NVIDIA's next-gen GeForce RTX 50 "Blackwell" GPUs are expected to utilize the latest TSMC process node while adopting the DisplayPort 2.1 standard.
Next-Gen NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 GPUs Based On 3nm Blackwell Core Architecture, Support For DisplayPort 2.1 Standard Expected
New revelations by Kopite7kimi reveal that NVIDIA is prepping its Blackwell GPUs which will be utilized by the GeForce RTX 50 "Gaming" lineup and are going to be built upon TSMC's 3nm process node.
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— kopite7kimi (@kopite7kimi) November 15, 2023
What Does TSMC's 3nm Bring To The Table Versus 5nm?
If we do a comparison between the N5 (4N Optimized 5nm variant for NVIDIA), the latest 3nm process technology would offer a 25-30% reduction in power, 10-15% additional performance per transistor, 42% reduction in area and a density increase of 1.7x. Those are quite substantial gains over the current 5nm node which offers some amazing performance per watt (efficiency) in the existing GeForce RTX 40 "Ada Lovelace" lineup so we can only expect NVIDIA's efficiency lead over its competition to further increase.
It will be too early to say which specific 3nm node is used by Blackwell Gaming GPUs as the tech will be available in at least four different flavors ranging from the standard N3 to the more efficient and performance-focused designs such as N3E, N3P, and N3A.
NVIDIA's HPC/AI-oriented "Blackwell" GPUs are also expected to utilize the 3nm process node from TSMC along with the latest HBM3e memory solutions. Meanwhile, NVIDIA's gaming-focused cards will be using the GDDR7 memory solution as recently speculated. This would be the first time after some years that both the HPC and Gaming sides of families feature an architecture under the same naming convention. Also, it should be mentioned that the HPC side is likely going to leverage from a chiplet based design whereas the gaming side is expected to continue with the monolithic dies.
DisplayPort 2.1 To Be Available On Next-Gen GeForce
Besides the process node technology, NVIDIA is also expected to utilize DisplayPort 2.1 technology in its next-gen graphics card which will bring it on par with AMD's Radeon RX 7000 GPUs that have been offering it since last year. The exclusion of DP 2.1 on the GeForce RTX 40 GPUs was a major bummer but it looks like NVIDIA will be supporting the latest technologies in its upcoming graphics architecture.
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— kopite7kimi (@kopite7kimi) November 15, 2023
As for launch, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 "Blackwell" GPU architecture is expected to debut either in late 2024 or early 2025.
NVIDIA GeForce GPU SKUs:
| Generation | Blackwell | Ada Lovelace | Ampere | Turing | Pascal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Process Node | TSMC 3nm? | TSMC 5nm | Samsung 8nm | TSMC 12nm | TSMC 16nm |
| Launch Year | 2024 | 2022 | 2020 | 2018 | 2016 |
| Ultra-Enthusiast SKU | GB202 | AD102 | GA102 | TU102 | GP102 |
| Enthusiast SKU | GB203 | AD103 | GA102 | TU104 | GP104 |
| High-End SKU | GB205 | AD104 | GA104 | TU106 | GP104 |
| Mainstream SKU | GB206 | AD106 | GA106 | TU106 | GP106 |
| Entry-Level SKU | GB207 | AD107 | GA107 | TU116/117 | GP107 |
About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.
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