NVIDIA Readies GeForce RTX 4090 D for China to Comply with U.S. Export Controls

[btarunr]

NVIDIA is giving final touches to the new GeForce RTX 4090 D, a graphics card SKU specific to the Chinese market, aimed squarely at gamers. The card fills the void for gamers shopping in the enthusiast segment, as all inventory of the regular RTX 4090 has been bought up by Chinese companies to accelerate AI, and controls are in place that prevent NVIDIA from selling the card in its current form in the Chinese market.

What sets this SKU apart is that it is designed to comply with U.S. export controls of GPUs that have the dual use as a high compute-density AI accelerator. In other words, its performance with AI will be artificially limited. This is being done by lowering the card's TPP (total processing performance), which could mean that it ends up slower than the regular RTX 4090. This is somewhat similar in concept to LHR (lite hash rate) GPUs NVIDIA designed for gamers as their regular GPUs were being heaped up by crypto currency miners, although LHR wasn't created due to government policy, but in response to market demand. The RTX 4090 D is expected to retail for RMB 13,000, which is similar to the baseline price of the RTX 4090.



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[the54thvoid]

This is somewhat similar in concept to LHR (lite hash rate) GPUs NVIDIA designed for gamers

Was that not overcome by software/driver level mods?

 

[ZeppMan217]

Was that not overcome by software/driver level mods?

Shh! Don't blow the lid, man!

 

[Chomiq]

This is totally not going to get bypassed somehow, trust Nvidia.

/s

 

[evernessince]

Unless hardware is physically fused off, I don't see how doing something akin to LHR cards allows Nvidia to meet sanaction requirements. The cards aren't less powerful, they are being artifically limited in a way that can be bypassed, as Nvidia has done in the past by "accidentally" releasing drivers that bypassed LHR limitations. Let's not even pretend for a second that was unintentional on Nvidia's part.

 

[kapone32]

Isn't Gaming heavily restricted in China? Is that just for kids? Is their economy that much better that 4090s can be bought by the public to make this necessary? I guess Nvidia are apathetic to certain important details that make that seem rather desultory.

 

[lemonadesoda]

This is nothing more than a restructuring of the export license/control. The device is not very much restricted in terms of capability (TPP, chart above) for a single GPU. But it seems that the limit of TPP is maintained over card density (total number of cards in a system). Isn't this really just unwinding the sanctions completely but in a clever way: China can have b-stock cards that don't quite cut the binning for highest clocks and full compute capability with a SECOND RESTRICTION - no high density population of cards in a single system.

It means the control approach could be that 4090D will not operate as n-up in a single system. ie single or dual cards only. This could be done through drivers perhaps also with GPU firmware. However, perhaps you could get around this through virtualisation.

The door is reopened for nV to make many more sales and many more $, and encourages China to buy more american, and hencewith supports exports and hopefully slows down China's own need to develop their own technology. A big win for shareholders!

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Or a VERY BIG WIN for executive compensation payouts where the end of year shareprice will be up.

I guess legal and CFO had been working very hard to achieve this, especially with this news: https://www.techpowerup.com/316203/...in-china-following-nvidia-export-restrictions providing all sorts of political issues and anti-competitive embargoes.

 

[Broken Processor]

Yes because LHR worked so well. /S

 

[evernessince]

Isn't Gaming heavily restricted in China? Is that just for kids? Is their economy that much better that 4090s can be bought by the public to make this necessary? I guess Nvidia are apathetic to certain important details that make that seem rather desultory.

Sounds like that statement was written by Nvidia. No one actually believes this is being done for gamers, it's purely so Nvidia can continue to sell AI chips to China.

 

[maxfly]

Is nothing sacred in this world?

Why can't a GPU just be a GPU man?!

 

[AusWolf]

"The US government bans sales of 4090 cards to China."
Roughly a month later: "Nvidia launches the 4090 D in China."

Bravo, Nvidia! Let the stupid politicians boil in their own soup!

I don't see how doing something akin to LHR cards allows Nvidia to meet sanaction requirements.

It's got a different name, hence, it's a different product (just with the same specs).

 

[londiste]

Was that not overcome by software/driver level mods?

Once some crucial bits were accidentally or "accidentally" released by Nvidia. That was when the whole mining craze was already dying down as well. While there was some speculation that in secret there had been groups circumventing LHR earlier than that, no reliable way was publicly known.

 

[stimpy88]

Yet more nVidia greed. We all know they have shown the limit code to the Chinese.

 

[ZoneDymo]

I mean...they are getting them anyway, so is almost like this is a distraction or something

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

D stands for Deez Nutz.

 

[N/A]

RTX 4090 PCIe 8x edition. They can't cut any other spec. the green area for less pcie lanes goes up to 4800. for more is limited to 2400. Well. Could be 1% less cores or clock speed since 4090 is exactly 4800 go figure.

 

[Jism]

Yes because LHR worked so well. /S

Lets say if you stick this into a AI computer, it's quite impossible to start using hacked / cracked drivers since most of that stuff always works with licensing.

I mean i'm sure you can get it to work, but not in the legal way or providing official support from Nvidia themselfs.

 

[Assimilator]

This is totally not going to get bypassed somehow, trust Nvidia.

/s

NVIDIA only implemented LHR as a publicity stunt sop to consumers. They never had a business reason to implement it, and similarly they never had a reason to prevent it from being circumvented.

This block is completely the opposite, because if the US government finds out about a way to get around it - and if a method exists for any reason, they will - they will smack NVIDIA down so hard that Huang will have to start buying leather colostomy bags. Plus that will send the share price through the floor. So this time, whatever NVIDIA intends to do is going to be far lower-level and difficult to circumvent than LHR.

 

[Prima.Vera]

For Huang, is all about them moneyz. Greedy callous basterd until the end.
Even if the company is recording every quarter record profits. Cannot wait for the 2500$ 5090 RTX card!

 

[Legacy-ZA]

NVIDIA only implemented LHR as a publicity stunt sop to consumers. They never had a business reason to implement it, and similarly they never had a reason to prevent it from being circumvented.

This block is completely the opposite, because if the US government finds out about a way to get around it - and if a method exists for any reason, they will - they will smack NVIDIA down so hard that Huang will have to start buying leather colostomy bags. Plus that will send the share price through the floor. So this time, whatever NVIDIA intends to do is going to be far lower-level and difficult to circumvent than LHR.

I want to believe.

Too many a time, nVidia gets caught with unlocking a feature when it suddenly benefits them.

Jensen is going to give China the big RTX4090D , they will have to swallow what they are given to swallow. Revenue will be enough for another walk-in-closet full of leather jackets.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Proof positive ignorance is again bliss NV moves on through the swiss cheese

 

[R0H1T]

Unless hardware is physically fused off, I don't see how doing something akin to LHR cards allows Nvidia to meet sanaction requirements.

This is assuming they want to?

This block is completely the opposite, because if the US government finds out about a way to get around it - and if a method exists for any reason, they will - they will smack NVIDIA down so hard that Huang will have to start buying leather colostomy bags.

Right, remind us how many "bankers" are behind bars for the 2008 crisis? Or for that matter the weapons sneaked into various "unfriendly" countries during the 50/60/70/80/90's & so & so forth? The fact of the matter is if the US really wanted they could turn the tap completely off but that'd put anywhere between at least $500-1000 billion of their own companies' revenue in jeopardy.

Spoiler

This is why in recent years I don't really see the appeal of "democracies" except the feint illusion of freedom! And no it's not just a US thing, big money has corrupted pretty much every major democracy I can think of without exceptions.

 

[Assimilator]

Right, remind us how many "bankers" are behind bars for the 2008 crisis?

Very few, because very few actually broke the law. Greed is unethical, sadly not illegal.

The fact of the matter is if the US really wanted they could turn the tap completely off but that'd put anywhere between at least $500-1000 billion of their own companies' revenue in jeopardy.

Which is why they aren't turning the tap off completely.

And no it's not just a US thing, big money has corrupted pretty much every major democracy I can think of without exceptions.

Indeed. This is ultimately the result of capitalism being valued higher than humanity.

 

[SOAREVERSOR]

Is nothing sacred in this world?

Why can't a GPU just be a GPU man?!

Because the money in GPUs now is not in doing GPU stuff. At least, not what "muh pc gaming" types think is GPU stuff. Just wait for PC gaming on the cloud and rent one. That's the future of PC gaming.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

Lets say if you stick this into a AI computer, it's quite impossible to start using hacked / cracked drivers since most of that stuff always works with licensing.

I mean i'm sure you can get it to work, but not in the legal way or providing official support from Nvidia themselfs.

You think China cares about legalities in the US? pffft.

China is flipping the bird at nGreedia support as it stands now with the 4090 harvesting.