There have been several GeForce 11 series rumors, and Nvidia could put them all to rest by finally announcing its next generation graphics cards. That will happen soon enough. How soon? If a leaked email supposedly sent by one of Nvidia's hardware partners is any indication, GeForce 11 series cards will start showing up next month.
The latest rumor originates from Gamer Meld, a YouTube channel dedicated to gaming hardware news. Gamer Meld claims to have received an email from one of Nvidia's add-in board (AIB) partners stating that the release date for the GeForce 11 series has been pushed back. The staggered release will start at the end of August with the GeForce GTX 1180 and continue through the end of October. Here are the dates listed in the email, followed by the video outlining it all:
- GeForce GTX 1180: August 30
- GeForce GTX 1170/1180+: September 30
- GeForce GTX 1160: October 30
There are a few things to digest here. One is the mention of a GeForce GTX 1180+ SKU. It's not clear if that is in reference to a GeForce GTX 1180 Ti, or more likely an overclocked variant of the GeForce GTX 1180.
Related to that mystery SKU, bear in mind that these launch dates are for this specific board partner, the identify of which is not revealed, and not necessarily Nvidia's own Founders Edition cards. That said, if the email is real (that's a big "if" in part because emails like that aren't typically sent out) and if plans don't change, we would expect Nvidia's top tier board partners to be on the same launch schedule.
It was previously rumored that Nvidia's next round of consumer GPUs would launch this month. We don't know if that was ever the case, though it falls in line with what this supposed email claims, which is an overstock of current generation GeForce 10 series GPUs.
"Because we and other partners and manufacturers have an abundance of unfinished or unsold 10xx GPUs, Nvidia decided to have us delay the release of the 11xx cards," the email states.
That's plausible, though it also represents poor planning. Following a shortage of Pascal cards for most of the past year, it's interesting that there is a sudden build up of inventory right before the new stuff is scheduled to launch. There is also the matter of a board partner revealing this information in an email. Manufacturers don't normally go around talking about a huge surplus that they need to sell, and in cases where they might do that, we suspect it's typically done over the phone or in person.
Even if the email is fake though, the GeForce 11 series is presumably right around the corner. One thing we know for sure is that Nvidia is scheduled to talk about its next-gen gaming GPUs at the Hot Chips conference in August. Whether the cards arrive before or after, however, we'll just have to wait and see.
