Rumour has it that Nvidia’s next generation GPU architecture may be called “Ampere.” For those who are not aware, the current GPU architecture codename from the green company is called “Pascal.” Interestingly, sources have said that Ampere GPUs may be used in next generation consumer-grade Nvidia graphics cards – and not “Volta” as many have expected.

According to reports, Nvidia’s Volta GPUs will instead be used for enterprise-grade products aimed at usage in fields of artificial intelligence, cloud computing and datacenter. Knowing this – and if this rumour turns out to be true – then consumers can expect Nvidia’s next GTX graphics cards to be equipped with Ampere GPUs.

Some may be wondering: why Ampere? Well, Nvidia has, for a long time, named their GPUs after well-known scientists. Maxwell (GTX 900 series) and Pascal (GTX 10 series) GPUs, for example, are named after James Clerk Maxwell and Blaise Pascal respectively. Ampere could very well be named after Andre-Marie Ampere, who was one of the founders of classical electromagnetism.

That aside, it’ll be interesting to see what Ampere GPUs will be capable of when they’re released. Knowing how powerful Pascal-based GPUs are, Ampere-based graphics cards will most likely come with impressive amounts of horsepower and efficiency. Either way, as with all other rumours we’ve written before, do take this one with a pinch of salt for now.

(Source: Heise.de, TechPowerUp, Guru3D)