Rumor mill: As Nvidia's profits from AI hardware soar, many worry that the company could increasingly divert resources from its consumer-facing RTX graphics cards. Thus, the leak of a previously unknown GPU could spark debate over whether it's an AI card or a new RTX 40 series Titan, especially given its extreme TDP rating.

A tracker that lists Nvidia's latest reference DEV_IDs recently spotted a mysterious new GPU from the company. The listing provides little information about the potential role of this product in Nvidia's expanding portfolio. The ID reveals only the card's nickname, "Skinny Joe," and its 700W TDP rating. While it's likely a new variant of Nvidia's AI GPUs, recent rumors about the RTX 40 series suggest other possibilities.

Skinny Joe's wattage matches that of the GH100 AI chip but is less than the GH200's 900W. This could imply a scaled-down version of the H200, which is expected to offer a significant improvement over the successful H100 when cloud providers start offering access to instances in the second quarter of 2024.

Nvidia might target a "skinny" H200 at Chinese clients to circumvent US export restrictions. The company recently introduced the RTX 4090D for this purpose, slightly reducing performance and limiting overclocking.

However, Skinny Joe might also be an upgraded version of the 4090, which has been rumored for some time. The latest information suggests that this GPU, possibly named the RTX 4090 Ti or Titan Ada, has a 600W TDP and could cost over $2,000.

Using almost the entire AD102 chip, this four-slot behemoth is expected to feature 18,176 CUDA cores, 192 ROPs, 568 TMUs, and 96MB of L2 cache. These specifications significantly surpass those of the standard 4090, which has 16,984 cores, 176 ROPs, 512 TMUs, 72MB L2 cache, and a 450W TDP. Earlier rumors claimed Nvidia had canceled the new Titan, but it might have been revived.

The impending reveal of GeForce RTX 40 Super series adds to the speculation. Nvidia is anticipated to announce upgraded versions of the RTX 4080, 4070 Ti, and 4070 on January 8, with releases scheduled throughout the month. Sources recently informed Moore's Law is Dead that the 4070 Super and 4070 Ti Super will match their predecessors' launch MSRPs of $599 and $799, respectively, while the 4080 Super might be priced at $999 or higher. Consequently, Nvidia might be contemplating the introduction of a 4090 Super.