It has been a long time coming but the end has finally arrived for Nvidia’s GTX lineup of GPUs. With the introduction of its ray tracing-enabled RTX branded GPUs, it was only a matter of time before we’d see the words “Nvidia GTX discontinued” arrive. So it is today with Chinese sources reporting that the latest product roadmap from Nvidia shows no more GTX GPUs on their way.
While no Nvidia Geforce GTX cards still remain on our list of the best graphics cards, they have previously occupied many top spots, with the GTX 1080 being one of the most loved and enduring flagship cards Nvidia ever produced and the GTX 1060 being the most popular card on Steam right up until just two years ago, six years after its release.
The final confirmation of the demise of Nvidia GTX comes perhaps later than many people might have expected, with higher-tier RTX 70 and 80 series cards having long fully replaced their GTX equivalents. However, the GTX 60 series has stuck around for a long time, with cards like the GTX 1660 Super and GTX 1650 still widely available and providing an entry level option for gamers on a budget.
Although Nvidia’s newer architectures are better in many ways, keeping the older GTX cards going is a tactic that made sense as the headline feature of RTX – ray tracing support – simply isn’t a usable feature on low-end cards. However, with the likes of the RTX 4060 now available for under $300, the value prospect of cards such as the GTX 1660 Super selling for $200 or even the GTX 1650 selling for $150 simply is far less strong.
The full translated confirmation of this news comes from Chinese website Board Channels with the translation provided by Videocardz and is repeated below.
“According to the Nvidia GPU product roadmap, the GTX 16 series had been completely discontinued in the first quarte of 2024. Currently, all remaining GPU stock has been allocated to AIC brand manufacturers until their inventories are depleted.
In other words, Nvidia has officially ceased production of the GTX 16 series GPUs, declaring the historical mission of discontinuing the GTX 1660S, 1660, 1650, and 1630 graphics card. Going forward, neither Nvidia nor the core AIC brand manufacturers will supply GTX 16 GPUs to channel partners. It is estimated that the remaining inventory of GTX 16 series in the market will be consumer within the nest 1-3 months.”
While this text predicts stock of GTX cards will be consumed (mmm, yummy) within 1-3 months, it’s quite possible some retailers will still be listing cards for a little longer if they insist on keeping a non-discounted price on the cards.
As for the future of Nvidia and GTX beyond that, it’s quite possible we’ll see Nvidia reuse the GTX branding in a few years time. When ray tracing becomes commonplace and not a reason to add an ‘R’ to your product brand name, maybe we’ll see a return of the mighty GTX.
In the mean time, you can find our current Nvidia, AMD, and Intel graphics card recommendations in our best graphics card guide, with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 being our current budget GPU of choice and the RTX 4070 Super being our top pick for most gamers.