NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 and RTX 3080 Production Timeline Revealed

[btarunr]

NVIDIA's next-generation GeForce "Ampere" RTX 3000 series graphics cards are heading for a September reveal, along with availability shortly after. Much of the news cycle over the past couple of weeks revolved around alleged leaks of the card's cooling solution that provides insights into what the finished product could look like, with some even doubting the veracity of the picture leaks given the September launch. Igor's Lab did some digging into the production timeline of these cards. The leaks seem to perfectly align with the timeline.

The chip design, prototyping, taping-out, and testing of "Ampere" IP completed before the mass-production timeline kicks off. This begins in April/May, with NVIDIA's OEM partners and other suppliers finalizing a bill of materials (BOM). June is also when the products go through the EVT (engineering validation test) and DVT (design validation test). It is at these stages that NVIDIA has the opportunity to approve or summarily reject/change the design of the product and finalize it. By July, there are working samples of the finished products for NVIDIA and its industry partners to validate. This is also when regulators such as the FCC and CE conduct EMI tests. Production validation tests (PVT), or proofing of the production line, occurs in late-July/early-August. The final BIOS is released to the OEM by NVIDIA around this time. Mass-production finally commences in August, and the onward march to distributors rolls on. The media event announcing the product and press reviews follow in September, and market availability shortly thereafter.



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[Hyderz]

looks like stocks most likely very limited at launch looking more realistically at november to get stock

 

[Hotobu]

Three years ago I built my PC with a 3 year upgrade plan that included the release of these cards along with a new display and processor. Everything is falling into place perfectly. I've even held off on buying some games so I could get my balls as close to the wall as possible with a new graphics card... soon.

 

[Vayra86]

looks like stocks most likely very limited at launch looking more realistically at november to get stock

Isn't that the story with every first in a GPU gen ever?

 

[Chomiq]

Yeah, founder edition will be sold out within days, as usual.

 

[TheLostSwede]

The headline is misleading. This is Igor's expected timeline based on the 2000-series, not the actual production timeline.

 

[Cobain]

I'm worried about prices again. It doesnt matter if we have new gen Faster GPUs if you end up paying more money.

 

[T3RM1N4L D0GM4]

2060s/2070s/5700XT today or wait for 3060/Navi2 in 2021? Hard to say (and my system will remain a neverending work in progress... :-\ )

 

[EarthDog]

The headline is misleading. This is Igor's expected timeline based on the 2000-series, not the actual production timeline.

This. I was a bit shocked to see the title considering what Igor actually wrote.

NVIDIA’s possible roadmap to the launch of the GeForce RTX 3090 and 3080 (working name) - New cooler in several variants under test! | igor´sLAB

Recently, we were able to admire several leaked pictures of a cooler for the new GeForce RTX 3080, which apparently showed us the use of a normal heatsink in combination with four thick copper…

www.igorslab.de

NVIDIA’s possible roadmap to the launch of the GeForce RTX 3090

Should this assumption prove to be true and NVIDIA’s Ampere-GeForce-RTX is just in the DVT time frame, a hard launch in September would be quite realistic or even very likely. I have summarized the usual development and production steps in the following table, which reflects the possible timing quite well, because these estimates are based on some previous launches by NVIDIA and AMD, which all turned out very similar, as well as various finger pointing from not only one source:

Are we allowed to report fake news?

 

[TheLostSwede]

2060s/2070s/5700XT today or wait for 3060/Navi2 in 2021? Hard to say (and my system will remain a neverending work in progress... :-\ )

Isn't that part of the attraction of building your own PC though? I mean, as long as one can afford it. That said, graphics cards are getting stupidly expensive.

 

[medi01]

2060s/2070s/5700XT today or wait for 3060/Navi2 in 2021? Hard to say (and my system will remain a neverending work in progress... :-\ )

With AMD postponing 4000 series Zen, they might be using 7nm capacity for GPU production. So, why not wait for a couple of month.

 

[LemmingOverlord]

The headline is misleading. This is Igor's expected timeline based on the 2000-series, not the actual production timeline.

Agreed. On Igor's site he clearly says this is based on previous generations of Nvidia products. Nothing is there to tell me that other factors such as Covid haven't upset the timetable.

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

Wait. 3090? Is that supposed to be the Ti variant? Or is there going to be a 3090Ti I wonder?

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Isn't that the story with every first in a GPU gen ever?

Except before, every time they've passed through external testing some rumours emerged at least from the traversing packages, none this time and here they say final designs are ready by July, given the leaks regarding the cooling design they seem to be cramming some graft in for a mere paper launch with availability closer to December then September IMHO.

Looks like they're just trying to spoil a competitor's launch via pr hyperbole, hopefully regardless we will see something by Christmas.

 

[diatribe]

I still have very good performance on everything with my 2080Ti. What benefits are there with the new generation that may entice me to upgrade?

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

I still have very good performance on everything with my 2080Ti. What benefits are there with the new generation that may entice me to upgrade?

Ray tracing is supposedly much better on the 3k series than the 2k.

 

[Vayra86]

Except before, every time they've passed through external testing some rumours emerged at least from the traversing packages, none this time and here they say final designs are ready by July, given the leaks regarding the cooling design they seem to be cramming some graft in for a mere paper launch with availability closer to December then September IMHO.

Looks like they're just trying to spoil a competitor's launch via pr hyperbole, hopefully regardless we will see something by Christmas.

Dunno. Since Pascal every launch was drawn out until we had decent availability. I reckon its part of pricing strategy too, Nv knew well in advance they would drag out their gens as long as they did.

That strategy also fits well into a new node, larger dies and overall scarce stuff all through the supply chain. They could not handle peak sales and they dont happen.

 

[Deleted member 177333]

Was hoping for an earlier launch. I had been hoping to upgrade a good month or so prior to CP2077 to ensure I was ready. Guess it's probably not going to happen.

I'm worried about prices again. It doesnt matter if we have new gen Faster GPUs if you end up paying more money.

Me too. I rejected Turing because of it's price / performance ratio over Pascal. If Ampere's pricing is equally bad, I'll likely go 2nd hand market for a more reasonably priced upgrade.

 

[Franzen4Real]

This. I was a bit shocked to see the title considering what Igor actually wrote.

NVIDIA’s possible roadmap to the launch of the GeForce RTX 3090 and 3080 (working name) - New cooler in several variants under test! | igor´sLAB

Recently, we were able to admire several leaked pictures of a cooler for the new GeForce RTX 3080, which apparently showed us the use of a normal heatsink in combination with four thick copper…

www.igorslab.de

Are we allowed to report fake news?

Considering the author, not shocking in the slightest (in fact, it's expected). Journalistic integrity was out stripped by click through rate long, long ago. Also, no way that title gets changed... it will serve for even more clicks from baiting Google searchers looking for info in the coming months. But hey, they got a +comment metric from you and I, so we actually just reinforced the practice.