NVIDIA is reportedly developing a new version of the GeForce RTX 4090 that complies with recent U.S. export controls, allowing those in China to get their hands on the most powerful gaming GPU on the market again—or, at least, in name.
According to sources, this version of the GeForce RTX 4090 will include a “D” at the end, which is speculated to mean “Dragon” (2024 is Year of the Dragon, after all), and it should also feature a total processing performance of under 4,800 points as means of getting around the existing regulations (read: less CUDA cores).
Sources also claim that the GeForce RTX 4090 Dragon will be priced at MSRP $1,599 US or 12,999 RMB in China, although based on what’s going on in the Chinese market these days, NVIDIA could seemingly charge quite a bit more:
The graphics card has since seen a huge price hike due to panics related to foreseeable shortages which led to prices of around $8000 US. Furthermore, the existing stock of NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4090 has become so expensive for gamers to get their hands on that Chinese factories are using the same chips and converting them into AI solutions.
NVIDIA is also currently busy preparing new AI GPUs that can be sold in China, it seems, with Patrick Moorhead, an industry analyst, bringing attention to a chart from the U.S. DOC that illustrates what kind of performance they’ll need to fall under to comply with export regulations.
Rumors On NVIDIA's New China AI Accelerators
— Patrick Moorhead (@PatrickMoorhead) November 10, 2023
On my flight back from NY this evening, I read a few of the rumor articles regarding a new set of accelerator cards in excruciating detail that supposedly 'circumvent the rules' and thought I would weigh in…
So, the USG DoC came… pic.twitter.com/1x6IwWrUiC