GeForce RTX 40 series rumored to stick with a PCIe 4.0 interface

pcgamer.com:

PCIe 5.0 made its debut with Intel's 12th gen CPU and motherboard range, and AMD is set to add support to its Zen 4 platform later this year. It was widely assumed that next gen graphics cards would support PCIe 5.0, but a new rumor suggests that Nvidia's next gen Ada GPUs will not support the new standard.

The rumor comes from the reliable kopite7kimi (via Videocardz). It's a bit of a surprise given that Nvidia's enterprise-oriented Hopper architecture does support PCIe 5.0. There's also the fact that RTX 40 will support 12+4 pin 12VHPWR PCIe 5.0 power connectors. But then, so does the RTX 3090 Ti and that certainly doesn't support PCIe 5.0.

If Nvidia does decide to stick with PCIe 4.0, it's not likely to have any impact. It's more of a box to check for marketing value. A current high-end GPU loses next to nothing when run on a 16x PCIe 3.0 system vs 4.0, so the difference will be even less compared to PCIe 4.0 vs 5.0. 

If Nvidia does omit PCIe 5.0 support, it might save a valuable few watts. It's believed that RTX 40 cards will consume unprecedented amounts of power, so any saving that can be made means an extra handful of watts can be budgeted elsewhere.

PCIe Gen4April 24, 2022

Best CPU for gaming: The top chips from Intel and AMDBest gaming motherboard: The right boardsBest graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaitsBest SSD for gaming: Get into the game ahead of the rest

Of course, this is just a rumor. Nvidia is notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to details about its unreleased products. It's interesting to see the rumor mill ramping up though, indicating that the cards aren't too far from release.

It's believed that the cards have entered the testing phase, meaning the GPUs themselves have finished their