There have been some leaks and rumors recently about the upcoming graphics card generations from AMD and Nvidia. The performance compared to the current models of the RX 6000 and RTX 3000 is expected to increase massively, and with the so-called MCM (multi-chip module) design, a new era for graphics chips is to be entered.
The rumor mill has so far been silent about one detail: How much power will the enormous graphics power of the RX 7000 and RTX 4000 actually need?
Power consumption should increase massively
Latest information from the well-known hardware speaker kopite7kimi @ kopite7kimi and the user Bondrewd from the Beyon3D-Foum (via 3DCenter) give a first outlook on the power consumption of the future flagship GPUs of both manufacturers – and it has it all:
Link to Twitter content
Accordingly, both AMD and Nvidia are breaking existing limits. The full expansion of Navi 31, which will most likely fuel the upcoming top model from AMD, should bring it to 450 to 480 watts. Nvidia’s counterpart in the high-end segment based on the AD102 chip, which will probably be called RTX 4090 or 4080 Ti, should consume 420 to 450 watts.
To put that in perspective: The Nvidia Geforce RTX 3090 consumes a maximum of 350 watts in the Founders Edition. The reference design of the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT is designed for 300 watts.
Almost 500 watt TDP – can that be?
So far there is no official confirmation of the dates. However, the values fit into the picture only too well, provided that the previous leaks and rumors about the performance of the new generation of graphics cards only partially prove to be true.
more on the subject
RX 7900 XT: Perhaps the greatest leap in performance
Because the enormous graphics power has to be obtained from somewhere and the fact that the chips are so much more energy-efficient than the current models can in fact be ruled out.
Both AMD and Nvidia allegedly rely on a 5-nanometer process from contract manufacturer TSMC for the RX 7000 and RTX 4000. Compared to the current process nodes (TSMC 7nm, Samsung 8nm), the energy efficiency could increase in the range of several tens of percent, but that is not enough to serve the 2.5-fold increase in performance, according to rumors.
If the new graphics cards actually operate with TDPs close to 500 watts, we are also excited about the cooling solutions. The heat sink of the Founders Edition of the RTX 3090 is already enormous.
When should the new graphics cards appear?
It will be some time before the RX 7000 and RTX 4000 are released. At the moment everything looks like the new generation of graphics cards will appear at the end of 2022.
What do you all mean? Will the new graphics cards from AMD and Nvidia really scratch the 500 watts? Feel free to write it in the comments!
