Spring 2023, the company is expected to ramp up to the meat of its new generation, with xx60-segment, beginning with the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti. This new performance-segment SKU debuts the 4 nm "AD106" silicon. A set of leaks by kopite7kimi, a reliable source with NVIDIA leaks, shed light on possible specifications.

The RTX 4060 Ti is based on the AD106 silicon, which is expected to be much smaller than the AD104 powering the RTX 4070 series. The reference board developed at NVIDIA, codenamed PG190, is reportedly tiny, and yet it features the 16-pin ATX 12VHPWR connector. This is probably set for 300 W at its signal pins, and adapters included with graphics cards could convert two 8-pin PCIe into one 300 W 16-pin connector. The RTX 4060 Ti is expected to come with a typical graphics power value of 160 W.

To the gaming community, NVIDIA brought a neat pair of high-end graphics cards to go hands-on with. For starters, we got to see almost every brand's custom-design GeForce RTX 4070 Ti desktop graphics card. We reviewed six of these on launch day. Much of the attention was grabbed by the mobile graphics side of the booth, where we could check out gaming notebooks from popular brands such as Razer, ASUS ROG, Acer Predator, Dell Alienware, and MSI Stealth; powered by NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop, RTX 4080 Laptop, and even the RTX 4060 Laptop.

Each of these was set up to show off a different new aspect of the GeForce "Ada Lovelace" architecture, including DLSS 3 frame-generation, RTX real-time ray tracing in games such as Portal RTX, G-SYNC, Reflex, and a single RTX 4090 Laptop-based notebook powering a surround-display setup for racing sims, as well as AAA gaming with maxed out settings and newer ray tracing performance presets. Some of these had real-time FRAPS monitoring of frame-rates, GPU power-draw, and temperatures. A common theme with all the notebooks we've seen is that none of them were bulky moble workstations pretending to be notebooks, including the ones powered by the RTX 4090 Laptop GPU.

Palit Microsystems Ltd. as the leading graphics card manufacturer is excited to announce the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Series built with the ultra-efficient NVIDIA Ada Lovelace architecture. The Palit GeForce RTX 4070 Ti GameRock crafted with Starlight Black crystals not only presents gorgeous appearance, but possesses exceptional thermal structure.

The model is a delicate art piece when ARGB off, and a glimmering kaleidoscope when ARGB on. With One Two Sync technology, no need of software control, the board lighting can be easily synced with other ARGB signal sources with just a single cable. To offer an indomitable thermal solution, the all-new Gale Hunter Fan cooling system is bestowed on the Palit GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. The Y Formula Fins molded with turning angles enlarge the contact area and further lead the air through the fins smoothly.

INNO3D, a leading manufacturer of pioneering high-end multimedia components and innovations is proud to present the INNO3D GeForce RTX 4070 Ti DLSS 3, and while super high performance can be expected from the next generation INNO3D graphics cards using Ada architecture, the designs of the INNO3D GeForce RTX 4070 Ti has some serious upgrades that are both cosmetic and performance enhancing. The latest NVIDIA GPU is equipped with our amazing iCHILL X3 cooler that has won numerous accolades while the INNO3D X3 and X3 OC dual slot will be the perfect solution for those who prefer small form factor builds.

Founded in 1998 with the vision of developing pioneering computer hardware products on a global scale. Fast forward to the present day, INNO3D is now well-established in the gaming community known for our innovative and daring approach to design and technology. We are Brutal by Nature in everything we do and are 201% committed to you for the best gaming experience in the world.

NVIDIA today formally launched the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti "Ada" performance segment graphics card at a starting MSRP of USD $799. Based on the 4 nm "AD104" silicon, the RTX 4070 Ti is essentially the same product as the RTX 4080 12 GB, which NVIDIA decided to cancel from its original mid-November launch, toward a new one this CES, under a new model name. The card maxes out the silicon it's based on, featuring 7,680 CUDA cores, 60 RT cores, 240 Tensor cores, 240 TMUs, and 80 ROPs. It gets 12 GB of GDDR6X memory across a 192-bit wide memory interface, running at 21 Gbps (GDDR6X-effective). The card has a typical power rating of 285 W, and continues to use a 12VHPWR power connector, even on the custom-design products.

NVIDIA claims that the RTX 4070 Ti should enable maxed out AAA gaming with ray tracing at 1440p, while also being formidable at 4K Ultra HD in games that can take advantage of technologies such as DLSS 3 frame-generation, or even classic DLSS 2. The company claims that it offers performance comparable to the previous-generation flagship, the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti "Ampere," with a much higher performance/Watt rating. The RTX 4070 Ti doesn't appear to feature an NVIDIA Founders Edition model, and is a partner-driven launch, with custom-design cards dominating the scene. The RTX 4070 Ti will be available from January 5, 2023, but we'll have reviews for you before that!

NVIDIA today kicks off the 2023 International CES with a special event for the PC community, particularly gamers. As part of the CES 2023 GeForce Beyond presentation, NVIDIA is expected to introduce additions to the desktop GeForce RTX 40-series "Ada" series, such as the RTX 4070 Ti, and also debut the RTX 40-series Laptop GPU series, powering the next-generation of gaming notebooks through this year.16:01 UTC: The show is about to begin, with Jeff Fisher taking centerstage.

16:02 UTC: 20 million NVIDIA GeForce GPUs sold in 2022.

The upcoming NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti graphics cards is allegedly 5% faster than the previous-generation flagship, RTX 3090 Ti, according to leaked OctaneBench numbers. The online submission database of the benchmark has an entry for the RTX 4070 Ti, which is shown scoring 725 points, compared to 688 of the RTX 3090 Ti, and 928 of the RTX 4080. These would put the RTX 4070 Ti at roughly 5% faster than the RTX 3090 Ti, and about 21% slower than the RTX 4080. You begin to see why it would have been a terrible idea to market the RTX 4070 Ti as the "RTX 4080 12 GB," and why the outrage was justified—which will only bear fruit if NVIDIA prices the RTX 4070 Ti lower than the $900 MSRP it had planned for the RTX 4080 12 GB.

At its 2023 International CES event, NVIDIA is expected to launch not just its desktop GeForce RTX 4070 and RTX 4070 Ti graphics cards, but more importantly, also its GeForce RTX 40-series Laptop GPU series powering next-generation gaming notebooks based on the upcoming 13th Gen Core "Raptor Lake" processors. NVIDIA seems to be making a very tight rope-walk between power-management and generational performance increase in this power- and thermal-constrained form-factor. Wccftech scored a major scoop on the specs of various RTX 40-series Laptop GPUs.

The GeForce RTX 40-series "Ada" Laptop GPU lineup will be led by the RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, based on the 4 nm "AD103" silicon (same one that powers the desktop RTX 4080). It will be equipped with 16 GB of memory, a yet-unknown core-configuration, GPU Boost frequencies of up to 2.04 GHz, and typical power draw ranging between 150 W to 175 W, which can peak up to 200 W thanks to the 25 W dynamic boost range (power permissible by the platform if the other components such as CPU aren't drawing their peak power).

ASUS and Noctua have had great success with their limited edition GeForce RTX 30-series graphics cards in the past. The collaboration saw ASUS-marketed graphics cards that combine an ASUS-designed PCB with a cooling solution designed and supplied by Noctua, combining their best VGA heatsink technology with a pair of their high static-pressure FDB fans. The ASUS x Noctua RTX 3080 (pictured below) remains among the best RTX 3080 cards we ever got a chance to test. It turns out that ASUS and Noctua will continue their collaboration with the new RTX 40-series "Ada" generation. ChipHell reports that ASUS will show off its next ASUS x Noctua graphics card(s) at the 2023 International CES. The report doesn't specify which GPU they will use. CES could see the introduction of at least two more RTX 40-series SKUs, namely the RTX 4070 Ti, and the RTX 4070, so it could be anything. Given that ASUS has given the Noctua treatment to the RTX 3080, it's quite possible that the RTX 4080 could get it too, at some point.

Here are some of the first pictures of a GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4070 Ti custom-design graphics cards, the RTX 4070 Ti AERO. GIGABYTE targets the AERO brand of graphics cards, motherboards, and notebooks, at creators who like to game, hence the product design that's a lot less flashy than the company's AORUS or Gaming OC brands of graphics cards. An interesting aspect of this card is that it features a 16-pin ATX 12VHPWR connector, and includes an NVIDIA-supplied power adapter that converts two 8-pin PCIe power connectors to one 12VHPWR. We know this adapter is different from the 2x 8-pin to 12-pin adapter NVIDIA included with the RTX 3080 Founders Edition, looking at the four sensor pins.

The connector has keying for 300 W, and so the typical board power of the RTX 4070 Ti will be at or below 300 W. The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is essentially a re-branding of what would have been the RTX 4080 12 GB, had NVIDIA not decided to "unlaunch" it. The SKU maxes out the 4 nm "AD104" silicon, featuring 7,680 CUDA cores across 60 streaming multiprocessors (SM), 240 Tensor cores, 60 RT cores, 240 TMUs, and 80 ROPs. The chip features a 192-bit GDDR6X memory interface, which was at the heart of the RTX 4080 12 GB naming controversy.

A report by Moore's Law is Dead claims that NVIDIA is preparing to launch a new TITAN RTX halo product, based on a maxed-out 4 nm "AD102" silicon. Where does this put the RTX 4090 Ti? Somewhere in between the RTX 4090 and the TITAN RTX Ada, as NVIDIA gave itself plenty of segmentation headroom with the AD102 silicon, by using just 128 out of 144 SM physically present on the silicon, besides the same 21 Gbps GDDR6X memory as the previous-generation. NVIDIA's options with the new TITAN RTX include enabling all 144 SM (18,432 CUDA cores), and using faster 24 Gbps memory, giving the silicon (1152 GB/s memory bandwidth), a stock power-limit closer to the 600 W design limit of the 12VHPWR power connector (RTX 4090 stock typical board power is 450 W).

Moore's Law is Dead also posted what they claim to be the first real-world pictures of the upcoming TITAN RTX Ada. The card is an unabashed 4-slot enlargement of the dual-axial flow-through RTX 4090 Founders Edition, with the cooler capable of higher thermal loads. TITAN RTX cards are marketed as first-party Founders Edition cards only, and not through NVIDIA's AIC board partners as custom-designs. A maxed out AD102, with higher clock speeds, higher power-limit, and faster memory, should be unassailable for custom-design RTX 4090 cards, if NVIDIA wants to sell this card at the kind of prices its last TITAN RTX product sold at—USD $2,500.

GALAX in its website's front-page carousel, may have inadvertently blurted out the existence of a GeForce RTX 4090 Ti "Ada" SKU in the works. This may well be a typo by the designer of its carousel graphic, but the existence of an RTX 4090 Ti SKU isn't a question of if, but when. We know from our September 2022 article that the RTX 4090 only uses 88% of the streaming multiprocessors (SM) physically present on the 4 nm AD102 silicon (that's 128 out of 144 SM, or 16,384 out of 18,432 CUDA cores), although it maxes out its 384-bit GDDR6X memory bus.

The way NVIDIA carved the RTX 4090 out of the AD102 leaves it with plenty of room to create a faster SKU that maxes out the silicon, backing it with more GPU clock speed, possibly even 23 Gbps-rated GDDR6X memory, resulting in a top-spec flagship with ≥10% higher performance than the RTX 4090, to consolidate NVIDIA's position in the high-end segment—not that it's under much of a threat from AMD right now. The Radeon RX 7900 XTX trades blows with the RTX 4080, and is barely a threat to the RTX 4090. NVIDIA would still want something to sell at $2,000 if not more, and the only way it can do so is by maxing out the AD102 and hope that enthusiasts wanting to climb performance leaderboards would want such a card.

While NVIDIA has launched high-end GeForce RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 GPUs from its Ada Lovelace family, middle and lower-end products are brewing to satisfy the entire consumer market. Today, according to the kopite7kimi, a well-known leaker, we have potential information about the configuration of the upcoming GeForce RTX 4060 Ti graphics card. Featuring 4352 FP32 CUDA cores, the GPU is powered by an AD106-350-A1 die. On the die, there is 32 MB of L2 cache. To pair, it has 8 GB of GDDR6 18 Gbps memory, which should be enough to power games at 1440p resolution, which this card is aiming for.

The design of the cards reference PG190 PCB is supposedly very short, making it ideal for ITX-sized designs we could see from NVIDIA's AIB partners. Interestingly, with a TDP of 220 Watts, the reference card is powered by the infamous 16-pin 12VHPWR connector, capable of supplying 600 Watts of power. This choice of connector is unclear; however, it could be NVIDIA's push to standardize its usage across all products in the Ada Lovelace family stack. While the card should not need the full potential of the connector, it signals that the company could only be using this type of connector for all of its future designs.

According to the well-known hardware leaker @momomo_us, HP is preparing the launch of its next-generation Omen 17 gaming laptops. And with a new generation of chips coming to consumers, HP accidentally made some information about laptop SKUs public. Four models are listed, and they represent a combination of Intel's 13th-generation Raptor Lake mobile processors with NVIDIA's Ada Lovelace RTX 40 series graphics cards for the mobile/laptop sector. The four SKUs are: CM2007NQ/CM2005NQ with Core i7-13700HX & RTX 4060 8 GB; CM2001NQ with Core i7-13700HX & RTX 4070 8 GB; CK2007NQ/CK2004NQ with Core i7-13700HX & RTX 4080 12 GB; CK2001NQ with Core i7-13700HX & RTX 4090 16 GB.

The most exciting find here is the appearance of the xx90 series in the mobile/laptop form factor, which has not been the case before. The GeForce RTX 4090 laptop edition is supposedly equipped with 16 GB of VRAM, and the GPU SKU should be a cut-down version of AD102 GPU adjusted for power and clock constraints so it can run within a reasonable TDP. With NVIDIA seemingly giving its clients an RTX 4090 SKU option, we have to wait and see what the CUDA core counts are and how clocks scale in a more restricted laptop environment.

It turns out that NVIDIA has not one, but two new GeForce RTX 40-series "Ada" SKUs on the anvil this January. One of these is the RTX 4070 Ti, which we know well to be a rebranding of the RTX 4080 12 GB in the face of backlash that forced NVIDIA to "unlaunch" it. The other as it turns out, is the RTX 4070, with an interesting set of specifications. Based on the same 4 nm AD104 silicon as the RTX 4070 Ti, the new RTX 4070 is significantly cut down. NVIDIA enabled 46 out of 60 streaming multiprocessors (SM) physically present on the silicon, which yield 5,888 CUDA cores—the same count as the previous-gen RTX 3070, when compared to the 7,680 that the maxed-out RTX 4070 Ti enjoys.

The GeForce RTX 4070, besides 5,888 CUDA cores, gets 46 RT cores, 184 Tensor cores, 184 TMUs, and a reduced ROP count of 64, compared to 80 of the RTX 4070 Ti. The memory configuration remains the same as the RTX 4070 Ti, with 12 GB of 21 Gbps GDDR6X memory across the chip's 192-bit memory interface, working out to 504 GB/s of memory bandwidth. An interesting aspect of this SKU is its board power, rated at 250 W, compared to the 285 W of the RTX 4070 Ti, and the 220 W of its 8 nm predecessor, the RTX 3070.

The monstrous NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 "Ada" graphics card has the potential to be a very efficient high-end graphics card with a daily-use undervolt, and with its power-limit halved, finds an undervolting adventure review by Korean tech publication Quasar Zone. The reviewer tested the RTX 4090 with a number of GPU core voltage settings, and lowered software-level power-limits (down from its 450 W default).

It's important to note that 450 W is a very arbitrary number for the RTX 4090's power limit, the GPU rarely draws that much power in typical gaming workloads. Our own testing at stock settings sees its gaming power draw around the 340 W-mark. Quasar Zone tested the RTX 4090 with a power limit as low as 60% (270 W). With its most aggressive power management they could muster (i.e. 270 W PL), the card was found to lose just around 8% of performance at 4K UHD, averaged across five AAA games at maxed out settings. The story is similar with undervolting the GPU down to 850 mV, down from its 1 V stock. In both cases, the performance loss appear well contained, while providing a reduction in power-draw (in turn heat and noise).

Here's the first picture of the 4 nm "AD104" silicon powering what would have been the $900 GeForce RTX 4080 12 GB, and upcoming RTX 4070-series graphics cards. The third largest GPU based on the "Ada Lovelace" graphics architecture, the AD104 looks tiny. This is because it has roughly half the die-area of the AD102, estimated to be around 295 mm² (compared to 608 mm² of the AD102), which means its transistor count should be less than half, with older reports pinpointing it to 35.8 billion. The RTX 4080 12 GB was supposed to max out the AD104 silicon, enabling all 60 streaming multiprocessors (SM) physically present.

The AD104 with 60 SM hence has 7,680 CUDA cores, 60 RT cores, 240 Tensor cores, 240 TMUs, and 80 ROPs. NVIDIA has generationally narrowed the memory interface (compared to the GA104 and TU104), down to 192-bit GDDR6X. Its predecessors such as the GA104 feature 256-bit wide memory interfaces. NVIDIA is overcoming the memory bus width "deficit" by giving SKUs based on the silicon higher memory speeds (21 Gbps or more); and architecture-level improvements such as larger on-die caches. NVIDIA is reportedly planning to launch an AD104-based SKU early January 2023. VideoCardz reports that could be the RTX 4070 Ti, a re-branding of the RTX 4080 12 GB.

NVIDIA is ready to launch its RTX A6000 series "Ada" professional-visualization graphics cards. These cards are targeted at the same market demographic as the NVIDIA Quadro series of the old—serious 3D content creation. The RTX A6000 leads the pack, and is based on the 4 nm "AD102" silicon (the same one powering the GeForce RTX 4090). The A6000 is better endowed than the RTX 4090 at the silicon-level, although operating at lower GPU clock-speeds, for its tighter 300 W power-limit (compared to 450 W of the RTX 4090).

The A6000 "Ada" is endowed with 18,176 CUDA cores across 142 SM, compared to the 16,384 CUDA cores across 128 SM of the RTX 4090. It also gets a higher number of Tensor cores, at 568. The defining differentiator between the A6000 and RTX 4090 has to be memory, with the pro-vis card getting 48 GB of ECC GDDR6 memory across the chip's 384-bit memory bus, clocked at 20 Gbps (960 GB/s memory bandwidth); compared to the 24 GB of 21 Gbps GDDR6X (1008 GB/s) of the RTX 4090. Also, the card enables all three NVDEC and NVENC video hardware-accelerators physically present on the AD102, for six independent accelerated transcoding streams.

Colorful formally released its flagship custom-design graphics card based on the GeForce RTX 4080 "Ada" launched earlier this week, the iGame RTX 4080 Neptune OC-V. This card features a factory-fitted all-in-one (AIO) liquid cooling solution. Unlike some other similar cards, such as the MSI SUPRIM Liquid X, the Neptune OC-V relies on a 100% liquid-cooled configuration, wherein a the cold-plate is the only source of cooling for the GPU, memory, and VRM; there are no additional fans on the card. The cooling solution involves a waterblock that pulls heat from all key components on the PCB, which is connected to a 360 mm x 120 mm radiator that comes with three 120 mm RGB fans.

The card is 25.3 cm in length, strictly 2 slots thick, and 17 cm in height. Silvery aluminium makes up the cooler shroud and backplate. The coolant tubing comes with white Nylon sleeving. The aluminium radiator has a white frame, as do the three fans. The fan impellers are frosted to act like RGB diffusers. The Neptune OC-V comes with factory-overclocked speeds of 2640 MHz GPU Boost (compared to 2505 MHz reference). The most interesting aspect is the power limit, which is now set at 470 W (compared to 320 W reference).

The world's leading computer brand, GIGABYTE, today officially announced the GeForce RTX 4080 series graphics cards will hit the market on November 16th. Built on NVIDIA's latest Ada Lovelace architecture, these new-gen graphics cards come with ultra-powerful performance and advanced cooling solutions that enthusiast gamers and creators seek. GIGABYTE offers a total of seven models to meet various demands, including the liquid-cooled AORUS XTREME WATERFORCE and the air-cooled AORUS MASTER, GAMING OC, AERO OC, and EAGLE OC.

Primed for extremely cool and quiet operations, the AORUS XTREME WATERFORCE graphics cards come in two variants - the open-loop model with a pre-installed water block and the closed-loop model featuring an all-in-one cooler. Both excel in delivering the ultimate gaming performance while keeping the temperature well in check with their optimized water channel and thermal designs, making them ideal for hardcore gamers or PC DIY enthusiasts looking to take their custom builds to the next level.

NVIDIA today formally launched the GeForce RTX 4080 graphics card, its second fastest offering from the GeForce "Ada Lovelace" generation. With a starting price of USD $1,200, the card is positioned a notch below the RTX 4090 flagship, a whole $400 cheaper. It is technically supposed to succeed the RTX 3080 12 GB, while an RTX 4080 12 GB variant was supposed to succeed the RTX 3080 10 GB. NVIDIA cancelled the RTX 4080 12 GB as it heaped bad press due to its specs being significantly different from those of the RTX 4080 16 GB, making this the only SKU with the name RTX 4080.

The GeForce RTX 4080 is based on the 4 nm "AD103" silicon, and armed with 9,728 CUDA cores across 76 streaming multiprocessors. It gets 304 4th generation Tensor cores, and 76 RT cores, besides 112 ROPs. Although it has generationally more memory at 16 GB, its memory bus is narrower at 256-bit GDDR6X. NVIDIA attempted to compensate for this with use of faster 22.4 Gbps-rated memory, and architectural improvements such as larger caches on the silicon, to speed up the memory sub-system. NVIDIA is launching not just the Founders Edition card, but also its partners are launching custom-design boards. Every partner's lineup we've come across thus far includes at least one SKU priced at the $1,200 baseline. The cards should be on the shelves tomorrow (November 16, 2022).

We have a large number of reviews for you today, which include the NVIDIA RTX 4080 Founders Edition, ZOTAC RTX 4080 AMP Extreme AIRO, ASUS ROG Strix RTX 4080 OC, MSI RTX 4080 SUPRIM X, Colorful RTX 4080 Ultra White OC, Gainward RTX 4080 Phantom GS, MSI RTX 4080 Gaming X Trio, and the PNY XLR8 RTX 4080 Verto OC

AMD, in its technical presentation for the new Radeon RX 7900 series "Navi 31" GPU, gave us an elaborate explanation on why it had to take the chiplets route for high-end GPUs, devices that are far more complex than CPUs. The company also enlightened us on what sets chiplet-based packages apart from classic multi-chip modules (MCMs). An MCM is a package that consists of multiple independent devices sharing a fiberglass substrate.

An example of an MCM would be a mobile Intel Core processor, in which the CPU die and the PCH die share a substrate. Here, the CPU and the PCH are independent pieces of silicon that can otherwise exist on their own packages (as they do on the desktop platform), but have been paired together on a single substrate to minimize PCB footprint, which is precious on a mobile platform. A chiplet-based device is one where a substrate is made up of multiple dies that cannot otherwise independently exist on their own packages without an impact on inter-die bandwidth or latency. They are essentially what should have been components on a monolithic die, but disintegrated into separate dies built on different semiconductor foundry nodes, with a purely cost-driven motive.