Nvidia Lovelace rumored specs: What we know so far about GeForce RTX 30 series' successor

Nvidia Lovelace rumored specs: What we know and then far nearly GeForce RTX thirty series' successor

(Image credit: Nvidia)

Lovelace is the codename we believe Nvidia is using for its side by side generation of GeForce graphics cards, and if the leaks prove true, they could exist aircraft as early equally late 2022. We've even heard rumors that a Nintendo Switch Pro powered by a Lovelace GPU could be in the works.

Of course, that's quite all quite a ways away, and that means nosotros should accept everything we've heard nearly Lovelace with generous skepticism. The ongoing scrap shortage and the vagaries of Nvidia's production roadmap could easily lead to significant delays and changes.

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Still, what nosotros've heard then far paints an exciting picture of where Nvidia's GPU business is headed. Given the remarkable performance and popularity of current Nvidia cards like the GeForce RTX 3070 and GeForce RTX 3080, the prospect of a new gear up of Lovelace-powered cards (presumably with RTX 4000-series branding) arriving in 2022 or 2023 should give PC gaming fans a lot to get excited about.

Permit's just promise that when they do arrive, they're a bit easier to get ahold of than the electric current ingather of Nvidia cards.

Nvidia Lovelace rumored specs

Equally of July 2021, the latest and nearly credible leaks (from regular leakers @greymon55 and @kopite7kimi) most Nvidia'south Lovelace GPU claim it will exist manufactured past TSMC on a 5-nanometer node, or perhaps even a more performant version branded N5P (N5 Performance). Either style, a 5nm process should produce more efficient cards than the 8nm node procedure used for the GeForce 3070, 3080, and 3090 cards.

If y'all're interested in raw numbers, the latest leaks merits that the flagship bill of fare in a Lovelace-powered GeForce 4000-series will take 144 streaming multiprocessors (the GeForce RTX 3090 has 82) and a maximum of eighteen,432 CUDA cores.

If you're non familiar with CUDA cores, they're basically parallel data processing units inside an Nvidia GPU that work similarly to the way the CPU works in your PC. In general, the more CUDA cores a GPU has, the more than quickly it can piece of work through complex information. Thus, it's pretty meaning that an Nvidia GPU built on Lovelace could have over 18,000 Cuda cores, as that'southward almost twice as many as the 10,496 you'll find on the abominable RTX 3090. Of course, the RTX 3090 is built on the Ampere architecture, and so the 2 CUDA core counts aren't directly comparable.

Leaker Greymon55 has also repeatedly floated the idea that Nvidia GPUs built on Lovelace volition crave significantly more power than the GeForce 3000-serial GPUs they're replacing, as much as double in some cases. That's potentially a large deal because the GeForce RTX 3090 already draws between 300 and 400 watts, significant if yous put it into a beefy arrangement you lot'll probably want at a ability supply unit that delivers at least 850W, or more if you're using really power-hungry components like an AMD Ryzen Threadripper CPU. If the GeForce 4000-series cards actually do crave twice as much power, we could be looking at a future where i,000 - one,800 watt power supplies are what you'll demand to build truly performant PCs.

Nvidia Lovelace release date leaks

As mentioned before, the current volatility of the GPU marketplace is practiced reason to take all rumored release windows for the next generation of Nvidia cards with a big grain of salt.

That said, @greymon55 has so far claimed that Lovelace cards will debut "no earlier than the end of 2022," which makes sense for multiple reasons. Offset and foremost, that gives Nvidia and TSMC enough of fourth dimension to spin upwards production, and we've heard reliable reports that TSMC and Nvidia rival AMD take already validated a 5nm process for producing desktop fleck products.

As well, Nvidia has often gone ii years between releasing major GPU lines, and then the fact that the high-cease GeForce 3000-series cards debuted in late 2020 (with a revamped line of 3000-series Ti cards launching in 2021) means a belatedly 2022 launch for a GeForce 4000-series would fit right into Nvidia's playbook.

Nvidia Lovelace price speculation

We haven't heard any credible leaks or rumors about how Nvidia will cost its side by side generation of GPUs yet, but we can brand some educated guesses based on how the visitor has priced prior generations.

Typically the visitor launches a new GeForce line with a few high-cease cards up front, with prices ranging from $500 to $1,500. In September of 2020, for example, it appear that its high-cease GeForce RTX 3090 would cost $1,500. The RTX 3080 was initially sold for $699, and the mid-range RTX 3070 was priced at $499.

Those prices were roughly in line with the pricing for the prior generation (RTX 2070-2090), then it'south a safe bet that Nvidia volition be trying to hit similar pricing with a GeForce RTX 4000-series of cards.

Yet, we really don't know what impact the electric current chip shortage and GPU market volatility volition take on the final pricing of a new series of GeForce cards. All of the GeForce 3000-serial cards are at present selling (frequently second-manus) for much higher prices than they were initially offered at, and there's no reason to expect things will return to normal by the cease of 2022. Plus, Nvidia may ever choose to justify a price hike by pointing to the increased ability and efficiency Lovelace is rumored to deliver.

Nvidia Lovelace outlook

Despite the remarkable instability of the GPU market, it'due south a safe bet that Nvidia is working on a successor to its hyper-pop GeForce 3000-serial cards, and correct now all indicators point to those cards being powered by Lovelace.

If the leaks we've heard about how bulky those cards bear witness true, Lovelace could assistance Nvidia get toe-to-toe with rival AMD, who is as well rumored to exist debuting a serial of adjacent-gen 5nm GPUs in late 2022 using its own RDNA three architecture.

And of class, we can't completely discount the leaks we've heard that a scaled-down Lovelace chip will show up in the long-rumored Nintendo Switch Pro. Sure, after launching the Switch OLED Nintendo has officially stated it has "no plans for launching whatsoever other [Switch] model at this time," but those plans may change past the end of 2022.

Alex Wawro is a lifelong tech and games enthusiast with more a decade of experience roofing both for outlets like Game Programmer, Black Chapeau, and PC World magazine. He currently serves as a senior editor at Tom's Guide roofing all things computing, from laptops and desktops to keyboards and mice.