NVIDIA TITAN Ada prototype GPU teardown: angled PCB, 48GB GDDR6X, 900W power design

NVIDIA's monster TITAN Ada prototype GPU has been given the teardown treatment by overclocker "Der8auer", and it looks damn right beastly in the flesh. Check it out:

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Der8auer has previously benchmarked the elusive NVIDIA TITAN Ada prototype GPU in the past, comparing it against the GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 4090 graphics cards, then had a gander at the custom power adapter from NVIDIA. The power adapter converts dual 8-pin PCIe connectors into dual 12VHPWR connectors and is used for the huge 900W power design of the TITAN Ada prototype GPU.

The teardown reveals NVIDIA's huge quad-slot design and full metal exterior, comparing what he saw with the RTX 4090 Ti prototype GPU teardown from GamersNexus, noting that the backplate assembly on the TITAN Ada uses additional heat pipes and a different surface finish than the other prototype card.

Der8auer confirmed that the internal layout is definitely unusual, with the main PCB housing the GPU and GDDR6X memory chips sitting parallel to the motherboard, while a separate PCIe PCB handles the slot interface and links to the motherboard.

Once the overclocker removed the PCB, the GDDR6X memory module layout is exposed, with 12 GDDR6X packages on the front, and 12 GDDR6X packages on the rear for a total of 24 ICs and a chunky 48GB of GDDR6X memory.

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NVIDIA is also using a strange way of power delivery on the TITAN Ada prototype GPU, with contact pads and solid copper conductors baked into the cooler, feeding the dual 12VHPWR inputs rather than using a traditional connector that is mounted directly onto the main PCB. Der8auer reassembled the GPU at the end of the video, confirming that it was still outputting a display signal.

Inside, the NVIDIA TITAN Ada prototype uses the full-fat AD102 GPU with 18,432 CUDA cores and 48GB of GDDR6X memory. With those specs, NVIDIA would've had a GPU that was ultra powerful, and worthy enough of getting close to its workstation GPUs. However, with a top-bin silicon and complex (and expensive) mechanical design, it never became an official product, unfortunately.

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However, I wouldn't be the only one to say I would've loved to have seen what this bad boy could've done if NVIDIA did unleash it... but I also wouldn't want to feel the sting of that price if the TITAN Ada GPU did hit the market.