Nvidia RTX 3000 GPUs could utilise a ray-tracing “traversal coprocessor”

Leaks about the upcoming Nvidia RTX 3000 series of GPUs have been circulating on the Internet for some time now. Based on these leaks, Coreteks has suggested that the new Nvidia graphics cards will come equipped with a dual-sided PCB, with the GPU core on one side and a ray-tracing “traversal coprocessor” on the other.

As per the video by Coreteks, there's a chance that all new Nvidia RTX 3000 graphics will come with a traversal coprocessor that will be solely focused on accelerating ray-tracing performance. This theory is based on the cooler-design leak that we covered last week, showing a two-fan design (one on each side) and the possibility of using a dual-sided PCB that would allow the implementation of another chip on the “back”. The “front” would cool the main GPU die, while the back fan would be handling the cooling of the traversal coprocessor.

If this turns out to be true, Nvidia would be able to deliver a graphics performance boost without a significant architecture overhaul. Instead of using inserting RT cores on the GPU die to handle ray-tracing, the traversal coprocessor would be dedicated to that kind of task. Not only does that suggest ray-tracing performance would be significantly improved, it also frees up space in the GPU die for more traditional cores.

Image Credit: Coreteks

According to Notebookcheck, the idea of using a traversal coprocessor is nothing new for Nvidia. Back in 2018, the company applied for a patent referring to this type of technology. If Nvidia actually pulls this off, it's speculated a mid-range RTX 3000 graphics cards could deliver the ray tracing performance of the current flagship, RTX 2080 Ti.

As always, none of this is official, as it's all speculation based on rumours and leaks. We expect to learn more official details about the upcoming RTX 3000 graphics cards later this summer.

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KitGuru says: Do you think Nvidia will implement a traversal coprocessor with the next generation of graphics cards? Are you hyped about the next series of Nvidia graphics cards?

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