World's Fastest SFF Graphics Card Hits Retail

Nvidia
(Image credit: Nvidia)

Nvidia has started sales of its tiny RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation graphics card that promises GeForce RTX 3070-like performance at 70W of power and will fit into virtually all desktop PCs. The low-profile, dual-wide board is not cheap — it costs more than the RTX 4080, for example, as it's aimed at professional users — but nothing is stopping you from installing it on a regular gaming computer.

PNY's Nvidia RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation graphics card is available now for $1,444 from ShopBLT, a retailer known for landing hardware ahead of its rivals. This is why the board is being sold at a price that is higher compared to its official MSRP of $1,250. Keep in mind that the board is equipped with four Mini-DisplayPort connectors, so you'll also need to add the price of an mDP-DP or mDP-HDMI adapter to the cost of this miniature solution.

The Nvidia RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation board features the company's AD104 GPU with 6,144 active CUDA cores out of a total of 7,680, as well as 20GB of GDDR6 ECC memory connected to the GPU through a 160-bit interface. The GPU has a a capped boost frequency of approximately 1560 MHz to reduce overall board power consumption and is rated for just 70W of power, which means it can be installed into almost any desktop computer, even those without an auxiliary PCIe power connector.

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Nvidia RTX 40-Series Specifications
Row 0 - Cell 0 GPUFP32 CUDA CoresFP32 TFLOPSINT8 TFLOPSMemory ConfigurationTBPMSRP
GeForce RTX 4070 TiAD104768040 TFLOPS160/320 TFLOPS12GB 192-bit 21 GT/s GDDR6X285W$799
GeForce RTX 4070AD104588829 TFLOPS116/23312GB 192-bit 21 GT/s GDDR6X200W$599
RTX 4000 Ada GenerationAD104614419.2 TFLOPS153/307 TFLOPS20GB 160-bit 16 GT/s GDDR6 ECC70W$1,250
GeForce RTX 3090 TiGA10210,75240 TFLOPS160/320 TFLOPS24GB 384-bit 20 GT/s GDDR6X450W$1,999
GeForce RTX 3070GA104588820.31 TFLOPS81/160 TFLOPS8GB 256-bit 14 GT/s GDDR6220W$499

From a performance point of view, Nvidia's GA104 graphics processor in this configuration chip delivers a peak FP32performance of 19.2 TFLOPS, making it theoretically similar to the GeForce RTX 3070. Yet, with 20GB of memory onboard, this card is a little more future-proofed than the RTX 3070, and also potentially more useful for professional and AI researchers. The memory configuration likely utilizes 2GB GDDR6 chips on both sides of the PCB, as otherwise the 160-bit interface would limit maximum memory to just 10GB.

The nearly 20 FP32 TFLOPS are overshadowed by the superior performance of the recently launched GeForce RTX 4070 (29 FP32 TFLOPS). The board also boasts a peak RT performance of 44.3 TFLOPS and a peak FP8/INT8 tensor performance of 153/306.8 TFLOPS/TOPS (without and with sparsity). FP8/INT8 performance of course has nothing to do with games, but it's an added bonus for the professional market. In fact, 153/306.8 TFLOPS/TOPS is comparable to the more expensive and power-hungry Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Ti (that's if you don't care about precision, as the 3090 Ti only has native FP16 support).

Other advantages of the RTX 4000 SFF Ada include Nvidia's professional drivers and support for professional software ISVs. Furthermore, it comes with a 3-pin mini-DIN connector for stereoscopic 3D output (e.g. Nvidia 3D Vision), and supports Frame Lock capability for multi-display applications.

We should see pricing and availability improve in the coming weeks as the card becomes more widely available. For now, this is a workstation part designed for compact systems, targeting low power rather than maximum performance.

(Image credit: Nvidia)
Anton Shilov
Freelance News Writer

Anton Shilov is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. 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.

  • Order 66
    If this was $300 dollars as opposed to $1250+ I might consider it as my PC only has 1 6-pin PCIe connector but at $1250+ I could build an entirely new PC for that price.
    Reply
  • bigdragon
    I really like this. It's a shame gamer GPUs aren't made like this. Not everyone wants a triple fan, 4 slot, over-designed, logo-covered, energy-gulping, limited VRAM, RGB GPU designed to fit in an eATX case.

    Low power consumption, lots of CUDA cores, and compact size are all good attributes. This is also one of the rare examples of Nvidia providing sufficient VRAM. Shame that they've set the price at a consumer-hostile level. Corporations and governments will probably snap these things up without much hesitation. I hope to see more products like this. Half-height, dual-slot cards can fit in some very compact mATX and mini-ITX builds.
    Reply
  • LuxZg
    This just shows what's possible when you want to. But it's still terrible card for SFF gaming. It has too much RAM, not that I'd complain, but that increases power consumption, size of board, and price, while benefits would be zero in gaming. This card with say 12GB RAM, shorter board, WAY smaller cooler, and a 300$ price would be a great SFF card. As is, it's a gimmick for weird pros that have money but don't have space for a bigger PC, which would be funny
    Reply
  • Firestone
    LuxZg said:
    As is, it's a gimmick for weird pros that have money but don't have space for a bigger PC, which would be funny
    Lol that would be me, it's what you get when you live in small apartment settings.

    I'm pretty excited for this card even though it's still not enough VRAM. But the prospect of sub-mITX sized workstations capable of AI and ML is pretty cool. Combine this with a Ryzen 7950X and a set of the new 2x48GB DDR5 and you could have a really fun tiny system.
    Reply
  • Wickedcruel
    My company has bought a number of these last gen Small Form Factor RTX A2000 6GB, 70 watt, cards. They've been great for all the SFF Dell PC's we've bought over the years, but need them to do more now. When a 4 year old SFF Dell PC has an i9-9900k, 64GB, 2TB M.2, but an AMD RX550, we're expecting we can get another 3-5 years of life out of the PC by upgrading it with a RTX A2000 card. Up until today, it's been the fastest card you can buy at 70W or less. These A2000 cards all came with (4) Mini DisplayPort to Displayport connectors, (I have a box full of them) so the article is probably wrong in assuming you'll have to buy them. I bet (4) of them come in the box with every new card in the next generation too.
    Reply
  • renz496
    bigdragon said:
    I really like this. It's a shame gamer GPUs aren't made like this. Not everyone wants a triple fan, 4 slot, over-designed, logo-covered, energy-gulping, limited VRAM, RGB GPU designed to fit in an eATX case.

    Low power consumption, lots of CUDA cores, and compact size are all good attributes. This is also one of the rare examples of Nvidia providing sufficient VRAM. Shame that they've set the price at a consumer-hostile level. Corporations and governments will probably snap these things up without much hesitation. I hope to see more products like this. Half-height, dual-slot cards can fit in some very compact mATX and mini-ITX builds.
    nah gaming GPU need bigger power so those power supply maker can get more sales. well joke aside i'm interested this one being tested in games like A2000 before.
    Reply
  • sickbrains
    How does this compare to the regular ampere RTX A4000? I think this has less bandwidth but way better tensor core performance. Still really impressive for 70 watts tho!
    Reply
  • mo_osk
    LuxZg said:
    As is, it's a gimmick for weird pros that have money but don't have space for a bigger PC, which would be funny

    The simpler, more depressing, reason for this card to exist at this price is that sometimes an SFF GPU is the only way out of procurement hell. When you can throw whatever money at an "accessory" but you're stuck with <Mod Edit> unbalanced configuration for the desktops this is an easy way out the trouble that can be buying a specific configuration.
    Reply
  • RodroX
    What a wonderfull piece of garbage. RTX 3070 like - performance (still to be check/seen), at a higher price tag than the RTX 4080 ..... really nvidia?

    What other great idea will the gr$$n team have to rob the buyers? some of them really loyal ones.

    GPU industry/market its nuts. One can understand, at some level, that makers and AIBs want to keep making as much moeny as when the mining boom was a thing, but thats not the case anymore.

    Sadly worldwide economy still a mess and some people barely gets to he end of the month. So this prices are imposible to a whole lot of people.
    Reply
  • Rakanyshu
    RodroX said:
    What a wonderfull piece of garbage. RTX 3070 like - performance (still to be check/seen), at a higher price tag than the RTX 4080 ..... really nvidia?

    What other great idea will the gr$$n team have to rob the buyers? some of them really loyal ones.

    GPU industry/market its nuts. One can understand, at some level, that makers and AIBs want to keep making as much moeny as when the mining boom was a thing, but thats not the case anymore.

    Sadly worldwide economy still a mess and some people barely gets to he end of the month. So this prices are imposible to a whole lot of people.
    well its a workstation card thwy have always been expensive and not suitable for consumer or gamers...
    Reply