Nvidia Geforce GTX 980 Ti, GTX 980 and GTX 970 get three Pascal replacements

Speculation, rumors and leaks about the next generation of graphics cards find their way into a battle stream. This is especially true of Nvidia, which looks to be the first with the architecture Pascal just in time for the annual electronics trade fair Computex. First out is the GP104 graphics circuit – spiritual sequel to the GM204 in the Geforce GTX 970 and GTX 980.

AIB is short for Add-In-Board. In this case, a reference to the graphics cards receiving customized circuit boards and coolers from partner manufacturers.

Now Korean Hardware Battle reports that GP104 will form the basis for three new graphics cards, which will replace the Geforce GTX 980 Ti, GTX 980 and GTX 970. What Nvidia has chosen to name the models is not yet known, however, the name of the various derivatives of the graphics circuit and launch window.

In early June, the idea is for Nvidia to launch GP104-400 and GP104-200, where the first is the full-scale circuit and the second a scaled-down variant. In both cases, they will be released with Nvidia’s reference design, and shortly thereafter followed by models with self-designed circuit boards and coolers from partner manufacturers.

The duo, which is said to be a direct replacement for the Geforce GTX 980 Ti and GTX 980, will be followed up later that month by the GP104-150, which will take over from the GTX 970 and will be released without any reference design from Nvidia. In other words, partner manufacturers will receive free rein with graphics cards from day one.

It is not clear what distinguishes the different GP104 variants, but it is probably a question of differences in the number of CUDA cores and clock frequency. Another thing that is expected to make a difference is the choice of memory technology, where GDDR5X will be used in the premium segment while GDDR5 consists of lower price ranges.

There is still uncertainty about Nvidia’s name scheme for the new generation. Most say that they will stay at the current one, which would mean that the trio can be named Geforce GTX 1080 Ti, GTX 1080 and GTX 1070. However, rumors suggest that the company may deviate from the GTX prefix and replace “10” with Roman equivalent X – for example Geforce X80 Ti.