Nvidia GeForce RTX 40-Series Launch Delay Rumors Intensify

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By Mark Tyson
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GeForce RTX
GeForce RTX (Image credit: Shutterstock)

Nvidia GeForce RTX 40-series (Ada Lovelace) graphics card launch date adjustment rumors have been bubbling up this weekend. Tech site VideoCardz has been talking to its sources regarding multiple unreleased Nvidia GeForce graphics cards. The story goes that Nvidia is reportedly delaying the new cards by various degrees. In brief, it says the debut of the first GeForce RTX 40-series graphics card may have suffered a one-month delay, and the purported GeForce GTX 1630 graphics card release is being pushed back due to supply chain issues.

PC DIYers and gamers will likely be eager to see the Nvidia RTX 40-series graphics cards launch with their Ada Lovelace architecture and TSMC N4 fabbed GPUs onboard. Performance rumors are exciting but counterbalanced by worries about power consumption and Nvidia trying to maintain crypto-boom era pricing. We mentioned the possibility of the first RTX 40-series GPUs arriving in September. This weekend VideoCardz has 'confirmed' September as the date the first Lovelace card will launch, the GeForce RTX 4090, which it characterizes as a schedule slip, after heralding an 'early' August launch for this SKU over the last few weeks.

VideoCardz says it has reportedly confirmed the release schedule with multiple sources but mentions these new dates don't rule out earlier announcements. So we suppose it is talking about paper launch vs. physical launch dates here and doing a bit of hedging.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Graphics CardNew Launch Date

GeForce RTX 4090

September 2022

GeForce RTX 4080

October 2022

GeForce RTX 4070

November 2022

Nvidia must hope to string out its high-end RTX 40 series launch proceedings to maximize profits before unleashing what is usually the volume selling RTX xx60-series and lower-tier GPUs.

On the topic of lower-tier graphics cards, VideoCardz asserts that a new entry-level Turing GPU that has been in the talk for several weeks also suffered delays. According to rumors, the GeForce GTX 1630 was purportedly being prepared for the market next week. However, things have been pushed back an indeterminate number of days/weeks, seemingly at the last minute.

According to VideoCardz, many of the usual green team board partners have GTX 1630 cards manufactured and validated. In addition, the packaging and associated design work are all signed off and ready. The report suggests an issue with the supplies of some components, not the GPU, which has caused this delay.

For your information, the purported GeForce GTX 1630 is expected to be based upon the TU117 GPU, just like the GTX 1650. However, the newer lower-performance card will have only 512 shaders vs. the 896 in the GTX 1650. That is quite a cut in graphics processing power. Puny or not, we would be very interested in testing what might be one of the last Turing graphics cards ever released to see how it measures up to 2022 PC gaming demands. Ominously, previous rumors have said it offers sub-GTX 1050 Ti performance, so we are pretty sure it isn't making it into our frequently updated feature, which lists the best graphics cards for gaming.

 

Mark Tyson
Mark Tyson
Freelance News Writer

Mark Tyson is a Freelance News Writer at Tom's Hardware US. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.

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13 Comments Comment from the forums
  • LolaGT
    When people are still willing to pay more than MSRP for the 30xx series cards why would they need to hurry?
    Reply
  • waltc3
    I haven't seen any announcement from nVidia about RTX -4xxx, or did I miss it? All I've seen so far are rumors, and so how can it be "late" if an official ship date has not been announced? Rumors on the product, rumors on the ship date, and now rumors on it being late....;)
    Reply
  • hotaru251
    LolaGT said:
    When people are still willing to pay more than MSRP for the 30xx series cards why would they need to hurry?
    because they arent making the scalper prices profit?
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    LolaGT said:
    When people are still willing to pay more than MSRP for the 30xx series cards why would they need to hurry?
    When the 4000-series delay rumors started going around, the main reason cited for the delays was excess stock of 3000-series cards sitting in warehouses and shelves everywhere. I've heard that the situation has gotten so bad that retailers are demanding rebates from manufacturers because they cannot sell stock they bought a while ago at current market prices without eating a loss. Launching a new generation while there is excess old stock on the market is going to hurt.

    It also appears that bulk sell-offs by crypto-miners have started driving used GPU prices down, which would be another reason why retailers are struggling to part with their overpriced new stock.
    Reply
  • LolaGT
    they cannot sell stock they bought a while ago at current market prices without eating a loss

    Let me break out my tiny violin for them.
    Reply
  • Alvar "Miles" Udell
    You mean people aren't falling all over themselves to pay over $400 for an entry level video card like the RTX 3050? Who would have thought...
    Reply
  • alceryes
    This delay makes more sense if the other rumors floating around are also true.
    If the flagship RX 7000 series GPU from AMD would beat the flagship 4000 series from NVIDIA out of the box, NVIDIA loses little by letting AMD release first while they continue to tweak the optimizations and power levels for the 4090. This also allows them to clear out more of the 3000 series GPU overstock.

    However, this plan could backfire. There's no better beta tester than the general public. If AMD releases first they will have the head start in driver optimizations and issue corrections reported by the masses.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    Alvar Miles Udell said:
    You mean people aren't falling all over themselves to pay over $400 for an entry level video card like the RTX 3050? Who would have thought...
    $400 US? I've seen the RTX3050 going for $350 Canuckistani pesos, which is still $100 too much for my liking.
    Reply
  • renz496
    alceryes said:
    This delay makes more sense if the other rumors floating around are also true.
    If the flagship RX 7000 series GPU from AMD would beat the flagship 4000 series from NVIDIA out of the box, NVIDIA loses little by letting AMD release first while they continue to tweak the optimizations and power levels for the 4090. This also allows them to clear out more of the 3000 series GPU overstock.

    However, this plan could backfire. There's no better beta tester than the general public. If AMD releases first they will have the head start in driver optimizations and issue corrections reported by the masses.

    Being ahead does not mean you got the advantage. In fact releasing later also have it's advantage because you already know what kind of product you will be competing with. If anything AMD prefer to launch later. Because that way they can adjust their product positioning with better profit margin for themselves.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    renz496 said:
    Being ahead does not mean you got the advantage. In fact releasing later also have it's advantage because you already know what kind of product you will be competing with. If anything AMD prefer to launch later. Because that way they can adjust their product positioning with better profit margin for themselves.
    If AMD is confident it has the squeeze on Nvidia, Nvidia delaying to flush excess RTX3xxx inventory would be a perfect opportunity for AMD to grab market share.

    Nickeling and diming customers to the maximum extent possible has limits, especially while the market is flush with excess inventory and used parts. They'll still be making profit margins they couldn't even dream of three years ago.
    Reply