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Published: August 21, 2018 | Source: Nvidia | Author: Mark Campbell

Nvidia challenges AIB partners – Founders Edition GPUs will be factory overclocked

Nvidia challenges AIB partners - Founders Edition GPUs will be factory overclocked

Nvidia challenges AIB partners – Founders Edition GPUs will be factory overclocked

When people talk about reference graphics cards, people usually think about the GPU provided directly from manufacturers, after all, it is they who decide what their “reference” specs are. 

With their new RTX 20 series of graphics cards, Nvidia is redefining what most people would consider reference graphics cards, uplifting their new Founders Edition models to compete with their AIB partners. Now, in theory, Nvidia can provide higher performance levels than some AIB offerings, as Founders Edition graphics cards are no longer “reference”. 

Nvidia has improved their Founders Edition graphics cards in two ways. First, they have upgraded their cooling solution, moving from a blower-style cooler to a new dual-fan solution, increasing airflow over the graphics card while also providing lower noise levels, both at stock and while overclocking. Nvidia states that this cooler will operate up to 10 degrees cooler than a reference blower and emit one fifth the noise when overclocked, a decrease of around 8 decibels.  

Turing Founders Edition Graphics cards will also feature higher clock speeds than “reference” RTX series graphics cards. Below is a table that showcases the clock speed differences between Founders Edition (FE) and Reference (Ref) RTX 2080 Ti, RTX 208 and RTX 2070 graphics cards. Every Founders Edition graphics card has a 90MHz increase in boost clock speed. 
  

 
  Geforce RTX 2080 Ti (FE) Geforce RTX 2080 Ti (Ref) Geforce RTX 2080 (FE) Geforce GTX 2080 (Ref)  Geforce RTX 2070 (Fe)
 Geforce RTX 2070 (Ref)
Architecture Turing Turing Turing Turing Turing Turing
CUDA Cores 4,352 4,352 2,944 2,944  2,304 2,304
Ray Tracing Performance 10 Gigarays 10 Gigarays 8 Gigarays 8 Gigarays 6 Gigarays 6 Gigarays
Base Clock
 1350MHz 1350MHz 1515MHz 1515MHz 1410MHz 1410MHz
Boost Clock 1635MHz 1545MHz 1800MHz 1710MHz 1710MHz 1620MHz
Memory Type GDDR6 GDDR6 GDDR6 GDDR6 GDDR6 GDDR6
Memory Capacity 11GB 11GB 8GB 8GB 8GB 8GB
Memory Speed 14Gbps 14Gbps 14Gbps 14Gbps 14Gbps 14Gbps
Memory Bandwidth 616GB/s 616GB/s 448GB/s 448GB/s 448GB/s 448GB/S
Memory Bus Size 352-bit 352-bit 256-bit 256-bit
 256-bit 256-bit
SLI Via NVLink Via NVLink Via NVLink Via NVLink N/A N/A

Nvidia challenges AIB partners - Founders Edition GPUs will be factory overclocked  

Nvidia’s new Founders Edition coolers feature “the world’s first full-length graphics card vapour chamber,” which allows the coolers to spread heat to the GPU’s aluminium (painted black) fin stack for ultra-efficient cooling performance. 

Nvidia’s new die-cast fan shrouds are diamond-cut and are anodised for scratch resistance, creating a durable, lightweight and “classy” cooler design. All of Nvidia’s Founders Edition graphics cards include a backplate and NVLink compatible graphics cards will ship with a matching cover to deliver a consistent look for non-SLI users. 

Founders Edition graphics cards will also feature DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.0b and VirtualLink. RTX 2080 and 2080 Ti Founders Edition models will feature three DisplayPort 1.4 connections, a single HDMI 2.0b connection and a single VirtualLink port. Nvidia’s images for their Founders Edition RTX 2070 suggest that the graphics card will offer two DisplayPort 1.4 ports, a single HDMI 2.0b port, VirtualLink and a single DVI-D port. 

Nvidia challenges AIB partners - Founders Edition GPUs will be factory overclocked  

Nvidia is getting aggressive with their AIB partners, first by selling their Founders Edition graphics cards via a dedicated storefront and now by releasing Founders Edition graphics cards that can offer performance levels and cooling that could rival some of their custom designs. Affordable RTX 20 series graphics cards from AIBs may even provide less performance than Nvidia’s Founders Edition models, which is new for the GPU market. 

With their Founders Edition graphics cards, Nvidia is taking the margins that usually typically would go to retailers and AIB partners like ASUS, EVGA, MSI or Gigabyte. Now, Nvidia has challenged their custom overclocked models, basically saying “I don’t need you” to their clients, no doubt annoying their partnered AIBs and retailers. 

You can join the discussion on Nvidia’s challenge to their AIB partners and their factory overclocked Founders Edition graphics cards on the OC3D Forums.  

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