Nvidia’s RTX 40-Series 'Ada' AD102 GPU Begins Testing Phase: Report

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition
(Image credit: Nvidia)

Nvidia is expected to launch its next-generation GPU family codenamed Ada Lovelace this fall, so it's about time for the company and its partners to start testing the new graphics processors. Apparently, this is exactly what they are doing, according to the well-known and incredibly accurate leaker Kopite7Kimi.  

"Let's turn our attention to GPU," tweeted kopite7kimi. "AD102 has started testing." 

Typically, a GPU bring-up takes a little more than a year, so assuming Nvidia is on track to release its GeForce RTX 4080/4090 graphics boards this fall, it should have obtained the first samples of its AD102 processors last summer. Of course, by now, the chip and its drivers should be ready for internal and external testing, so while we cannot verify whether the tweet is absolutely accurate, the information at least looks logical. 

Previous unofficial leaks about Nvidia's Ada Lovelace GPUs indicate that Nvidia is maximizing the performance of its new family, which is going to lead to a further increase in GPU power consumption and, therefore, the usage of 12+4-pin auxiliary PCIe power cables. 

Ada Lovelace is Nvidia's next-generation GPU architecture for gaming graphics processors (so expect GeForce RTX 4000-series to be among the best graphics cards around), as opposed to the company's Hopper family, which is designed primarily for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence applications.  

It is expected that Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4000-series 'Ada Lovelace' GPUs will be made using one of TSMC's N5 (5 nm-class) fabrication technologies. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect them to offer performance uplift compared to existing GeForce RTX 3000-series 'Ampere' GPUs both because of architectural improvements and a considerably more advanced fabrication technology, which allows Nvidia to pack in more transistors and increase clocks while keeping power consumption in check. 

Nvidia has not formally confirmed the release of its next-generation GeForce RTX 4000-series 'Ada Lovelace' GPUs this year. However, the company tends to introduce all-new GPU families every two years, so it is about time to launch its next-gen breed of GeForces in 2022. 

Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

  • thepersonwithaface45
    Holy crap, here I am thinking "wait, don't GPUs come out every 2 years?"
    3000 series really came out in 2020 huh? God these past two years flew. EDIT: I guess they did launch in fall of 2020, but still~
    Reply
  • sstanic
    News about Ethereum postponing its transition until later in the year incoming in 3, 2, 1... Profit is profit 🤷‍♂️
    Reply
  • peterf28
    I see on my desk a Ryzen 7600X3D, 16GB DDR5, 4070TI 20GB, ...
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    sstanic said:
    News about Ethereum postponing its transition until later in the year incoming in 3, 2, 1... Profit is profit 🤷‍♂️
    One of the developers already posted a few days ago that it would be delayed a few more months.
    Reply
  • hotaru.hino
    Better sign up for one of those bot services if you want one at launch, because I will guarantee you this will be a near-impossible product to find for at least 3 months (and that's probably being generous).
    Reply
  • jacob249358
    Are they really putting 20GB in the 4070 ti? wow
    Reply
  • gg83
    When should I upgrade from a 2080 super? I don't need insane fps or 4k.
    Reply
  • jacob249358
    gg83 said:
    When should I upgrade from a 2080 super? I don't need insane fps or 4k.
    3080 ti would do well but I would just wait for the 4000 series. Even if you arent able to get one the 3000 series will be cheaper
    Reply
  • ThatMouse
    So we should be able to buy them in 2024?
    Reply
  • hannibal
    Because of this, old GPU are at discount! Only 30 to 40% above MSRP any more :ROFLMAO:
    Maybe 3000 series drop to MSRP +10% when these are actually at the market? We can always hope... :rolleyes:
    Reply