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Watch Nvidia's Geforce RTX 3000 'Ampere' Unveiling Here: Starts Now

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The Countdown Is Almost Up!

(Image credit: Nvidia)

The excitement for Nvidia's new RTX 3000 series has been building up over the last few months, and more so over the last few days, where there have been a number of leaks. Now, the time of reckoning is approaching, as Nvidia's countdown has dropped down to mere hours. 

We're expecting Nvidia to unveil two graphics cards at this event: the RTX 3090 and the RTX 3080, with both cards seeing retail availability this month. We're hoping that Nvidia will also announce the RTX 3070, though that card is only expected to formally launch in October. 

So far, the rumors about the cards are lavish. The RTX 3090 is seen as the halo 'dream' card to have, with rumors pointing to a bedazzling 5248 CUDA cores linked to a mind-boggling 24 GB of GDDR6X memory. While the RTX 3090 will therefore help Nvidia keep its king of the hill status, it's also reported to cost a king's leg, and then some. 

The RTX 3080 will be more approachable with a reported 4352 CUDA cores and 10 GB of GDDR6X memory, though we reckon the sweet spot will be the RTX 3070 that's coming in October, much like the RTX 2070 made the most sense from a cost vs. performance perspective. Exact specifications for the RTX 3070 aren't available yet as there hasn't been a reliable leak for that card, yet.

Other than that, the RTX 3000 series are expected to add PCI-Express 4.0 support, and with AMD currently being the only player to offer PCI-Express 4.0 support, we're expecting interesting results when testing the RTX 3000 series .

Nvidia's Ampere GPUs are also expected to be produced on the 7nm fabrication process, and a new 12-pin power connector is rumored for the Founders Edition cards along with a wild new cooler design. 

For more reading material during this exciting wait, check out our everything we know summary of the Ampere GPUs. 

Niels Broekhuijsen
Niels Broekhuijsen
Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He covers hardware news on all components and peripherals.
56 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Avro Arrow
    So, nVidia now considers the release of a new architecture an event worthy of being televised? That's about as arrogant and pathetic as something Apple would try. LOL

    If I ever become so pathetic and fanboyish as to treat the release of a new generation of overpriced video cards as an event not to be missed (I still can't really believe that this is happening), please hang me with a DisplayPort cable. I'd rather be dead than be that much of a sheep.

    AMD's release of Zen back in 2017 was a MUCH, MUCH bigger event in the tech world and you didn't see AMD pulling a dumb stunt like this. It's like nVidia is trying to create a cult of personality around JH. It's no wonder that good ol' Charlie Demerjian started calling him "Dear Leader" so long ago. It really fits.
    Reply
  • helper800
    Avro Arrow said:
    So, nVidia now considers the release of a new architecture an event worthy of being televised? That's about as arrogant and pathetic as something Apple would try. LOL

    If I ever become so pathetic and fanboyish as to treat the release of a new generation of overpriced video cards as an event not to be missed (I still can't really believe that this is happening), please hang me with a DisplayPort cable. I'd rather be dead than be that much of a sheep.

    AMD's release of Zen back in 2017 was a MUCH, MUCH bigger event in the tech world and you didn't see AMD pulling a dumb stunt like this. It's like nVidia is trying to create a cult of personality around JH. It's no wonder that good ol' Charlie Demerjian started calling him "Dear Leader" so long ago. It really fits.
    They couldn't hold an event because of COVID-19 so they created one and are live streaming it to prevent the spread. Did you just get out of a coma or something? Also many many events have been and are streamed before and during COVID-19 in the tech industry. I have no idea why you are so outraged...
    Reply
  • Avro Arrow
    helper800 said:
    They couldn't hold an event because of COVID-19 so they created one and are live streaming it to prevent the spread. Did you just get out of a coma or something? Also many many events have been and are streamed before and during COVID-19 in the tech industry. I have no idea why you are so outraged...
    Outraged? What part of my post shows outrage? It's more shock and awe that this would actually have draw than anything else. I think that the only time in my life that I was that enthusiastic about a product release was Zen because the entire PC industry was going down the toilet from a lack of competiton.

    I've "witnessed" more video card generational releases than I can count on ten fingers and ten toes and several of them were far more revolutionary than this. I saw the introduction of CGA graphics, EGA graphics, VGA graphics, Super-VGA graphics, the first actual GPU, the first dual-GPU card, the first Gigaflop card, etc. Milestones in tech history are those that completely change the landscape, not just improve it in some way. Milestones introduce completely new things, not augmentations of what already exists.

    The RTX 2000 series was a milestone in tech history because it brought Ray Tracing, something that didn't exsist before. The RTX 3000 series brings nothing new to the idustry. People are making such a big deal about the RTX 3080 or 3090 being a "300W video card" like that's never happened before. Back in 2008, the GTX 295 was 289W while in 2009, the HD 5970 was 294W. Seven years later, ATi built the Radeon ProDuo which didn't have some special connectors or weird new cooling solution and its TDP was 350W

    This is all much ado about nothing for young people who never any real advancements in tech and think that Ampere is something other than just the next line of overpriced cards from nVidia.

    I think that the last time I saw a video of Jensen Huang on stage, it was him saying "It just works" and before that, a fake video card with wood screws that he called "Fermi". Not exactly impressive showings either time.

    I'm not outraged, I'm jaded. If I thought that nVidia actually had something interesting other than just "the new most powerful generation of cards" which occurs roughly every-other year, I'd understand the hype but this is not one of those times.
    Reply
  • jkflipflop98
    Dude, you need to take a break from the internet and go for a walk outside.
    Reply
  • Chung Leong
    A few weeks ago I bought a used RTX 3090 off Ebay. It turned my PC into a solid block of ice within hours. Got to keep an eye out for them inverted computer parts :p
    Reply
  • PzRSlim
    Avro Arrow said:
    So, nVidia now considers the release of a new architecture an event worthy of being televised? That's about as arrogant and pathetic as something Apple would try. LOL

    If I ever become so pathetic and fanboyish as to treat the release of a new generation of overpriced video cards as an event not to be missed (I still can't really believe that this is happening), please hang me with a DisplayPort cable. I'd rather be dead than be that much of a sheep.

    AMD's release of Zen back in 2017 was a MUCH, MUCH bigger event in the tech world and you didn't see AMD pulling a dumb stunt like this. It's like nVidia is trying to create a cult of personality around JH. It's no wonder that good ol' Charlie Demerjian started calling him "Dear Leader" so long ago. It really fits.
    You ok, hun?
    Reply
  • digitalgriffin
    $1500 for the 3090 is a hard pill to swallow.
    $600 for the 3080 is better.

    HOWEVER, I have yet to see an NVIDIA card at their recommended launch prices. Maybe for a short while here and there, but that's it.

    Most of his numbers focused on RTX performance gains. Although I do appreciate the DLSS upsampling, I consider RTX proprietary like PhysX and will likely quietly disappear once DX12 DXR extensions come in for next gen consoles.

    NAVI will likely come in at $800 and slot in between the two
    Reply
  • Jim90
    With the prices and performance he's indicating for the 3070/80/90, I think it's very safe to say AMD's RDNA2 is going to be extremely impressive. WAIT!! till RDNA2 products are released, then chose a side.
    Reply
  • waltc3
    That was one of the worst presentations I think I've ever seen. Very disappointing. He spent 9/10th of his time on rudimentary software--none of which impressed me at all (they even mixed up pre-rendered clips done on non-RTX hardware!)--and 1/10th of his time talking about the 3000-series hardware. "Ray-traced" Fortnite was horrible looking! I loved the "starting at" $600, $800 and then $1599 for the monster. I got that the 3070 is supposed to ship in October--but missed the dates for the other products--he spent almost no time at all talking about when they'd be available. I hate to say it but this presentation reminded me of why I steer clear of nVidia. I feel as though I am being accosted by a snake oil salesman. The only thing he missed at the end was "Beam me up, Scotty!" I hate to tell JHH, but no one is remotely interested to hear about 20 years from now--about which he knows nothing--like all of us!

    Now I'm really looking forward to AMD RDNA2 presentation! This nVidia presentation was so weak compared to the kinds of things AMD does--AMD has spoiled me rotten, I guess. I'm flabbergasted--I expected to see a real product demo--and for some reason I feel I didn't get that at all.
    Reply
  • jwcrellin
    I'm really liking the RTX 3080. I think i'll pick up the first one I can find with a 3 fan cooler. Not feeling the 2 month wait for AMD.
    Reply