Nvidia 11-series GPUs to be launched on 20 August, with availability 10 days later

GTX 1180 to be first out of the trap on 30 August, followed by GTX 1180+

Nvidia will finally unveil its 11-series graphics on Monday 20 August, one day before Gamescon 2018 in Cologne, Germany.

In an invitation posted overnight, the company promises, among other things, "hands-on demos of the hottest upcoming games" and "some spectacular surprises".

The launch will reveal the GTX 1180, GTX 1170, GTX 1160 and GTX 1180+. First out of the door, according to an email to partners leaked last week, will be the GTX 1180, which will replace the popular GTX 1080. This will be available from 30 August, while the GTX 1170 and GTX 1180+ will be available from 30 September, and the GTX 1160 from 30 October.

The cards are expected to be built on TSMC's 12nm process and will come bearing the latest GDDR6 RAM. Rumours suggest, through, that Nvidia will also be releasing a GPU built to TSMC's 7nm process before the end of the year. It's not clear whether this will likely be the GTX 1180+ or a new product intended for the high-performance computing market.

Other rumours suggest that the GTX 1180 will weigh in at a price of $999, which will be around about £910 in the UK, including 20 per cent VAT. They also include the suggestion that the cards will not feature DVI connectors, but will come with VirtualLink USB Type-C for attaching and running virtual reality headsets.

Nvidia and partners have also spent much of the year prepping cooling systems for the cards, including water cooling solutions.

News of the launch event comes a week after the leak of an email to partners warning them to shift overstock of current generation graphics cards ahead of new devices hitting the shops on 30 August.

The overstock of current-generation cards is the reason why Nvidia held-off from launching the 11-series cards earlier in the year, despite having shifted manufacturing over to the new line-up. The email promised that prices of Nvidia's current line would therefore "come down a small bit" to help sell "an abundance of unfinished or unsold 10xx GPUs".