As the name suggests, the GTX 1630 is part of the 16-series of GPUs NVIDIA launched in 2019. According to leaks, we know the card will be based on the TU117-150 GPU. Supposedly, this is a cut-down version of the GTX 1650, which in of itself is a cut-down version of the GTX 1650 Super. So, expect less cores and less memory all around. Case in point, the GTX 1630 reportedly has only a 64-bit memory bus, compared to GTX 1650’s 128-bit wide bus. While cores aren’t cut exactly in half like the memory bus, they’re still a big step down at 512 CUDA Cores vs 896 on the 1650. In fact, the GTX 1630 has less cores, and a worse memory bus than the GTX 1050 Ti, the card it intends to replace. Putting specs aside for a moment, let’s look at today’s discovery which takes us one step closer to GTX 1630’s eventual launch. Over on the Eurasian Economic Commission website, entries for three new custom GTX 1630 models from GIGABYTE have been spotted. So, now it’s all but confirmed that GIGABYTE is preparing three different variants of this SKU:
GV-N1630OC-4GBGV-N1630OC-4GLGV-N1630D6-4GL
Spec breakdown
Videocardz.com states that most GTX 1630 designs from AIBs will be based on existing GTX 1650 designs since the power requirement for both GPUs are the same at 75W. That means no external power will be required to power the GPU, or at least most versions of it. Out of the three aforementioned GPUs, two are OC variants which suggests they’ll likely be rated for a higher TDP than just 75W. Therefore, expect external power connectors to pull more juice from your power supply. Moreover, the ECC listings also confirm a lot of things we’ve already known like the memory capacity, which is 4GB of GDDR6, which is the same as the GTX 1650. However, due to the 64-bit memory bus, the memory bandwidth is limited to just 96GB/s. That’s lower than even the GTX 1050 Ti which has a 112GB/s bandwidth. All in all, that positions GTX 1630 to be actually weaker than the GTX 1050 Ti in terms of gaming performance. The newer GRDD6 memory might allow the 1630 to be better in specific professional scenarios but other than that, looks like NVIDIA is going be replacing the 2016 Pascal card with a slightly inferior model. As for the launch, the most recent update reveals that NVIDIA has yet to decide on the release date of the card. Board partners have already produced first designs for GTX 1630 which are being approved and cleared as we speak. Originally, the card was supposed to come out on May 31st, then got delayed to June 15th, and now is up in the air indefinitely. That being said, the launch can’t be much far away considering the amount of leaks we’re getting. At this point, we’re likely only a few weeks away from seeing GTX 1630s on store shelves.
