Latest Rumour Suggests NVIDIA Will Launch a Pascal Refresh

NVIDIA’s Pascal architecture is based on the TSMC 16nm FinFET manufacturing process and offers significant performance improvements compared to Maxwell, especially when you analyse the desktop-class mobile offerings. The entire range has been extremely popular and continues to sell well, even though prices in the UK remain quite high. Of course, AMD is preparing their higher-end architecture and adopted a different strategy to NVIDIA by focusing on mass market products like the RX 470. Unfortunately, this means NVIDIA’s flagship products haven’t got any competition and that provides the opportunity to set high prices.

Interestingly, the latest rumour which stems from the Baidu Forums and reported by WCCFTech, claims a Pascal refresh is being considered. The new range will apparently revolve around the GP102 chips and improvements made within the manufacturing process could lead to higher clock speeds and better yields. Therefore, it’s possible for the majority of Pascal Refresh chips to hit 2000MHz or above. Evidently, NVIDIA will be focusing on Volta which may deter those from upgrading to the Pascal Refresh, if it exists. I personally think there is some validity to the rumour although it’s difficult to draw a confident conclusion based on the current sources. Nevertheless, I’d welcome a Pascal Refresh and would like the range to launch at more affordable prices.