Nvidia’s preparing to put a halt to production of another high-end Lovelace graphics card ahead of a double helping of next-gen Blackwell GPU launches - if the grapevine is correct.
This time it’s the RTX 4080 Super which is rumored to be set for discontinuation by Team Green, following recent rumors that this was the case with the RTX 4090 (and its counterpart for the Chinese market, the RTX 4090D).
Wccftech reports that Harukaze5719 on X spotted this speculation which comes via the Board Channels forum over in China, a regular source of rumors that filter down from the hardware supply chain.
Supposedly Nvidia’s RTX 4080 Super will see limited supply in October, with production coming to an end this month, and the supply of chips to graphics card makers will run dry in November.
We’ve heard before about the RTX 4090’s timeline which is a month sooner than this – production is rumored to have already ended (that happened in September), and the supply of chips to board makers will dry up in October, later this month.
That means some graphics cards will still be put together by manufacturers, and arrive on the scene after those (rumored) final chip supply dates, but stock will start to run out.
This paves the way for the launch of the RTX 5080 and 5090, and this is another rumor that indicates Nvidia is planning a double launch for next-gen Blackwell GPUs. Indeed, the claim here is that the RTX 5080 and 5090 will be released together (though rumors in the past have suggested that the launch of these GPUs may be very slightly staggered).
Analysis: Keep watching those stock levels
Add a whole lot of seasoning here, of course, because all of this is merely chatter from the supply chain. Still, the rumor regarding Nvidia winding up the production of the RTX 4090 does appear to have some truth behind it, or at least the picture of stock levels and pricing for the Lovelace flagship suggests that possibility.
In Europe, and indeed in the US, we’ve seen the RTX 4090 starting to run low on inventory in some cases, and pricing is spiking upwards without a doubt (it’s generally 10%, or slightly more, over MSRP in the US currently – increases have been way more than that in Europe). That aligns with the idea of Nvidia having halted production, with the final chips for the RTX 4090 likely shipping right now, and maybe not for much longer.
In theory, the RTX 4080 Super will follow, then, but we haven’t seen any impact on the price of this GPU – yet. This graphics card is still at its MSRP (at least for some models). However, if what’s theorized here is true, we will likely start to see a similar state of affairs with the RTX 4080 Super later this month. For now, then, we can keep a close eye on this graphics card – and the RTX 4090 too, which may show further evidence of running low on stock (perhaps vanishing entirely).
All of this could represent fairly firm clues that the RTX 5080 and 5090 are indeed close at hand as many are predicting, with the current consensus generally converging on a CES 2025 reveal for those GPUs. It's our guess that a slightly staggered launch will then follow, though this rumor appears to indicate otherwise (pass the salt again).
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