NVIDIA’s R100 GPU: Successor to the Blackwell B100 is named after Vera Rubin

According to the latest information, NVIDIA’s upcoming GPU architecture will be named Vera Rubin. Vera Rubin was an American astronomer who made significant contributions to the understanding of dark matter in the universe while pioneering work on the rotation rate of galaxies. Her findings pointed to the existence of significant amounts of invisible mass, now known as dark matter, which influences the gravitational dynamics of galaxies. The planned honor by NVIDIA is quite appropriate, as Vera Rubin has played a crucial role in today’s perception of dark matter.

Although kopite7kimi did not explicitly indicate that NVIDIA’s next GPU architecture will be named after Vera Rubin, he did mention her in a post on X and revealed possible SKUs with the “R” branding in another tweet. It is expected that the new architecture will replace the Blackwell 2025 naming scheme and it is possible that new GPUs with the letter “R” will appear. However, it is important to note that NVIDIA has not yet officially used or mentioned the names R100 or GR200. The successor to the Blackwell B100 GPUs is still referred to as X100 or GX100. Nevertheless, Kopite, who has a good reputation when it comes to GPU names, seems to believe that the X100 series may be postponed and the R100 GPUs will be launched instead.

Astronomer Vera Rubin at work at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ, 1965. Rubin transformed modern physics and astronomy with her observations showing that galaxies and stars are immersed in the gravitational grip of vast clouds of dark matter. pic.twitter.com/C632eshHZP

— World of Science (@scientists_feed) April 20, 2022

It will be interesting to see what naming scheme NVIDIA eventually chooses for the successor to its Blackwell B100 GPUs, which are all but officially confirmed. The name of NVIDIA’s Blackwell GPUs is used for both HPC/AI and gaming GPUs. However, it remains to be seen whether the “GR***” naming convention will be adopted from Rubin’s gaming range or whether we will see the architecture in some form in the consumer segment. With the launch of the range still years away, we won’t know until the launch date gets closer. However, there will certainly be exciting times ahead.

Source: kopite7kimi