While everybody is expecting the next-gen high-end graphics cards to be based on Volta, there might be a twist. Germany based Heise mentions that the next-gen Nvidia cards will be called “Ampere” and not “Volta”.
This a twist in things and expectancy alright. Currently, Volta is based on HBM2 memory which is not available in large enough mass-volume quantities, and it is expensive to purchase and implement as well. Earlier this week we reported about GDDR6 coming and closing in, real fast. So yeah, it might be a simple code-name change, it could even be Volta with GDDR6. In that case, Volta would remain on track for the enterprise side of things including data-centers with its Tensor cores, and Ampere for the consumer parts. Heise is typically well-informed, something code-named “Ampere” could be plausible, they mention that info is likely to be announced on the next GPU technology conference.
In short, the “Ampere” GPUs series could be an architecture better suited for consumers, and not the “deep learning” market and might be based on GDDR6 graphics memory. For now, let’s call it what it is though, a rumor and nothing more. Thanks to Evildead666 for this spot.
