Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 Rumored to Feature Just 126 SMs

(Image credit: Nvidia)

A well regarded Twitter leaker has shared an updated set of specs for the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090. Nvidia's next-gen Ada Lovelace architecture flagship will come with 126 Streaming Multiprocessors (SMs) enabled, says Kopite7kimi. The figure is quite a bit lower than the previously touted and broadly expected figure of about 140 SMs. As with all leaks, please take this information with a pinch of salt.

After sharing the above nugget of information, Kopite7kimi felt confident enough to provide a full refreshed set of specs expectations for the RTX 4090.

OK, let's do a new summary. RTX 4090, AD102-300, 16128FP32, 21Gbps 24G GDDR6X, 450W, ~2x3090. I am disappointed with RDNA3. That's all. May 16, 2022

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To provide a better perspective regarding the initial launch range, which many expect to be the trio of GeForce RTX 4090, 4080, and 4070, we've tabulated all of the latest purported specs in the table below. Remember, none of these specs are confirmed with Nvidia or partner sources.

RTX 4090RTX 4080RTX 4070
GPUAD102-300AD103AD104-400
Streaming Multiprocessors1268060
Shader ALUs16,12810,2407,680
Memory24GB of 21Gbps GDDR6X16GB of 21Gbps GDDR6X12GB of 18Gbps GDDR6
Power450W350W300W

Nevertheless, even with fewer SMs / CUDA cores and lower wattage, Kopite7kimi still expects the Ada Lovelace architecture GeForce RTX 4090 to provide double the 3D acceleration performance of its predecessor. That would be a very appealing generation to generation performance improvement, if it turns out to be true.

With the step down in the touted number of SMs for the RTX 4090, it is gratifying to see the power requirements toned down too, to a purported 450W. Previous rumors mentioned sky-high power consumption figures up to 600W.

Start the Countdown, RTX 40 Allegedly Launches In "Mid July"

At the weekend we reported on Kopite7kimi's tip that the GeForce RTX 40 series will debut earlier in 2022 than we have been expecting. The tech Twitter leaker mentioned that we would see Nvidia launch its next gen consumer graphics cards in early Q3. Now the date has been brought into sharper focus, with Kopite7kimi's narrowing down the launch window to "mid July." With no big PC gaming or technology event scheduled for mid-July, it seems likely that Nvidia will have to arrange its own special launch event. However, enthusiasts don't really care about the scale, location, or other event details – only that products perform well, ship quickly, and are available at competitive prices.

We are currently voyaging through mid-May, and thus the GeForce RTX 40 series launch is just two months away, according to Kopite7kimi. There remains plenty of questions about the nature of the launch, initial launch line-up, full specs, availability and pricing. If we are lucky some of these questions will be answered definitively during Computex next week. But for now all we can do is wait, and watch.

Mark Tyson

Mark Tyson is a Freelance News Writer at Tom's Hardware US. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.