Computer

The NVIDIA RTX 3090 Ti graphics card is actually… an RTX 40?

Delays due to problems in the BIOS and energy consumption. It sounded a bit like an excuse, no doubt, but it seems that reality was going down those paths if we take into account that apparently the launch of this graphics card is not subject to a need to obtain more distance from AMD, but rather to prepare the manufacturers for what is to come.

The GA102 chip of the RTX 3090 Ti is compatible with the AD102

When we talk about compatibility, we logically do so from the point of view of the pins and the PCB, where the latter is in everyone’s eye due to its quite peculiar defining characteristics. And it is that the delays of NVIDIA seem to be linked to the fact that the BIOS offered to the manufacturers had a serial unlock of 600 watts, so that they could test the new chip with more consumption and thus prepare for what is to come. with the RTX 40.

ZOTAC-3090Ti

This is only possible if we take into account three factors, two of them already explained:

  • Pin-to-pin compatible chip.
  • Same PCB for both.
  • Same BIOS available.

And here comes the key factor in the game: PCBs. The NVIDIA RTX 3090 Ti do not need a PCB as highly advanced as those that have been presented, which at the same time are incomplete from an electrical point of view, since they lack MOSFET, VRM or just power connectors 16 pins.

Overcrowded and incomplete PCBs

And it is that if we look carefully at all the PCBs that the manufacturers have shown, including that of NVIDIA as such, we can see that elements are missing everywhere. And even for the occasional PCB that is only going to have a 600-watt connector to power certain RTX 40 GPU models, these are also largely incomplete and with a lot of wiggle room.

But there is more, since it seems that there are options between the PCBs to change the 16-pin caped connector to 450 watts in these models to the version of 600 watts end via a bridge that NVIDIA has called PJP1 and where, curiously, the RTX 3090 Ti does not come as standard.

In addition, we now know that the best RTX 4090 models will have two 16-pin connectors since the manufacturers intend to guarantee consumption and stability in any condition, which implies that for extreme overclocking, a balance between the two is used in order to maintain stability.

MSI-3090Ti-PCB

Having said all this, it is to be expected that the vast majority of manufacturers use these PCBs as the basis for the new RTX 40, or at least for some specific models since the electrical requirements are going to be quite different if we take into account the GAP between one and the other. others. In short, these RTX 3090 Ti are actually the base of the RTX 40.

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