Asus Lists Custom GeForce RTX 3060 12GB, RTX 3080 Ti GPUs

News
By Zhiye Liu
published

Someone jumped the gun

Asus ROG Strix RTX 3060 Ti
Asus ROG Strix RTX 3060 Ti (Image credit: Asus)

Asus (via Twitter user HXL) has inadvertently confirmed the memory specifications for Nvidia's forthcoming GeForce RTX 3060 and RTX 3080 Ti graphics cards. Although we've heard multiple rumors of the graphics cards, Asus is the first Nvidia partner to acknowledge their existence.

Apparently, Asus has already added the ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3060 12GB and ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3080 Ti to its support database. The entries are at the bottom of the drop-down list, suggesting that Asus must have added the graphics card recently. The entries don't lead to anywhere, for now; however, the part numbers do lend credence to some of the rumored specifications that have made their rounds around town.

The GeForce RTX 3060 rumors already pointed to the possibility of a 6GB and 12GB model. The ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3060 12GB seemingly confirms the existence of the 12GB variant. Nvidia's decision to slap introduce 12GB of GDDR6 memory on the GeForce RTX 3060 seems way overkill, considering that the higher-up models, such as the GeForce RTX 3070 and GeForce RTX 3080 perform admirably with their 8GB and 10GB configurations, respectively.  

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Graphics CardPart NumberHeader Cell - Column 2
ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3080 Ti OC EditionROG-STRIX-RTX3080TI-O20G-GAMINGRow 0 - Cell 2
ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3080 TiROG-STRIX-RTX3080TI-20G-GAMINGRow 1 - Cell 2
ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3060 OC EditionROG-STRIX-RTX3060-O12G-GAMINGRow 2 - Cell 2
ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3060ROG-STRIX-RTX3060-12G-GAMINGRow 3 - Cell 2

It's always handy to have an abundant amount of memory on a graphics card since it allows you to push up into the higher resolutions and enable more eye-candy in games. In the GeForce RTX 3060's case, however, it seems like an unnecessary measure that would just add to the cost of the graphics card. Even the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, the closest relative to the GeForce RTX 3060, does just fine with its 8GB of GDDR6. 

Fortunately, Nvidia will reportedly offer the GeForce RTX 3060 with a 6GB setup as well, which will likely be the favorite flavor for many mainstream gamers. However, it would have been better if Nvidia had upped it to 8GB since 8GB is pretty much the standard in the contemporary gaming world.

ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3060 12GB & ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3080 Ti (Image credit: Asus)

The rumors paint the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti as a cut-down version of the GeForce RTX 3090 with less memory and bandwidth. The graphics card reportedly features the same 10,496 CUDA cores but lands with 20GB of GDDR6X memory instead of 24GB. The memory supposedly runs at the same 19.5 Gbps, albeit across a narrower memory interface.

Looking like business as usual, Asus will give the GeForce RTX 3060 12GB and GeForce RTX 3080 Ti the ROG Strix treatment. The graphics card will come in both standard and overclocked flavors. However, the Ampere-powered offerings trickle down to Asus' other families of graphics cards, such as the TUF and Dual series.

Zhiye Liu
Zhiye Liu
RAM Reviewer and News Editor

Zhiye Liu is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.

See more GPUs News
28 Comments Comment from the forums
  • JOSHSKORN
    I don't see it, they must've removed it and if that's the case, might be a good call.
    Reply
  • bigdragon
    I hope this news means Nvidia has finally come to their senses and decided to up the VRAM amount in Ampere cards. 8/10GB is sufficient today, but won't be in 6-12 months. Seeing 12GB in a 3060 is a positive sign, although it makes the 3060 Ti seem strangely under-spec now. Nvidia is creating another confusing lineup.

    If Nvidia releases a 3070 with 16gb soon, then I'll stop looking for an AMD 6800. Hope the unavailability of GPUs gets solved in January.
    Reply
  • PillowOfWinds
    I think that the most common case where you'd need more than 8-10GB of VRAM is if you are gaming at 4K, so to me a 3060 (which will be closer to a 2070) with 12GB doesn't make a lot of sense.
    Cyperpunk at 1440p ultrawide with RTX and every settings maxed out is around 8GB of VRAM (and that's just memory allocation, the actual usage could be lower).
    In any case I think that 3080 should at least have 12-16GB of VRAM.
    Reply
  • Trident1983
    PillowOfWinds said:
    I think that the most common case where you'd need more than 8-10GB of VRAM is if you are gaming at 4K, so to me a 3060 (which will be closer to a 2070) with 12GB doesn't make a lot of sense.
    Cyperpunk at 1440p ultrawide with RTX and every settings maxed out is around 8GB of VRAM (and that's just memory allocation, the actual usage could be lower).
    In any case I think that 3080 should at least have 12-16GB of VRAM.
    Did you ever use a quattro card with 48GB of vram to play this game 8k or 6k on an apple display? mmm.
    Reply
  • CaptainMorgan2006
    bigdragon said:
    8/10GB is sufficient today, but won't be in 6-12 months.
    Really? What’s coming out in 6-12 months? You have to realize that the Xbox and PS5 only have 16GB of Total memory. Anything that the developers make for this gen of console will port and run just fine on 10GB cards.
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    bigdragon said:
    I hope this news means Nvidia has finally come to their senses and decided to up the VRAM amount in Ampere cards. 8/10GB is sufficient today, but won't be in 6-12 months.
    6-12 months? What's coming in 6-12 months? Nvidia has over 80% of the dGPU market, and has never sold a card with 12 or more GB of RAM for under $1000 (Titans, 2080Ti, 3090). The 3080Ti which is likely to have a $1000 MSRP isn't going to change that. What developer is going to cater to that market? A 12 GB 3060 doesn't make a whole lot of sense, since it doesn't have to GPU horsepower to game at 4k. However, the card is fast enough to benefit from more than 6GB, and I understand that's the configuration they need to maintain the same memory bus bandwidth and thus performance of the 6GB model, so that's what we end up with.
    Reply
  • cryoburner
    Nvidia's decision to slap introduce 12GB of GDDR6 memory on the GeForce RTX 3060 seems way overkill, considering that the higher-up models, such as the GeForce RTX 3070 and GeForce RTX 3080 perform admirably with their 8GB and 10GB configurations, respectively.
    I agree that a 12GB 3060 seems overkill, especially if that pushes it up relatively close to the price of an 8GB 3060 Ti, which will probably be close to 25% faster, based on rumored core counts and memory bandwidth. On the other hand, a 6GB 3060 doesn't really seem like enough for a card that will probably be a little faster than a 2070. Even the existing 2060 super has 8GB of VRAM. 6GB might still be okay for targeting 1080p resolution in upcoming games, but 12GB will probably be more than what's necessary for targeting 1440p, and the card won't be nearly fast enough for 4K. I suppose we may be looking at an MSRP of around $300 for the 6GB model, but that would likely place the 12GB model around $350, and it seems like moving up to the 8GB 3060 Ti would make more sense at that point, assuming the real-world prices of these cards actually reflect their MSRPs at some point.
    Reply
  • bigdragon
    Every time I've had less VRAM than the consoles have in RAM, I've had issues with games. Had the issue with an Nvidia 6800 and then again with an AMD 7950. The new console generation always pushes up requirements for PC games given that most of our games are console ports. I remember when people used to say 2 or 4 GB was enough VRAM right around the launch of the PS3 and PS4. Now I'm reading that 8 GB is enough about the time the PS5 is launching.

    No.

    8 GB of VRAM was fine for the 10-series, but is wildly inappropriate for the 30-series. Developers are going to make use of more VRAM soon. Flight Simulator and some COD game won't be the only ones hogging VRAM for long. Every single jump in console generation specs pushes a corresponding jump in PC gaming requirements. There is no excuse for Nvidia to not increase VRAM compared to the nearly 5 year old 10-series.
    Reply
  • hotaru251
    12gb ram on an enrty level gpu?


    All that is doing is raising price for no reason as most ppl would benefit from more ram...would benefit more for ma more powerful gpu to begin with....
    Reply
  • eklipz330
    bigdragon said:
    I hope this news means Nvidia has finally come to their senses and decided to up the VRAM amount in Ampere cards. 8/10GB is sufficient today, but won't be in 6-12 months. Seeing 12GB in a 3060 is a positive sign, although it makes the 3060 Ti seem strangely under-spec now. Nvidia is creating another confusing lineup.

    If Nvidia releases a 3070 with 16gb soon, then I'll stop looking for an AMD 6800. Hope the unavailability of GPUs gets solved in January.
    Oh you sweet summer child. "Come to their senses". They were always in their senses. Their senses speak money, and this was the best way to increase profits. They do this every generation.

    Remember that "price drop" from the 2080ti to the 3080? Well, what if I told you that you ate what they marketed? The 3080ti will be $1200. There was never a price drop. They just played PC gamers like idiots.
    Reply