Nvidia is said to have stopped production of all RTX-40 GPUs except for the 4050 and the 4060, as affordable GPUs from the 50-series could arrive sooner than expected.

Nvidia stopped producing almost all of its current-gen RTX-40 GPUs. Only the AD107 chip, which is the GPU used in RTX 4050/4060 graphics cards (the latter a mobile-only version), remains in production.

A report on Board Channels, via Videocardz, claims that "Nvidia completely shut down the AD106 line, reallocating all its capacity to the RTX50 series lines." Only one AD107 line will be retained for the time being. The RTX 40 Series has entered its final clearance quarter, with production and supply of mid-to high-end RTX 40 graphics cards gradually ceasing.

This news comes after earlier reports in September that Nvidia planned to stop production of the AD102 chips found inside RTX 490 and 4090D graphic boards. The AD106 chip is used in the RTX RTX4060 Ti and RTX RTX4070, while the AD107 chip is used in the RTX RTX4060 desktop and mobile, and the RTX RTX4050 mobile.

All of this is clear. If Nvidia is ending the RTX family, then whatever comes after it must be almost ready for launch. If you assume that Nvidia follows a typical launch timeline, you'd expect the 4090 to be the first model to be discontinued. The company releases the premium models of any new GPU generation at the beginning, and then more affordable variants over the next few months.

This rumour is surprising not because so many Nvidia RTX-40-series GPUs are no longer being produced, but rather that so many have. According to current rumours, Nvidia is expected to unveil the new RTX graphics cards 5080 and 5090 in January. This will most likely happen at the CES in Las Vegas.

If we go back to the launch date of the RTX 40 series, there was a gap of six months between the RTX 4090, the RTX 4070 and the 4060, with a month added for the 4060. Nvidia released their 4090 and 4080 boards for this generation in October. The 4070 was released in April.

The point is, if Nvidia indeed has already stopped production of the RTX RTX4060 Ti and RTX4070, leaving only RTX4060 desktop, RTX4050 and RTX4060 laptops, then this implies a much compressed timetable for the RTX family, with 5090 in January, 5070 in either February or March, and perhaps the 5060 and/or 5060 Ti a month later.

This would mean that some elements of the RTX 50 Family will launch later than their respective RTX 40 equivalents, while other elements arrive earlier. This is good news for gamers who will be looking to the lower end of the range.

The RTX5060 and 5070 will not be available until July or August of next year, just because the RTX5090 and 5080 are unlikely to appear until January. Hurrah! But we'll want to wait and see how Nvidia price these new cards.