Nvidia’s next series of GPU’s, the RTX 40-series, could still be months away from release. There are rumours abound that there is still a lot of work to do on Nvidia’s next instalment of graphics cards which would still put them a fair bit of time away from reaching the shelves.
It’s been previously suggested that the 40-series GPUs were set for a September 2022 launch date, and that the tech was already in testing. However, it seems that there is still quite a bit left to manage before they can be released into the wild.
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According to renown German technology site, Igor’s Lab, a speculative timeline estimates that Nvidia still needs to bring the first 40-series card out of the engineering and design phase. If this is true, then that would mean that it’s unlikely there is even a working prototype for the new series of video cards, meaning AIB partners (ASUS, MSI, etc.) have yet to receive a chip, let alone a BIOS or driver. Typically, partners would’ve been manufacturing for quite some time already, and potentially shipping units to various regions for sale.
According to Igor’s Lab (seen below) the 40-series cards will only enter mass production at the time of its supposed launch, which is when we typically see third-party AIB partners have access to the new chipset, to which they can only begin the design of their cards. Even if the AIB partners had access to the chipset beforehand, and they began their mass production timeline at the same time, it would still take some time to produce units ready for shipping and sales.
While not technically impossible, it is extremely improbable that an AIB partner will be able to receive a chip from Nvidia, design a BIOS, power delivery system, cooling, drivers and so much more, in time to start manufacturing, and shipping, units, in time for a September release date. This is made even more improbable by the current chip shortage facing the tech industry, which is still causing restraints on the supply of electronics across the board.
While this is all speculation, it’s important to understand that Nvidia and its partners are also incredibly adept at keeping their secrets, well, secret. In saying that, though, the timeline that Igor’s Lab proposes seems far more plausible, which would mean that Nvidia has quite some time to go before a working GPU can even enter in-house testing, let alone be sitting in our rigs at home.
Source: Igor’s Lab
