Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3080 12GB Is Probably At The Door

The GeForce RTX 2060 12GB isn't the only recent graphics card from Nvidia with upgraded memory. VideoCardz has shared two renders of a custom GeForce RTX 3080 12GB, a rumored Ampere graphics card that has been in the rumor mill for a couple of months now.

As far as the ingredients go, the GeForce RTX 3080 12GB will presumptively continue to use Nvidia's GA102 die, the same silicon that's inside the GeForce RTX 3080. However, the rumors point to a more generous amount of enabled Streaming Multiprocessors (SM). While the regular GeForce RTX 3080's silicon has 68 SMs (8,704 CUDA cores), the 12GB variant may arrive with two additional SMs. That would reportedly put the core counts to 8,960 CUDA cores, 280 Tensor cores, and 70 RT cores. It's not a massive upgrade, but a 3% higher amount of CUDA cores should give the GeForce RTX 3080 12GB a fairly noticeable advantage in benchmarks.

The GeForce RTX 3080 12GB, as its name denotes, will arrive with 12GB of GDDR6X memory, 2GB more than the standard GeForce RTX 3080. The memory modules likely won't change, and we'll probably see 19 Gbps chips on the GeForce RTX 3080 12G. However, the revamped Ampere graphics card presumably comes with a 384-bit memory interface. The wider bus would allow the GeForce RTX 3080 12GB to hit a memory bandwidth of 912.4 GBps, 20% higher than the regular GeForce RTX 3080 with its 320-bit memory interface.

Having more cores and memory means that GeForce RTX 3080 12GB should have a more demanding TDP. The GeForce RTX 3080 has a 320W TDP, so it wouldn't come as a surprise if the GeForce RTX 3080 12GB ends up debuting with a TDP rating between 340W to 350W. If there is any truth to the rumor, then the GeForce RTX 3080 12GB's TDP could be in the same league as the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti (350W).

Regarding the EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 12GB FTW3 Ultra Gaming, the graphics card appears to feature the same 2.75-slot design as the GeForce RTX 3080 12GB FTW3 Ultra Gaming. The beefy iCX3 cooling system is still present, and the graphics card continues to depend on three 8-pin PCIe power connectors to get all the juice it requires. If it weren't for the "12GB GDDR6X" label on the packaging, you wouldn't be able to tell the two apart.

VideoCardz believes that Nvidia could launch the GeForce RTX 3080 12GB tomorrow while lifting the review embargo and giving retailers the green light to sell the new Ampere monster. Given the graphics card shortage, there will likely be limited stock. Whatever is available may not be at MSRP, either.