https://videocardz.com/newz/notebooks-with-nvidia-ga107-gpu-can-easily-be-upgraded-to-rtx-40-ad106-107-gpus NVIDIA RTX 40 AD103/104/106/107 engineering boards are reportedly now available for testing. Rumor suggests NVIDIA GA107 might be compatible with AD106/AD107 GPUs.
NVIDIA is no longer providing test equipment only for the flagship models. The first cards to launch are undoubtedly based on more capable AD102/103 and AD104 GPUs, but NVIDIA is already preparing its AD106 and AD107 cards for desktop and mobile designs. According to NVIDIA hardware leaker Kopite7kimi, NVIDIA already has test boards for AD103 (RTX 4080), AD104 (RTX 4070), AD106 (RTX 4060) and AD107 (RTX 4050?) GPUs. This means that board partners and OEMs will soon get their hands on the full Ada lineup, and we should see even more accurate leaks very soon.
It is worth reminding that the details on ADA GPUs were extensively exposed through a ransomware attack a few months ago. This leak not only confirmed CUDA core specs for each card but also that RTX 40 series will have significantly bigger L2 cache. For AD102 that’s 16x bigger cache (96MB) than GA102 GPU. This also applies to the smallest Ada AD107 GPU (32MB vs 2MB on GA107). This is how we ended up knowing the exact specs for each GPU, but ultimately it is up to NVIDIA to decide how much of the silicon will be enabled for each card. The leaker further claims that notebook designs based on GA107 GPU can smoothly be upgraded to AD106 or AD107 GPUs, which either means pin-compatibility, the same package size or similar thermal characteristics.
Last month Kopite leaked the maximum board power for each GPU, which aligns with recent rumors of a supposed
800W TGP desktop model. The lack of mobile TGP specs for AD102 also means that this GPU will not be available for mobile workstations. Rumors suggest that we will not see RTX 4060 desktop with AD106 GPU sooner than at CES 2023. The desktop RTX 3050 model with GA107 GPU wasn’t released till January this year, which probably means NVIDIA has no plans to upgrade this desktop segment anytime soon. For mobile GPUs NVIDIA might want to align its release schedule with AMD Ryzen 7000 series and Intel 13th Gen Core Raptor Lake, those are expected by the end of 2022 (Intel) and at CES (AMD).
The pin compatibility might make manufacturing a bit cheaper for the OEMs.