It’s well known by now that NVIDIA plans to launch its next generation of graphics cards, NVIDIA Ampere, next year, but until now there was no indication of when that launch would happen. Now that situation seems to be ending with the statement published in Igor’s Lab, which states that the company plans to launch the first graphics cards of this generation during the first quarter of the year, i.e. in March at the latest.
It was almost an open secret; we’ve known for months that NVIDIA already has the next generation of graphics cards in the pipeline, and that they were scheduled for launch in 2020. What we had no way of knowing was when they were planning this launch, and they could well delay it for more than a year, leaving it for the last quarter.
Now the early sources in the industry are saying we are not going to have to wait that long, and we are going to see in the first quarter of 2020 — or at least announced — the first next generation graphics cards on the market.
NVIDIA Ampere could arrive before AMD Navi 20
As well as the fact that we knew that the launch date would be during the year 2020, it is also well known that NVIDIA will use Samsung’s 7 nm EUV manufacturing process, to the detriment of TSMC which, in addition to having a better economic treatment, would avoid the supply problems that the company is having, at least, for the gaming segment.
The fact that NVIDIA is working with Samsung on the chips underscores the fact that the first Ampere graphics cards are close to being ready, with the GA104 and GA104-400 chips confirmed as early as July.
Thus, these new graphics cards that will arrive, theoretically, at the beginning of next year, will replace the current RTX 2080 and 2080 Ti, including their SUPER versions.
It is expected that thanks to the use of this new manufacturing node, we will see DLSS and Ray Tracing features extended to the mid-range at last, as well as logically providing extra performance.
NVIDIA Ampere could be cheaper than the current generation
The use of this manufacturing node will also have an impact on users. Not only because it is a better and more modern technology compared to the lithographs used in the current generations of graphic cards, but also because using a cheaper, more mature and profitable node will allow the manufacturer to sell the final product at a lower price, and that of course impacts on the pocket of potential buyers, us.
In any case, the issue of pricing for NVIDIA graphics cards is currently a topic of debate. It is well known that every time the company launches a new generation, the prices of the TOP cards of that generation tend to be more expensive, which takes them away from “normal” users and results in the company selling less, which they have already complained about and not long ago.
We’ll see what happens when NVIDIA Ampere arrives, when it arrives and at what price, because after all, this information must always be taken with a grain of salt until at least official confirmation from the brand. With that in mind, the data we have on hand today suggests that this next launch could occur during the first quarter of 2020, pre-empting the next generation of AMD.