Nvidia’s Turing GPUs are lastly right here! Sort of. Breaking with custom, the primary graphics playing cards to be introduced in Nvidia’s new Turing household are literally skilled Quadro RTX models: the Quadro RTX 5000, Quadro RTX 6000 and Quadro RTX 8000.
As such, we’ll have to attend just a little longer earlier than we see the arrival of extra consumer-facing GeForce GTX variations (in all probability subsequent week when Nvidia maintain their large Gamescom event), but when Nvidia’s new Turing Quadro playing cards are something to go by, the alleged GTX 1180, GTX 2080 and even RTX 2080 (even now nobody’s fairly positive but what they’re really going to be referred to as) will virtually actually blow at the moment’s best graphics cards clear out of the water. Here’s all the things we all know up to now.
Nvidia Turing GTX 1180 specs
Based on what we now learn about Turing’s elementary structure, the brand new GeForce GTX Turing graphics playing cards will virtually actually utilise GDDR6 reminiscence. Precisely how a lot per card stays to be seen, nonetheless. Previous rumours obtained by utterly unknown means over at Wccftech pegged it someplace within the considerably nebulous area of 8-16GB for the GTX 1180, clocked at 16Gbps with a 256-bit interface, nevertheless it’s anybody’s guess whether or not that can really show to be right.
Either method, GGDR6 reminiscence is considerably sooner than each the 8GB of GDDR5X reminiscence at the moment within the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 and the 8GB of HBM2 (2nd Gen High Bandwidth) reminiscence in AMD’s Radeon RX Vega 64. If it did show to be clocked at 16Gbps, for instance, that may give the alleged GTX 1180 an enormous reminiscence bandwidth of 512GB/s. For comparability, the GTX 1080 solely affords 320GB/s.
Indeed, in a leaked picture (see under) of an Nvidia engineering pattern grabbed by the chaps over at VideoCardz, we will see 12 GDDR6 reminiscence modules round three sides of the at the moment vacant GPU spot. Admittedly, given the dearth of GPU on this picture, this specific pattern card may theoretically be completely something, corresponding to one of many new Quadro RTX playing cards or one other of Nvidia’s new high-end enterprise playing cards for servers et al. It’s not essentially something to do with GeForce.
Is this a Turing GTX card, or one thing else completely?
Still, the presence of GDDR6 reminiscence is vital, because it confirms this undoubtedly isn’t only a beefed up Pascal 10-series card. Why is GDDR6 reminiscence vital? Well, Micron (whose identify is on the modules proven above) have said that not solely is GDDR6 is considerably sooner than the present GDDR5 normal, with the official spec for GDDR6 stating it will possibly ship a switch fee of as much as 16 Gbit/s per pin versus GDDR5’s 5 Gbit/s, nevertheless it’s additionally extra vitality environment friendly than GDDR5, providing you with massively elevated efficiency at a a lot decrease operating price.
Micron have additionally stated that their GDDR6 reminiscence “will be a core enabling technology of advanced GPU applications, including acceleration, 4K video and improved rendering, VR/AR and crypto-mining applications.” That final one may make you groan a bit – it was crypto-mining that drove up graphics card costs within the first place, in any case – however one factor is evident: GDDR6-equipped graphics playing cards will possible make mincemeat out of at the moment’s most demanding video games, making certain higher 4K efficiency at greater element settings.
We can even safely assume the GTX 1180 will characteristic the identical RT Cores (or ray tracing cores) as their upmarket Quadro cousins. Nvidia haven’t gone into element about precisely what number of RT Cores every Quadro has but, so it’s tough to guess what number of we’ll find yourself seeing in a GeForce card, however on condition that real-time ray tracing (aka actually fancy lighting tech as seen on this fairly pretty Project Pica Pica demo from EA’s SEED division earlier this yr at GDC) is a key a part of what makes the Turing structure so particular, it might be weird within the excessive to chop them out of their GTX playing cards utterly.
For reference, listed below are the specs of Nvidia’s new Turing Quadro RTX playing cards:
| Quadro RTX 5000 | Quadro RTX 6000 | Quadro RTX 8000 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CUDA Cores | 3702 | 4608 | 4608 |
| Tensor Cores | 384 | 576 | 576 |
| GPU Memory | 16GB GDDR6 | 24GB GDDR6 | 48GB GDDR6 |
| RT Cores | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Until Nvidia announce the GTX variations correctly, although, it’s finest to take any alleged spec leaks with a pinch of salt.
Nvidia Turing GTX 1180 launch date
The launch date for Nvidia’s Turing household has been in a continuing state of flux ever for the reason that Turing hearsay mill whirred to life earlier this yr. At one level they’d been delayed until mid-June, earlier than being delayed again to the autumn because of revised manufacturing schedules.
Then everybody acquired actually excited as a result of Nvidia was meant to be giving a chat at a convention this August about their ‘next mainstream GPU’. Even if Turing wasn’t launched at that time, a minimum of we would get a couple of particulars about what to anticipate. Then Nvidia mysteriously pulled out of the convention, claiming just some days later at Computex that their subsequent GPUs have been going to be “a long time” sooner or later.
Now, although, it might seem “a long time” isn’t really that lengthy in any respect, as a result of a) they’ve simply introduced Turing at this week’s pc graphics and animation convention Siggraph in Vancouver, and b) in keeping with a leaked e mail between a retailer and Nvidia accomplice obtained by YouTuber Gamer Meld, Nvidia’s new graphics playing cards shall be coming in month-long waves beginning on August 30:
- August 30: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1180
- September 30: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1170 and one thing referred to as the GTX 1180+
- October 30: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1160
The supposed existence of the GTX 1180+ is a very attention-grabbing growth. Possibly analogous to Nvidia’s souped up ‘Ti’ variants, the concept of getting one among these launched so quickly after the common GTX 1180 is extremely uncommon. Normally, there’s a major wait time earlier than Ti playing cards get launched, and this timeframe particularly sounds fishy, to say the least.
Then once more, this might all be a load of hogwash, as WccfTech are additionally claiming there shall be three Turing playing cards all arriving in September. So who is aware of, principally.
What’s extra, given Turing’s Quadro branding now has RTX within the title – presumably to mirror its new ray tracing capabilities – Nvidia might nicely undertake RTX for his or her GeForce playing cards as nicely, which might render all of those leaks utterly ineffective. Indeed, the Quadro RTX 5000, Quadro RTX 6000 and Quadro RTX 8000 aren’t even because of arrive till the someday between October and December, Nvidia have confirmed, so it’s extremely doable we’ll have to attend even longer for his or her GeForce siblings, perhaps even into the realms of early 2019.
Nvidia Turing GTX 1180 worth
Given the ups and downs of graphics card prices just lately, it might be a idiot’s recreation to attempt to guess how a lot the Turing GTX playing cards are going to price with out ready for affirmation from Nvidia themselves. One factor we can be sure of, nonetheless, is that they’re undoubtedly not going to price as a lot as their Quadro RTX playing cards, which begin at an eye-watering $2300. Hopefully, Nvidia will knock a minimum of one zero off that determine for a few of Turing’s GeForce counterparts, nevertheless it’s actually anybody’s guess at this level.
The solely factor we will actually look to is how a lot the GTX 10-series price once they first launched. The GTX 1080, for instance, launched at $599, so we will in all probability anticipate the GTX 1180 to be someplace round that sort of ball park. Indeed, in a number of the leaked spec paperwork above, it was proposed the GTX 1180 would price $699. That’s in all probability a fairly smart guess, given the upper worth of GDDR6 reminiscence, however we’ll have to attend and see if Nvidia reveal any concrete pricing info at Gamescom subsequent week.
Nvidia Turing: GTX 1180, GTX 2080 or RTX 2080, and what about Volta?
Hold on a second, I hear you cry. Wasn’t Volta meant to be Nvidia’s subsequent GPU structure? Yes. For a very long time, it regarded as if Volta would certainly be the successor to Nvidia’s shopper line-up of 10-series Pascal playing cards. It’s already been deployed in high-end playing cards just like the ludicrous Titan V, however that principle appears to have gone out of the window now in favour of the present code identify, Turing.
For some time, it regarded as if they may have been referred to as Ampere as nicely, with Volta being reserved for Nvidia’s top-end playing cards alone. Now we all know that Turing is unquestionably the identify hooked up to Nvidia’s high-end Quadro playing cards, and it’s in all probability protected to imagine it should even be the identify of their new GeForce shopper playing cards as nicely.
That nonetheless doesn’t assist in making an attempt to determine what mannequin names they’ll really use, although. While the leaked specs above seem to counsel Nvidia’s Turing playing cards shall be generally known as the 11-series, there have additionally been rumours flying round that Nvidia will bounce straight to 20 as a substitute.
That’s in keeping with TweakTown, which might counsel they’ll be generally known as the GTX 2070 and GTX 2080, to provide simply two examples, fairly than the GTX 1170 or GTX 1180. This hearsay began with the so-called April launch date hypothesis, because it was hotly-tipped that Nvidia would reveal the so-called GTX 2070 and GTX 2080 at their GTC convention on the finish of March. Well, no such announcement materialised at GTC, so it might be the 20-series identify is a load of bobbins as nicely.
If Nvidia did bounce straight to 20, presumably then leaping to 30 afterwards after which 40 and many others, then it wouldn’t go away them with almost as many numbers for subsequent generations as it might going up in single digits. Of course, tech corporations are famend for altering their naming conventions as and when it fits them, so might Nvidia will undertake 20 in any case.
Indeed, a neat method spherical this entire fiasco could be to bin the GTX model altogether and begin afresh with RTX (reflecting Turing’s fancy ray tracing tech) just like the Turing Quadro playing cards. This would successfully enable Nvidia to decide on any quantity they preferred, because it wouldn’t conflict with anything that had gone earlier than it.
Under these circumstances, a 20-series would arguably make much more sense, because it creates a transparent distinction from the present 10-series. If Nvidia went for an RTX 11-series, they’d in all probability come throughout as simply one other incremental improve over Pascal, which, from what we’ve seen up to now of the Quadro playing cards, undoubtedly isn’t the case.
If Nvidia are severe about giving us a purpose to improve our graphics playing cards, a 20-series could be simply the factor they should sign the generational leap Turing appears to be offering.
Naturally, all eyes shall be on Nvidia’s Gamescom occasion subsequent Monday, so keep tuned for extra particulars at 6pm CET on August 20.
