2021 was a successful year for Nvidia despite the GPU shortage, seeing the launch of a number of new desktop graphics cards while also packing its 30-Series GPUs inside gaming laptops. But what does 2022 have in store for Team Green?
While we can’t know for sure, we have rounded up all of the rumours – along with our own educated guesses – of what Nvidia could be up to in the New Year, so if you’re excited to see what the company could have planned then keep reading on.
Nvidia 40-series desktop graphics cards
It feels like only yesterday when Nvidia launched its 30-Series desktop graphics cards, especially since it’s been difficult to purchase one of the new cards due to the ongoing chip shortage. Yet rumours suggest Nvidia could be gearing up to launch the next generation of GPUs as early as 2022.
The upcoming Nvidia 40-Series graphics cards will be based on the Ada Lovelace architecture, which is said to use TSMC’s 5nm process node. The Nvidia RTX 4080 is expected to be the most powerful GPU in the range, and could be capable of clock speeds as high as 2.5 GHz. This would supersede the existing RTX 3080, RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3090.
Rumours also indicate (via Wccftech) that the RTX 4080 could feature 18432 CUDA Cores, and between 85 and 92 TFLOPs of compute performance. While we can’t be sure as to what type of real-time gaming performance this will result in, it could well be one of the first GPU ranges that makes 8K gaming possible at a decent frame rate.
However, don’t expect these next-gen cards to launch anytime soon, as they’re more likely to hit stores towards the end of 2022.
A new RTX 3080 Ti GPU for gaming laptops
If you’re looking to buy a new gaming laptop instead of upgrading your gaming PC, then there’s some good news for you too. Nvidia has been tipped to announce a new RTX 3080 Ti mobile GPU as soon as January during CES 2022.
There aren’t many details on this rumoured mobile GPU just yet, but it could reportedly feature 16GB of GDDR6 memory, which is double that of the RTX 3080. What kind of gaming performance increase will that result in? It’s hard to say right now, but it will almost certainly be the most powerful laptop GPU on the market.
With Intel expected to reveal its new Alder Lake laptop processors around the same time, we could see some incredibly powerful gaming laptops launch in the first few months of 2022.
New RTX 3090 Ti graphics card, plus 20-Series refreshes
While Nvidia is already making plans for the next generation of graphics cards, it’s also apparently working on a final major surprise in the 20-Series range – yes that’s right, an Nvidia RTX 3090 Ti card could be launching early next year.
The Nvidia RTX 3090 Ti would presumably become the most powerful consumer graphics card currently available, with VideoCardz reporting that it could potentially see 21Gbps GDDR6X memory from Micron and 10,752 CUDA cores.
However, it’s also said to see a hefty power consumption of 450W, which is a whopping 100W increase on the standard RTX 3090. It’s also likely to be incredibly expensive, so will only be a viable option for those with lots of money who crave the ultimate performance.
Nvidia is also rumoured to be refreshing its RTX 3060, RTX 3070 Ti and RTX 3080 graphics cards with additional memory, so there’s clearly still life in the Ampere range despite the impending launch of the 40-Series.
Widespread 4K support for GeForce Now
Nvidia’s GeForce Now service allows you to play triple-A games on low-powered devices, whether it’s a budget laptop, Chromebook or smart TV. However, it’s most premium plan is currently limited to a 1440p resolution, unless you’re using Nvidia’s own Shield TV.
Fortunately, Nvidia did say that it sees no reason why it can’t boost the resolution to 4K in the future for other devices, since it’s already offering the equivalent performance of a Nvidia RTX 3080 GPU to each subscriber. The company is currently optimizing the server to ensure it can handle 4K performances without issue.
Nvidia hasn’t provided an estimated time for when 4K will become available to the likes of PCs and TVs, but we’ve got our fingers crossed that it will arrive before the end of 2022. Although if you’re eager to make use of this technology, you’ll want to make sure you internet is fast enough to stream games through the cloud.
