Some production line images of what is reportedly Nvidia's next-generation Ampere graphics card, the RTX 3080, have appeared online and they show a GPU that looks vastly different to its predecessors. Following a major cooling revision on the RTX 2000-series, Nvidia is now looking to overhaul it once again switching from a dual lateral fan configuration, to a dual vertical one.
In this cooling design, one fan pulls cooler air from beneath the card, pumping it through an internal heatsink, before the second fan exhausts it upwards out of the top of the card. This makes it a push and pull configuration. Large heatsinks cover the core, memory, and presumably the VRMs, and power connectors are located on what would be the front face of the card, allowing for neater attachment of power cables.
Also of novel interest is the shape of the PCB, which appears to end in a sideways "V" shape, rather than a flat edge. It's not clear what the reasoning for this shape is, but it's certainly intriguing and suggests Nvidia may be trying more than a few different technologies with its new generation cards, not just improving performance and efficiency.
There are some novel materials used too, namely a lot of extra aluminum for aesthetic purposes. That could drive the cost up and suggests that these cards won't be the drop in price that many hope for. Leaked performance numbers suggest they will be extremely powerful, perhaps making more than a single leap up the product stack compared to last-generation.
But will that performance be worth the cost? We'll have to wait towards the end of 2020 to find out.
Thanks Videocardz and Chiphell
