Nvidia has accomplished the impossible. Despite a new US trade restriction prohibiting the sale of the RTX 4090 in several countries, the company has ingeniously found a way to circumvent this blockade.
The RTX 4090 D – Nvidia’s New Top Graphics Card for China
Nvidia can breathe a sigh of relief. Several months ago, a new trade restriction came into effect. It prevented Nvidia from exporting its RTX 4090 to specific countries, including China. This was a severe blow to the graphics card giant, given that the Chinese market serves as a significant revenue driver.
However, Nvidia has devised a solution to resume sales of the RTX 4090 in China. Introducing a new version that operates slightly slower than the original. The new variant, named GeForce RTX 4090D, reportedly delivers approximately 5 percent less performance in gaming and creative applications, according to Nvidia’s statements (Source: The Verge).
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Alterations Made by Nvidia in the New Graphics Card
To slightly diminish the performance of the RTX 4090, Nvidia reduced the number of CUDA cores from 16,384 to 14,592 in the D model. Consequently, the power consumption of the trimmed-down variant has also decreased. Instead of 450 watts, Nvidia now specifies a TDP of 425 watts for the RTX 4090D.
An intriguing detail: Not all features of the D version are inferior to the original. The base clock speed of the graphics processor in the RTX 4090D sits at around 2.28 GHz, compared to the original’s 2.23 GHz. However, this difference might not be noticeable in everyday use (Source: Nvidia China).
It’s evident that the RTX 4090D was specifically engineered to bypass trade restrictions. Therefore, it’s highly unlikely that this new version will hit the market outside China.
Price Points and Comparisons
Worth noting: The MSRP of the RTX 4090D in China currently stands at approximately $1840. For comparison, the MSRP for the original model here is $1965. However, the cheapest model available in the open market is currently priced at a hefty $2130 (Source: Geizhals).
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