The release of NVIDIA’s RTX 4000 range has been a turbulent ride since their initial release. Back in 2022 we saw the release of the RTX 4090 which was an overwhelming success straight out of the gate due to its high performance. But further SKUs haven’t seen the same popularity, resulting in a ‘mixed bag’ of sales for NVIDIA. Rumours of a ‘Super’ refresh have been popping up recently, pertaining to some of the high-end models, such as the RTX 4070 Ti and RTX 4080. The premise of these new cards is for them to supersede the original RTX 4080 and RTX 4070 Ti cards.
Although there hasn’t been any official confirmation from NVIDIA as of yet, the purported rumours seem to have some truth. As spotted by Videocardz, according to Board Channels, NVIDIA has reportedly halted the production of the RTX 4080 and RTX 4070 Ti models (two cards that haven’t been received positively since their launches).
Distribution for these models is now completed, and any add-in board partners, such as Gigabyte, Palit, Zotac, MSI, et al won’t be manufacturing any further inventory. Which means, stocks of these cards will only be available for a limited amount of time. The new Super cards are expected to be announced by NVIDIA at the CES tradeshow in January 2024.
The 4070 Ti and 4080 aren’t the only cards reportedly getting a refresh, with the RTX 4070 targeted to receive an upgrade. The 4070 is expected to stay in production, which will provide users with a more affordable 1440p capable graphics card (akin to AMD’s Radeon RX 7800 XT), while the Super is likely to offer better legs at 4K.
The lack of a 4060 or 4060 Ti refresh has confused us a little bit. Considering how poorly these cards were received, an upgrade could anchor the ’60’ SKU in the mid-range market a little bit more, and with some competitive pricing, these GPUs could be a worthwhile pickup. There’s definitely scope for a chunkier RTX 4060, but we’ll see what NVIDIA’s plans are as we start to move into 2024.
While I do think the Super refresh might be an exciting endeavour for NVIDIA, pricing is our biggest concern here. The RTX 4070 Ti and RTX 4080 are already at a level that most consumers aren’t likely to even consider, especially based on the economic crisis that we’ve seen across the world over the past couple of years. So, unless NVIDIA are able to compromise on price, we can see the Super cards sitting in the exact same position as their predecessors – powerful, but too rich for our blood.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales suggest that sub-$200 cards are still in high demand, with GPUs such as the Arc A750 from Intel, or some of AMD’s older Radeon 6000 options, frequently selling out from various vendors and retailers. This goes to show that there is a definitive market for NVIDIA to produce an RTX 4050, but we’re yet to see any confirmations of such a card existing.
We’re not likely to see the RTX 5000 series of graphics cards until late 2024/early 2025, which gives NVIDIA plenty of time to put together new refreshes, or perhaps some more budget-oriented SKUs.
