Now that AMD's Radeon RX 6900 XT is out, things are getting heated up in the high-end graphics card space. Nvidia may be rushing to release the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti to counterattack the Radeon RX 6900 XT. A new PCI ID has emerged via pci-ids.ucw.cz of an HP OEM 452.56 graphics driver that lends credence to the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti's rumored launch next month. As this is a rumor, a degree of healthy scepticism and a large pinch of salt are required.
The current consensus is that the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti could potentially be a lesser version of the flagship GeForce RTX 3090 part. The most important specifications, such as the 10,496 CUDA cores, 328 Tensor cores and 82 RT cores are rumored to remain intact with the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. The only differentiation between the GeForce RTX 3090 and the RTX 3080 Ti comes down to the latter arriving with less memory but an identical TDP to the GeForce RTX 3080.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Specifications
| Header Cell - Column 0 | GeForce RTX 3090 | Radeon RX 6900 XT | GeForce RTX 3080 Ti* | GeForce RTX 3080 | GeForce RTX 3070 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Architecture (GPU) | Ampere (GA102) | RDNA 2 (Navi 21) | Ampere (GA102) | Ampere (GA102) | Ampere (GA104) |
| CUDA Cores / SP | 10,496 | 5,120 | 10,496 | 8,704 | 5,888 |
| RT Cores | 82 | 80 | 82 | 68 | 46 |
| Tensor Cores | 328 | N/A | 328 | 272 | 184 |
| Texture Units | 328 | 320 | 328 | 272 | 184 |
| Base Clock Rate | 1,400 MHz | 1,825 MHz | ? | 1,440 MHz | 1,500 MHz |
| Boost Clock Rate | 1,700 MHz | 2,250 MHz | ? | 1,710 MHz | 1,730 MHz |
| Memory Capacity | 24GB GDDR6X | 16GB GDDR6 | 20GB GDDR6X | 10GB GDDR6X | 8GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Speed | 19.5 Gbps | 16 Gbps | 19.5 Gbps | 19 Gbps | 14 Gbps |
| Memory Bus | 384-bit | 256-bit | 320-bit | 320-bit | 256-bit |
| Memory Bandwidth | 936 GBps | 512 GBps | 780 GBps | 760 GBps | 448 GBps |
| ROPs | 112 | 128 | 112 | 96 | 96 |
| L2 Cache | 6MB | 4MB | 5MB | 5MB | 4MB |
| L3 Cache | N/A | 128MB | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| TDP | 350W | 300W | 320W | 320W | 220W |
| Transistor Count | 28.3 billion | 26.8 billion | 28.3 billion | 28.3 billion | 17.4 billion |
| Die Size | 628 mm² | 536 mm² | 628 mm² | 628 mm² | 392 mm² |
| MSRP | $1,499 | $999 | $999 | $699 | $499 |
*Specifications are unconfirmed.
On the memory front, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti seemingly features 20GB of GDDR6X memory that runs at 19.5 Gbps across a 320-bit memory interface. That means that graphics card could offer a maximum memory bandwidth up to 780 GBps, just 2.6% more than the GeForce RTX 3080. The GeForce RTX 3090 still delivers up to 20% higher bandwidth though.
If you look at it closely, the performance difference between the GeForce RTX 3090 and the RTX 3080 Ti should be minimum in workloads where the amount of memory and memory bandwidth aren't important factors. The price tag, however, is as different as chalk and cheese.
The Radeon RX 6900 XT sports a $999 price tag, and it's still a big price to pay for a graphics card. However, the Navi-powered graphics card looks attractive beside the GeForce RTX 3090, which sells for $1,499. If the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti were to debut at $999, it would definitely give the Radeon RX 6900 XT a run for its money.
