The next-generation NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 series Founders Edition design has allegedly been leaked by QbitLeaks. The new design shows us a glimpse of the updated Founders Edition GPU cooler that will be featured on the high-end Ada Lovelace GPUs such as the RTX 4090 and 4080.

NVIDIA's Massive GeForce RTX 40 Founders Edition Cooler Allegedly Leaks Out, Coming To An RTX 4090 & RTX 4080 Graphics Card Soon!

According to the leaker, this new cooler design that has been pictured will be part of the GTC '22 keynote that is to be held two weeks later. There are no details provided as to which card this is but the updated shroud and fan design do match the RTX 4080 cooler that leaked out a few days ago. It looks like NVIDIA will be reusing its existing cooler design and giving it a slight visual overhaul.

We have seen in previous leaks that the heatsink under the shroud has been updated with a larger thermal contact surface area that covers the GPU, VRAM, & VRMs. The fans have been updated to a 7-blade fan design and also got slightly larger but the overall looks of the shroud & design remain mostly the same as the current Founders Edition graphics cards. This updated design should help deliver much better cooling for the Ada Lovelace GPUs which will be consuming lots of power. The cards will also utilize a PCIe Gen 5.0 connector interface and a Gen 5.0 power interface through the new 16-pin connectors.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition Graphics Card Cooler / Shroud Leak:

2 of 9

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Founders Edition Graphics Card Cooler / Shroud Leak:

The leaker states that this picture is a teaser for GTC so we might definitely get to see CEO Jensen talk about his next-gen gaming lineup during the event. GTC has previously been a data center & HPC-specific event but with the recent decline in NVIDIA's earnings, mostly due to a falling gaming market, the company has repurposed its prime event and dedicated it to gamers.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 'Expected' Specifications

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is expected to utilize a cut-down AD103-300 GPU configuration with 9,728 cores or 76 SMs enabled of the total 84 units whereas the previous configuration offered 80 SMs or 10,240 cores. While the full GPU comes packed with 64 MB of L2 cache and up to 224 ROPs, the RTX 4080 might end up with 48 MB of L2 cache and lower ROPs too due to its cut-down design. The card is expected to be based on the PG136/139-SKU360 PCB.

As for memory specs, the GeForce RTX 4080 is expected to rock 16 GB GDDR6X capacities that are said to be adjusted at 23 Gbps speeds across a 256-bit bus interface. This will provide up to 736 GB/s of bandwidth. This is still a tad bit slower than the 760 GB/s bandwidth offered by the RTX 3080 since it comes with a 320-bit interface but a lowly 10 GB capacity. To compensate for the lower bandwidth, NVIDIA could be integrating a next-gen memory compression suite to make up for the 256-bit interface.

For power, the TBP is now set to be rated at 340W, a 20W increase from the previous 320W spec that we got. This brings the TBP to the same ballpark as the existing RTX 3080 graphics card (up to 350W). Now it is not known whether the other RTX 40 series graphics cards will also be getting the faster GDDR6X memory treatment but we know that Micron has commenced full mass production of up to 24 Gbps GDDR6X memory modules so they have to go somewhere.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 "Expected" TBP - 340WNVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 "Official" TBP - 350W

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series Official Specs: