NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Now Rumored To Launch In May, Here’s All We Know So Far
At this point, it feels like a foregone conclusion that NVIDIA will be announcing a GeForce RTX 3080 Ti soon. We know, we know—the GPU market is in shambles right now, because of cryptocurrency mining, because of bots and scalpers, and because there just is not enough silicon to go around. Nevertheless, you can expect new product announcements to persist, even if you have next to zero chance of actually buying whatever comes out.
In this case, the rumored GeForce RTX 3080 Ti will undoubtedly sell out immediately, and then join every other SKU on Out-Of-Stock island. Be that as it may, the Ti variant is set to become an actual product, with specifications and pricing. The question is, how will the specifications and pricing shake out? Well, here is what we know so far.
At the beginning of the year, leaked GPU-Z screenshots indicated the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti would emerge with 10,496 CUDA cores and a generous 20GB of GDDR6X memory, tied to a 320-bit memory bus. The screenshots also showed a 1,396MHz base clock and 1,695MHz boost clock. Basically, we were looking at a slightly cut down version of the GeForce RTX 3090.
Somewhere along the way, however, it seems NVIDIA decided to change course and scale things back a little, presumably because it's not all that fazed by AMD's flagship Radeon RX 6900 XT. More recent leaks, like Gigabyte registering a bunch of GeForce RTX 3080 Ti SKUs with the Eurasian Economic Commission, indicate the upcoming Ampere part will debut with 12GB of GDDR6X memory, not 20GB.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Rumored Specifications, Availability And Pricing
The latest rumors also allege the new entry will feature 10,240 CUDA cores instead of 10,496. That's still a sizable upgrade over the regular GeForce RTX 3080, which wields 8,704 CUDA cores.
A fresh rumor from ITHome backs those claims, saying the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti will have 10,496 CUDA cores and 12GB of GDDR6X memory, but tied to a fatter 384-bit bus, just like the GeForce RTX 3090. The news outlet also says the new card will gimp mining performance, cutting the hash rate in half.
As for pricing and availability, the site claims the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti will launch next month for 7,999 Chinese Yuan. Pricing will inevitably vary by territory, but based on the current exchange rate, that works around to around $1,230 in US currency.
Source: Lok LOK (via Facebook)
It is at least plausible that a May launch will happen. Just a few days ago, a leaked photo of a supposed pallet of MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Ventus 3X OC graphics cards made the rounds, purporting to show a pending shipment of cards from China to the United States. If the photo is real, it serves as further proof that the new SKU will arrive with 12GB of memory.
Rumor has it the card will be carry a $999 MSRP in the US. If that's the case, it would cost the same as the Radeon RX 6900 XT. Here's how it would fit within the pricing hierarchy of modern generation graphics cards...
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090: $1,499
- ***NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti: $999 (Leaked MSRP)***
- AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT: $999
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080: $699
- AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT: $649
- AMD Radeon RX 6800: $579
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070: $499
- AMD Radeon RX 6700: $479
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti: $399
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060: $329
