NVIDIA may launch a new variant of the GeForce RTX 5070, but it won’t change its key specs, at least on paper. In fact, the chips used will change Located on the bottom of the graphics card, as new rumors report.
This option is not entirely new. NVIDIA has used different chips to produce variants of the same GPU, and something similar is happening with the current generation GeForce RTX 50.
GeForce RTX 5070 may be upgraded from GB205 to larger GB203
According to insider @hongxing2020, some GeForce RTX 5070 may soon use GB203 chips instead of the current GB205. This is a significantly larger component, already Based on GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5080.
The size difference is significant. In fact, the size of GB203 is 378 mm², while the size of GB205 is 263 mm², an area increase of almost 43%. To convert the chips used in high-end models to the RTX 5070, NVIDIA must Disable most of its resources.
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The full GB203 has 10,752 CUDA cores, while the RTX 5070 uses 6,144. Therefore, to implement this configuration, you need Decommission approximately 42.8% of available units. The memory subsystem should also be modified to disable two of the eight channels to achieve a 192-bit bus and maintain the 12GB GDDR7 memory configuration.
A similar situation has occurred with some RTX 5060s. In fact, some manufacturers have begun using the GB205 chip, which is larger than the GB206 chip originally planned for this model, and adjusting its configuration according to the card’s specifications. Use larger chips in lower-end products This may depend on the production volume. Components that do not meet all the requirements for use in higher models can be restored by deactivating the defective part and assigning it to a less powerful configuration.
So, in the case of the RTX 5070, GB203 chips that are not suitable to become the RTX 5070 Ti or RTX 5080 can find a second destination. However, it is not possible to determine whether the putative new variant has Performance differences compared to existing models on the marketconsidering that the final specifications should remain essentially the same.
The leaker also reported New NVIDIA driverwhich may include preliminary support for the GB203 variant, although this link has not directly confirmed it. So, for now, this is a flippant move, but it represents a possible example of NVIDIA’s strategy of using different wafers to maintain production of its graphics cards.