NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti – PCB designs for the highest Ampere graphics card are already equipped for the GeForce RTX 4090 chip

A few days ago, we discussed a few new information about the upcoming NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 flagship graphics card, which will use the Ada architecture and AD102 graphics chip. According to information initially disclosed by Igor’s Lab portal, the GA102 and AD102 systems are pin-compatible, which will translate into faster setup of PCBs and cooling systems, based on existing projects. This is to translate it into a faster introduction to selling, while lowering production costs (after all, you won’t have to set up a new PCB and cooling system from scratch, instead, it’s enough to test a modified BIOS with a much higher power limit for the GPU, up to 600 watts). The designs of some non-reference GeForce RTX 3090 Ti graphics cards seem to confirm that the premiere of the most powerful Ampere is in fact a corporate test ground before the launch of the GeForce RTX 4090 and the full AD102 chip.

It seems that many non-reference graphics card designs with the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti chip are ready for the arrival of the best GeForce RTX 4090 chip, based on the Ada architecture. The build of the PCB into MSI, Inno3D, EVGA, or ZOTAC cards indicates this.

ASUS GeForce RTX 3090 Ti TUF gaming test – this is not a graphics card for the poor with poor power supplies

Non-reference graphics card designs from companies like ZOTAC, EVGA, Inno3D or MSI clearly indicate that the PCB was in fact made with a more powerful graphics system than the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti. This is evidenced by some of the shortcomings that can be observed in PCB designs. It goes, among other things o leave only one 16-pin power connector and a visible place to potentially solder the other, the same. In the case of GeForce RTX 3090 Ti cards, the TDP is usually 450 watts, but the new, higher generation system – the GeForce RTX 4090 – delivers up to 600 watts. PCIe 5.0 standard fuels theories about much higher power consumption than the flagship in the Ada family.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 with Ada AD102 graphics card can provide up to 24GB of memory with a TDP of 600W

However, shortcomings also appear in other parts of the PCB, for example in the context of removing unnecessary elements (in the case of a card with a specific TDP, which in the case of the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti is no less than 450 W) capacitors and MOSFETs. In the case of a more powerful chip, such as the AD102 in the form of a GeForce RTX 4090, manufacturers of non-reference designs will be able to quickly add it, thus saving time and money. The images in the news cover the following graphics cards in turn: ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3090 Ti AMP Extreme Holo, EVGA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FTW3 Ultra, Inno3D GeForce RTX 3090 Ti with PCB irregularly (default design of NVIDIA Founders Edition), MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Ti SUPRIM X. The latter differs in the design of the PCB in that it does not have two 16-pin plugs, but only one. However, thanks to the use of the PJP1 jumper (it is not present on the MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Ti SUPRIM X model, but the manufacturer can add it to the PCB), this design can be adequately modified to support the PCIe 5.0 standard using 600W. Power consumption appears to be 600W In the graphics chip GeForce RTX 4090 is quite possible.

Source: VideoCardz, TechPoweUp, Igor’s Lab