The storm clouds for another GPU shortage are brewing

It’s not a bad time to buy a GPU, but regardless of timing, you might need to act fast. A new rumor implies that a small GPU shortage might be on the way, with some of Nvidia’s best graphics cards being affected, all due to issues with GDDR6X memory supplies. Fortunately, this shortage should hopefully be brief, and GDDR7 memory is entering production sooner than expected. That’s good news for the RTX 50-series.

Let’s start with the bad news. According to a report from ChannelGate (first shared by IT Home), GDDR6X memory will be in short supply in August, hindering the production of Nvidia graphics cards. This type of memory is found in Nvidia’s latest GPUs, starting from the RTX 4070 and all the way to the RTX 4090. Some of the RTX 40-series cards are spared from this, as the RTX 4060 and the RTX 4060 Ti use GDDR6 VRAM.

It appears that a batch of GDDR6X memory, made by Micron, failed to pass various quality checks. That’s pretty disastrous, as the entire batch is said to be good for nothing but being replaced. Take this with some skepticism, though, as it all appears to be a rumor — albeit from what seems to be a credible source.

If this is proven true, Nvidia’s RTX 40-series will be affected, facing delays in production times. AMD’s RDNA 3 cards won’t feel any difference, as AMD is still sticking to GDDR6 memory, and may only switch to GDDR6X in RDNA 4 — so we’re all good on that front.

IT Home says that we may run into some small shortages starting in August, but Nvidia is said to be on the ball and is reportedly “adopting a supply and demand balance strategy” in China. From the sound of it, the Chinese GPU market may be the most heavily affected by this, but still, there’s no harm in buying a GPU now if you’re planning on it. The prices are as low as they’re likely to get, with the next generation right around the corner — although perhaps later than we’d all expected.

It’s not all bad news, though. Memory manufacturer SK Hynix made an announcement in regard to its next-gen GDDR7 memory, and it seems that it’s closer than we thought. As per the announcement, the company is planning to start volume production of GDDR7 memory in the third quarter of 2024. GDDR7 memory is shaping up to be pretty impressive, with speeds reaching up to 32Gbps — a 60% improvement over GDDR6.

Seeing as Nvidia’s RTX 50-series is long rumored to use GDDR7 memory, this could be a good sign for the production of these next-gen GPUs, too. It’s still unclear when Nvidia will launch the RTX 50-series, but it’s most likely going to arrive near the end of 2024 or the beginning of 2025.