Will be interesting to see what these changes are so soon after launch of the 4080 and even before the 4070 is launched. Is this a defect fix for an issue we don't know about yet? It would be a big ask to force AIB partners to change their designs. Or could Nvidia seriously be deliberately making AIB lives harder? They have treated AIBs like competitors in many ways with the 4000 series. Then there was the whole 4080 12g/16gb fiasco.
It mentions changes to the PCB to save cost, im all for that and we see it regularly on consoles but on hardware that has only just been released, seems odd.
Once they have taken the hit on any redesign of their boards, cooling solution, any required changes to their production tools and whole new QA process. Obvsiously I don't know how much that'll be the case but if it is, it can't have been good news to the AIBs. I can't remember any previous times where Nvidia has refreshed a product so close to launch and even before launch in the case of the 4070.
If it brings costs down and hopefly that transferes to the shelf prices then its good but i always wonder if corners are being cut, maybe changing back to 2 x 8 pin
It might bring costs down of the Founders Edition but if AIBs have to go through a redisign of all their high-end cards as a result, those costs will be passed onto consumers. That would have the happy coincidence for Nvidia of making the Founders Edition more competitive on price. All this is speculation of course but I wouldn't put anything past Nvidia.
