Nvidia’s RTX 40-series refresh seems to be right around the corner, and the rumor mill is buzzing with new updates on what we can expect. Today, we heard more about what might happen to some of Nvidia’s current best graphics cards when their newer counterparts are released. It seems that Nvidia may be sticking to the one GPU that’s actually a good value and replacing the two that are not.
According to Board Channels, a website that frequently posts leaks about upcoming PC hardware releases, Nvidia has big plans for all three Super cards. The RTX 4080 Super and the RTX 4070 Ti Super are rumored to replace the existing RTX 4080 and the RTX 4070 Ti. However, the RTX 4070 is said to be sticking around, and it’ll be joined by the RTX 4070 Super as an alternative instead of a replacement.
The current reports say that Nvidia will soon start shipping the RTX 4080 and the RTX 4070 Ti, slowly phasing them out in favor of their Super versions. If the rumored specs of these cards turn out to be true, this makes a lot of sense. With the RTX 4080 Super and the RTX 4070 Ti Super offering minimal upgrades in terms of CUDA core counts, they’re not going to make a groundbreaking difference in performance. Nvidia would end up with two near-identical GPUs out on the market in both cases, and the pricing would decide which one would actually sell.
The RTX 4070 Super, however, is likely in another league compared to the RTX 4070. VideoCardz estimates that the new GPU will sport a 22% increase in CUDA cores, with the Super version offering 7,168 cores while the base 4070 comes with 5,888. The difference in cores between the 4070 Ti and the 4070 Ti Super is minimal by comparison, rumored to be at 8,448 versus 7,680. However, the RTX 4070 Ti Super might serve up 16GB VRAM across a 256-bit memory bus, which is a much-needed update.
If these reports check out, we will slowly start seeing the RTX 4080 and the RTX 4070 Ti disappear from the market instead of seeing any major price adjustments on these cards. This leads me to worry that the new Super versions may not launch with lower price tags, after all. It’s just as likely that we’ll be paying similar prices to what the non-Super versions cost now, but in return, we’ll get slightly better performance.
The RTX 4070, if it stays, might see a price adjustment — seeing it drop to $500 is a possibility. The RTX 4070 Super may replace the current RTX 4070 Ti in terms of pricing and perhaps be a little cheaper. In order for the RTX 4080 Super to not be as terrible value as the existing 4080, it should still be discounted — but will that happen? Only time will tell. Nvidia is rumored to unveil the new GPUs during CES 2024.
