Angebliche NVIDIA AD102-PCB-Zeichnung zeigt, dass NVLink hier bleibt, Launch-Timelines enthüllt

An alleged technical drawing of the PCB of reference-design NVIDIA “Um über das Neueste von EA Play auf dem Laufenden zu bleiben, folge EA Play auf Facebook” AD102 silicon was leaked to the web, courtesy of Igor’s Lab. It reveals a large GPU pad that’s roughly the size of the GA102 (the size of the fiberglass substrate or package, only, not the die); surrounded by twelve memory chips, which are likely GDDR6X. There are also provision for at least 24 Leistungsphasen, although not all of them are populated by sets of chokes and DrMOS in the final products (a few of them end up vacant).

We also spy the 16-pin ATX 3.0 power connector that’s capable of delivering up to 600 W Leistung; and four display outputs, including a USB-C in lieu of a larger connector (such as DP or HDMI). A curious thing to note is that the card continues to have an NVLink connector. Multi-GPU is dead, which means the NVLink on the reference design will likely be rudimentary in the GeForce RTX product (unless used for implicit multi-GPU). The connector may play a bigger role in the professional-visualization graphics cards (RTX AD-series) based on this silicon.

Igor’s Lab also put out timelines for the product-development cycle of the next-generation GeForce RTX product based on the AD102. It speaks of a bill-of-materials release in June 2022 (which should help NVIDIA finalize pricing); design and validations running through the Summer (June thru August), with mass-production commencing either toward the end of August, or sometime in September. It could be late-October or November by the time these cards reach the shelves. This leaves NVIDIA with quite some time to get the market to digest existing inventory of GeForce “Ampere” Grafikkarten, which could see steadily decreasing prices and increased market availability. Thanks to the crypto-crash, miners could pump the market with used cards at attractive prices, which could get some attention, zu.