Nvidia has just announced the launch of a new version of the RTX 4090. Called RTX 4090D, this new variant is intended to be slightly less powerful. Unfortunately, European and French users will have to give it up.
Since October 19, 2023, Nvidia’s activities in the Chinese market have taken a serious hit. The fault lies with a new embargo decreed by the American government, which aims to limit exports of high-performance GPUs to the Middle Kingdom. This measure was decreed to prevent China from accessing these components mainly used in technologies based on AI and supercomputers.
Nvidia mired in new US restrictions
More specifically, the extension of these restrictions provides for a ban on the export of any GPU/chip exceeding 600 GB/s of memory bandwidth, or 4800 TOPS (Tera Operation Per Second). As a result, Nvidia found itself in the impossibility of selling several products in this crucial territory, including the A800, H800, H100 and AD102 chips (the chip used in the RTX 4090). Following the announcement of these restrictions, Nvidia’s shares fell drastically by 3.54% on the Nasdaq.
Chinese gamers were able to quickly see the consequences of this embargo, since the prices of the RTX 4090 24 GB literally doubled in a few days. At least, for the models still available. For good reason, Nvidia had decided to withdraw its stock of graphics cards from the JD.com site, one of the main purchasing platforms in the country.
However, rumors quickly suggested that Nvidia intended to launch a new version of the RTX 4090, “compatible” with the new American limitations. This is now done with the RTX 4090D.
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Nvidia launches the RTX 4090D in China to circumvent sanctions
Concretely, what are the differences with the original model? First of all, this variant has an AD102-250 chip, a slower GPU that only offers 14,592 CUDA Cores against 16,384 on the first RTX 4090 of the name. The number of Tensor cores has also been reduced from 456 hearts at 512.
Concerning memory, we always remain 24 GB GDDR6X RAM with a 384-bit interface. The base frequency climbs a little, to reach 2.28 GHz (compared to 2.23) on the RTX 4090. No change to report on the Boost frequency, still 2.52 GHz. On the other hand, energy consumption is slightly higher, with a TDP of 425W against 450 W on the RTX 4090.
In fact, we therefore end up with an RTX 4090D that is almost identical to the original. From what we know at the moment, there is very little chance of this variant arriving on European markets. For good reason, it is offered in China at ¥12,999, or the same price as the RTX 4090 before its deletion. Consequently, it is difficult to see what benefit would be for Nvidia to cannibalize sales of the RTX 4090 on the European and American markets by launching a less efficient model at an identical price.