There’s a new GPU in town, but it’s not a usual one – MSI recently released the (bear with me for the long name) MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER 16G Ventus 3X Black, but it’s not packing the AD103 silicon that is designated for RTX 4070 Ti SUPERs; instead, it’s reportedly using a much larger chip in the form of AD102, which is the chip that powers the flagship RTX 4090.
Plus-Sized RTX 4070 Ti SUPER
So, how did the MSI Ventus 3X Black ended up using such a large silicon for a regular high-end SKU? There are several sub-variants of the AD102 silicon: the one that powers the RTX 4090 is called AD102-300-A1. The one that powers this Ventus card is the AD102-225-A1, and comparing against the specs of the two, one can assume that the latter chip is heavily defective with over half the original cores now disabled. Physically, the AD102 is nearly twice as large than the AD103, and that potentially has a small benefit of better thermal transfer thanks to a wider surface area.
Speaking of thermals, this Ventus has a slightly higher TDP over the standard RTX 4070 Ti SUPER at 295 watts – 10 watts more than the 285W on all other cards with the regular AD103 chip on it. That said, MSI has given this model an older design with Torx Fan 4.0 in a triple-fan, triple-slot design. It’s not small, either: at 322 x 136 x 62mm, you might need a decently large case to fit this GPU. Sizes like this in the realm of high-end RTX 40 GPUs is pretty much the norm these days, though NVIDIA is hoping to fix that.
Switching between silicon for the same SKU isn’t new by any means; in fact, it’s commonly found in lower-end models where low quality silicon can instead be repurposed for a lower-end model rather than being discarded, if all of its vital functions are still there. This is caused by inherent imperfections in silicon manufacturing, and fabs like TSMC has to consider the yields. The higher the yield, the more likely the resulting chip adheres to the manufacturer’s quality targets.
Pokdepinion: That’s a huge chip for what is originally an AD103-based GPU.
