NVIDIA is planning to launch the next generation of its GPUs in September and one of our sources just gave us an overview of the Ampere graphics card lineup. Interestingly, they mentioned that NVIDIA has *not* confirmed the naming schemes (we are currently referring to these cards as the RTX 3000 series) of the cards yet but has started to reveal details about the boards, SKUs, and the tentative launch schedule. Oh and remember the rumors we were hearing about a 20 GB card in the Ampere lineup? Turns out they were right.
NVIDIA Ampere GPUs: 24GB, 10GB and 8GB cards launching in September with more to follow, six boards planned as of right now
According to our sources, NVIDIA is planning to launch 3 boards in September with 1 board following in October and 2 boards planned whose launch date has not yet been decided. Since we do not know the confirmed naming schemes yet, I will refer to these boards according to their board numbers and the RTX 2000 series card they are intended to replace.
- The crown jewel of NVIDIA's lineup is the PG132-10 board with 24GB of vRAM. It is going to be replacing the RTX 2080 Ti and is currently scheduled to launch in the second half of September.
- We then have the PG132-20 and PG132-30 boards, both of which are replacing the RTX 2080 SUPER graphics card and will have 20GB and 10GB worth of vRAM respectively. The PG132-20 board is going to be launching in the first half of October while the PG132-30 board is going to be launching in mid-September. It is worth adding here that these three parts are likely the SKU10, 20 and 30 we have been hearing about and the SKU20 is going to be targetted dead center at AMD's Big Navi offering (and hence the staggered launch schedule). Since AMD's Big Navi will *probably* have 16GB worth of vRAM, it also explains why NVIDIA wants to go with 20GB.
- The PG142-0 and PG142-10 are both going to be replacing the RTX 2070 SUPER and will feature 16GB and 8GB worth of vRAM respectively. While the PG142-10 has a known launch schedule in the second half of September, the PG142-0 board has no confirmed launch date yet.
- Finally, we have the PG190-10 board which is going to be replacing the RTX 2060 SUPER graphics card and will have 8GB of vRAM as well. The launch schedule for this board has not been decided yet either.
NVIDIA Ampere GPUs Partial Specs And Launch Dates
| Board ID | Replacement Class | vRAM | Bus Width | Launch Schedule |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PG132-10 | 2080 Ti | 24 GB | 384 bit | 2H Sept. |
| PG132-20 | 2080 Super | 20 GB | 320 bit | 1H Oct. |
| PG132-30 | 2080 Super | 10 GB | 320 bit | Mid. Sept. |
| PG142-0 | 2070 Super | 16 GB | TBD | TBD |
| PG142-10 | 2070 Super | 8 GB | 256 bit | 2H Sept. |
| PG190-10 | 2060 Super | 8 GB | 256 bit | TBD |
September is shaping up to be an amazing month of tech enthusiasts with NVIDIA rolling out a brand new architecture (and series of graphics cards) and AMD finally pushing out Big Navi in the following few weeks as well. The Ampere series has had more leaks and rumors than any other series and as we enter into crunch time towards launch, many of these will be debunked or confirmed. We are also waiting to hear about more specifications from our sources and also a confirmation of the process node the Ampere series of GPUs will be manufactured at.
Right now, the expected nomenclature of these cards is going to be the RTX 3000 series with a potential RTX 3090 in the mix for the first time as well. But please keep in mind that NVIDIA has previously skipped nomenclature tiers just to discredit the leak scene and may do so again. The shrouds we saw were only in the validation phase and it would be trivial for NVIDIA to change the naming scheme. The board numbers, however, would stay the same. Regardless of what NVIDIA decides to call it, this is shaping up to be one hell of a generation.
