Nvidia has started selling the GeForce RTX 3080 12GB: more memory, better performance, but higher power consumption

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Without warning yesterday, Nvidia released a new game graphics card: GeForce RTX 3080 12GB. Although it is an issue with almost no publicity, it is a very interesting model, as it does not only have a larger memory capacity. The GPU has more units and throughput, so a 12GB card will be better than the 10GB version in everything. That is, except for consumption.

Nvidia announced two new graphics last week, which will go on sale this month (GeForce RTX 3050 a GeForce RTX 3090 Ti – the fastest and slowest Ampere model). Surprisingly, yesterday the company added another new model, and this time it even started selling it immediately. This innovation is the GeForce RTX 3080 12GB, which expands the memory of the existing 10GB model, but should also significantly improve performance, especially at higher resolutions.

GeForce RTX 3080 12GB comes out in a rather curious way. Nvidia announced it in a press release yesterday afternoon, almost unintentionally, along with the release of Game Ready driver 511.17 for God Of War (which doesn’t seem to be a comparable event). And at the same time, the NDA expired and the card went on sale at the same time.

This almost silent launch is perhaps because in the eyes of Nvidia, the GeForce RTX 3080 12GB is not a new model, just a new variant original GeForce RTX 3080 released in fall 2020. But that’s not quite fair. On the contrary, we think that this model deserves quite a lot of attention, because the specifications are quite changed and, except for one thing, completely better.

GeForce RTX 3080 12GB: upgrade not only capacity

The GeForce RTX 3080 12GB doesn’t just have increased memory capacity. Instead of the GA102-200 chip (or GA102-202 u LHR version with mining limiter) has GPU graphics labeled GA102-220. The change is that instead of 68 SM blocks there are 70 active, so the graphics have 256 shaders more – 8960. So RT cores are 70 and Tensor cores 280. The card has a slightly reduced fundamental frequency (to 1260 MHz), but the boost is same, 1710 MHz.

Then, of course, there’s a 20% increase in memory to 12 GB GDDR6X (runs at 19.0 GHz efficiently), which should increase performance where games already run at just 10GB capacity of a standard RTX 3080. Importantly, 12GB capacity has forced the entire 384-bit bus to turn on, while a 10GB card uses only 320 bits .

As a result, the GeForce RTX 3080 12GB has significantly higher throughput (also by 20%): 912 GB / s instead of 760 GB / s. This should affect game performance, especially in higher resolutions such as 4K. This bonus could often be more significant than the higher gross power potentially achieved by a larger number of units. In any case, the result should be that this graphic will not only have a larger “reserve for the future” due to more memory, but also higher overall performance in all games.

The downside is next to higher prices in consumption. More units and two more GDDR6X chips (there are 12 of them on the PCB instead of 10) raise the consumption of the already not very economical RTX 3080 to the “next level”. The GeForce RTX 3080 12GB therefore has a TDP of 350 W instead of the 320 W 10GB model. It thus reaches the same level of consumption as the RTX 3090 (or 3080 Ti), although the 450W RTX 3090 Ti does not.

On sale now, price not set

The price of the cards will probably depend on today’s tragic conditions in the market, where the RTX 3080 model is already sold far more expensive than its recommended price of $ 699. The 12GB model in stores will probably be for a considerable surcharge compared to 10GB cards. Nvidia did not even officially set the recommended price at all (similarly to GeForce RTX 2060 12GB).

As already mentioned, the graphics should be officially on sale at the moment, and partner manufacturers may already offer them. Many manufacturers have already reported the cards. In our shops so far, however, they do not seem to be, or at least not in the largest ones. The stock of cards in the warehouses, as with all more powerful models, will of course probably be very sparse, given the current excess of demand over supply.

Sources: Nvidia, VideoCardz