It’s well known, or at least well speculated (based on prior launch patterns), that Nvidia will release their GeForce RTX 40XX graphics cards in a little over a year’s time. However, to date, there has been very little information surrounding these new upcoming GPUs. We know that they’ll very likely be transitioning to a 5nm node design and… Yep, that’s about it. Well, aside from rumours that the 40XX series is probably going to be pretty power-hungry too.
Following a report via Videocardz, however, in terms of the actual node design, two exceptionally reliable leak sources are now in agreement that rather than Samsung, Nvidia will be utilising the TSMC 5mn process for its next-generation graphics cards!
Nvidia GeForce RTX 40XX Graphics Cards
It’s understood that while Samsung has, generally speaking, always been the preferred supplier for Nvidia graphics card chipsets, Team Green’s management has been exceptionally dissatisfied with the poor level of supply quantities provided. Something moderately understandable given that this was at least one of the reasons why getting a 30XX has been borderline impossible to obtain even since their September 2020 release.
As such, for their next-gen models, they are apparently, at the very least, considering turning their business towards TSMC. – While this doesn’t sound like too much of an issue for gaming consumers, however, this could potentially result in a rather nasty knock-on effect. And, in a nutshell, we’re talking about the cost!
of course TSMC N5
— kopite7kimi (@kopite7kimi) August 26, 2021
Prices to Go Up?
It’s no secret that chipset foundries have been struggling to keep up with general market demand over the last 18-months. And not just from the PC market either. As such, while we’re certain that TSMC wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to work with (well, technically for) Nvidia, the chances are that to bump them up the list, based on their masses of other orders, they’ll likely be quoting Nvidia a pretty substantial figure. Lest we forget as well, AMD currently pretty much exclusively uses TSMC for all of their CPU and GPU products.
As such, one concern already raised is that by switching suppliers, while this might hopefully boost stock levels of the 40XX series, this will almost certainly result in a higher manufacturing cost which ultimately will have to be passed onto the customer. In other words, us.
Given how much of a paper dragon the Nvidia 30XX series has been, however, perhaps Team Green is more willing to compromise on angering the community with price hikes than, you know, having another new GPU series that nobody can find available at all!
What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!
