Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4080 graphics card with 16GB of memory is a little more than two weeks away, so it is about time for manufacturers of add-in-boards (AIBs) to start sharing images of their products. TechPowerUp and VideoCardz published the first photos of GeForce RTX 4080 cards from Gigabyte and MSI. For avid readers who are wondering about the melting issue, we can confirm your worst 16-pin fears.
Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4080 graphics card uses the AD103 graphics processing unit based on the Ada Lovelace architecture with 9728 CUDA cores connected to 16GB of 22.4 GT/s GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit interface. The product, which could join the ranks of the best graphics cards for gaming, is expected to consume up to 320W of power. That figure is in line with the consumption of Nvidia’s previous-generation GeForce RTX 3080 graphics board. So expect these units to come with huge coolers.
Gigabyte’s GeForce RTX 4080 Eagle graphics card comes with a monstrous 3.5-wide triple-fan cooler that is also rather ‘tall.’. VideoCardz does not disclose the graphics card clocks, though it definitely will not be clocked lower than Nvidia’s recommended 2210 MHz base and 2505 MHz boost clocks. The board will use a 12VHPWR (12+4-pin power connector), though we do not know whether Gigabyte will bundle Nvidia’s 16-pin adapter with the product.
MSI also published some images of its six GeForce RTX 4080 products itself. The company’s RTX 4080 lineup will consist of six models, including the GeForce RTX 4080 16GB Ventus 3X, GeForce RTX 4080 16GB Ventus 3X OC, GeForce RTX 4080 16GB Suprim, GeForce RTX 4080 16GB Suprim X, GeForce RTX 4080 16GB Gaming Trio, and GeForce RTX 4080 16GB Gaming X Trio. All boards will feature gargantuan dimensions of up to 337 x 140 x 67 mm as they will feature a triple-wide, triple-fan cooler. Also, they will come with a 12VHPWR power connector.
By today’s standards, a 320W thermal graphics power (TGP) is not shocking, considering that flagship boards are designed for 350W – 450W these days. But 320W is still a lot of power to dissipate, so all GeForce RTX 4080 boards will be equipped with a large and sophisticated cooling system. To that end, most of these AIBs will not fit into Mini-ITX and Micro-ATX chassis.
Some AIB vendors will likely come up with hybrid cooling systems that will be more compact than air cooling solutions, but to fit those boards into smaller chassis, one will probably need to use an AIB with a smaller PCB and a custom liquid cooling system.