NVIDIA found to be shipping some new GeForce RTX 4070 graphics cards with AD103 GPU from RTX 4070 Ti SUPER and RTX 4080

NVIDIA appears to be drawing its Ada Lovelace generation to a close, having announced the GeForce RTX 40 series 18 months ago. With Blackwell-based GeForce RTX 50 series cards on the horizon, it should come as no surprise to see NVIDIA using defective GPU dies from some of its more powerful GPUs in mid-range options.

For context, NVIDIA was found to have based the GeForce RTX 2060 KO around the TU104, a GPU more commonly found in the GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER and GeForce RTX 2080. This time around, it seems that NVIDIA has turned to the AD103 to fulfil GeForce RTX 4070 demand. As Tom's Hardware states, AD103 shares its PCB design, pin map and other areas with the AD104 that typically powers the GeForce RTX 4070, despite being a larger GPU die.

Presumably by design, these similarities allow NVIDIA to swap in AD103 dies that would have otherwise been used in the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER or the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER. Incidentally, TechPowerUp notes that NVIDIA added driver support for this new GeForce RTX 4070 variant early last month. However, the change appeared to have slipped under the radar until now.

Theoretically, these AD103-based GeForce RTX 4070 cards should perform just as well as their AD104 counterparts. With that being said, the power consumption and thermal performance of new AD103 models remain to be seen for now. Allegedly, AD103-based GeForce RTX 4070 cards are already shipping, with the MSI RTX 4070 Ventus 3X E 12 GB OC cited as an early example.

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