NVIDIA RTX 4080 SUPER Sticks with AD103 Silicon, 16GB of 256-bit Memory

Recent placeholder listings of unreleased MSI RTX 40-series SUPER graphics cards seem to confirm that the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is getting 16 GB of memory, likely across a 256-bit memory interface, as NVIDIA is tapping into the larger "AD103" silicon to create it. The company had maxed out the "AD104" silicon with the current RTX 4070 Ti. What's also interesting is that they point to the RTX 4080 SUPER having the same 16 GB of 256-bit memory as the RTX 4080. NVIDIA carved the current RTX 4080 out of the "AD103" by enabling 76 out of 80 SM (38 out of 40 TPCs). So it will be interesting to see if NVIDIA manages to achieve the performance goals of the RTX 4080 SUPER by simply giving it 512 more CUDA cores (from 9,728 to 10,240). The three other levers NVIDIA has at its disposal are GPU clocks, power limits, and memory speeds. The RTX 4080 uses 22.4 Gbps memory speed, which it can increase to 23 Gbps.

The current RTX 4080 has a TGP of 320 W, compared to the 450 W of the AD102-based RTX 4090, and RTX 4080 cards tend to include an NVIDIA-designed adapter that converts three 8-pin PCIe connectors to a 12VHPWR with signal pins denoting 450 W continuous power capability. In comparison, RTX 4090 cards include a 600 W capable adapter with four 8-pin inputs. Even with the 450 W capable adapter, NVIDIA has plenty of room to raise the TGP of the RTX 4080 SUPER up from the 320 W of the older RTX 4080, to increase GPU clocks besides maxing out the "AD103" silicon. NVIDIA is expected to announce the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER and RTX 4080 SUPER on January 8, with the RTX 4080 SUPER scheduled to go on sale toward the end of January.