by
Thiago Trevisan
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Wednesday, March 20, 2024, 10:42 AM EDT
NVIDIA has been blazing a significant trail in its push with AI and data center GPUs, but that does not mean it's forgotten gamers. With the GeForce RTX 40 Super GPUs behind us, all eyes are pointed towards the next-generation GeForce RTX 50 GPUs. We have some inkling now of what they may be like, if the memory specs from Samsung are any indication.
Packing super-fast Samsung GDDR7 memory with speeds of at least 28Gbps, GeForce RTX 50 series GPUs are starting to look promising. Even higher speeds are possible, such as 32Gbs or more, but likely reserved for data center products instead. First spotted by HardwareLuxx at the NVIDIA GTC 2024, this new memory spec comes with 20% improved power efficiency. While heat and power draw are vital to data centers, it can also be an important factor in consumer-grade GPUs within gaming PCs.
Spotted by HardwareLuxx, the Samsung GDDR7 memory
The 1.1V voltage is part of the reason for this improved efficiency, as noted by it being better than the typical 1.2V. A further focus on reducing heat with using new package materials is another factor, along with an optimized circuit design. This leads to a staggering 70% decrease in thermal resistance when compared to the previous GDDR6. If you've owned something like an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, you'll know that GDDR6 VRAM can get toasty under heavy usage.
VRAM has been an important selling point of modern GPUs, more-so than ever before. With the emerging use of technologies such as ray tracing, path tracing, and overall higher textures, VRAM hungry titles abound. Add to the proliferation of higher resolution monitors hitting more salient price points for consumers, and it is a recipe for high VRAM usage.
This will boil down to not only the amount of VRAM, but also its speed and efficiency, as teased by Samsung. Technologies such as NVIDIA's DLSS 3 with frame generation further help to extrapolate performance from the latest GPUs, while also reducing power usage to some extent. This will likely be a key component in not only the ultra powerful segment of NVIDIA RTX 50 series GPUs, but the entry level models as well.
With GPU pricing of existing GeForce RTX 40 Series products fluctuating over time and recently decreasing somewhat, pricing for GeForce RTX 50 series products will be watched with a keen eye by gamers. The inclusion of faster, more efficient memory will certainly make a big impact on how these new GPUs are received, in performance and in the pricing sensibilities of gamers.
