Nvidia Rumored To Launch RTX 3060 In January, RTX 3080 Ti in February

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By Zhiye Liu
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Happy New Year

Imagine an Intel CPU, running CUDA via ZHUDA.
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

German news outlet Igor's Lab has received some tasty information regarding Nvidia's approaching Ampere-powered graphics cards. It would appear that the chipmaker has reshuffled the launch dates for the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3060. Until we receive official confirmation, take this rumor with a pinch of salt.

The GeForce RTX 3080 Ti was rumored to debut next month, probably at CES 2021. However, Igor's sources claim that Nvidia has pushed the launch to after the Chinese New Year holidays. Therefore, the up-and-coming challenger to AMD's Radeon RX 6900 XT won't arrive until after February 17. 

Staying true to its name, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is the the SKU that bridges the gap between the GeForce RTX 3080 and RTX 3090. If the buzz around town is accurate, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti may inherit that 10,496 CUDA cores from the GeForce RTX 3090, while sporting 20GB of 19.5 Gbps GDDR6X memory, just 4GB shy of the GeForce RTX 3090.

According to Igor, the GeForce RTX 3060 will take the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti's place at CES 2021. The GeForce RTX 3060 is rumored to be available in two variants: one with 12GB of GDDR6 memory and another with 6GB of GDDR6 memory. The first could launch around CES 2021, while the latter might not come until the end of the month.

The differences don't stop at the memory configuration though. Igor's sources said that the CUDA cores will also vary between the two models. In order to protect his sources, Igor didn't share the CUDA core count for the GeForce RTX 3060.

All in all, Nvidia seems to have a couple of interesting products to take on Big Navi in the months to come, but you can get AMD won't approach the fight with its hands down. The Radeon RX 6700 XT is the model to watch since it'll be a tough cookie to crack.

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.

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11 Comments Comment from the forums
  • nofanneeded
    :(

    I was hoping to get RTX 3080 ti soon .

    I might end up getting RTX 3090 because of this delay . I am really Angry at you Nvidia . RTX 3080 with only 10GB was a mistake. Pfft.
    Reply
  • saunupe1911
    nofanneeded said:
    :(

    I was hoping to get RTX 3080 ti soon .

    I might end up getting RTX 3090 because of this delay . I am really Angry at you Nvidia . RTX 3080 with only 10GB was a mistake. Pfft.

    Well that mistake costs half the price of 3090 and is right behind it in FPS. Man don't crap on the 3080 as it's THE most wanted GPU on the market right now and rightfully so.

    Back to topic...Let's see how Nvidia handles these launches. I wish other sites would create a queue similar to EVGA. It's the fairest purchasing system on the market right now.
    Reply
  • Giroro
    There may be a major gap in pricing between the 3080 and 3090.... But not so much in terms of gaming performance.
    What is Nvidia even hoping to accomplish with a 3080 Ti? Maybe they'll get a 5% uplift in gaming performance for a $500 premium over the 3080 instead of a 8% uplift for $800?
    They've got nowhere to go in terms of price/performance value, unless they're willing to admit that the 3090 is a Titan-class product that they never expected anybody to actually buy for gaming.
    Reply
  • RareAir23
    saunupe1911 said:

    Back to topic...Let's see how Nvidia handles these launches. I wish other sites would create a queue similar to EVGA. It's the fairest purchasing system on the market right now.

    I have to agree with saunupe1911's response about eVGA. eVGA at this point with the retail queue system they created based on their notify me option is single-handedly saving nVIDIA's reputation or at least slowing down the tarnish their rep is getting right now. If it wasn't for eVGA, I wouldn't have an RTX 3080 right now. Their retail queue allowed me to get mine. Thanks and until next time I am out!
    Reply
  • phn7a
    Giroro said:
    What is Nvidia even hoping to accomplish with a 3080 Ti? Maybe they'll get a 5% uplift in gaming performance for a $500 premium over the 3080 instead of a 8% uplift for $800?
    They've got nowhere to go in terms of price/performance value, unless they're willing to admit that the 3090 is a Titan-class product that they never expected anybody to actually buy for gaming.

    3090 is basically a titan product, whether or not Nvidia admits this is irrelevant. Just like the 1080 ti, I expect the 3080 ti to be the next hot product to go OOS... maybe then I can snag a used 3080 on ebay at somewhat reasonable prices.
    Reply
  • Giroro
    saunupe1911 said:
    Well that mistake costs half the price of 3090 and is right behind it in FPS. Man don't crap on the 3080 as it's THE most wanted GPU on the market right now and rightfully so.

    Back to topic...Let's see how Nvidia handles these launches. I wish other sites would create a queue similar to EVGA. It's the fairest purchasing system on the market right now.

    An alternative way of writing that sentiment is that that Nvidia charges twice as much for the 3090 than the 3080, despite the fact it barely performs any better. The 3090 is a "Halo" product. It's a bad value on purpose, in order to make their other overpriced cards look better by comparison. It's an incredibly basic marketing trick called "anchoring". That's also why most products launch with exactly 3 options - you get the high anchor, the "low" anchor (which is also a bad value despite the lower cost), then the "best value" option- A high-margin product that only looks good because you're comparing it to the deliberately bad options. Electronics are sold this way, most subscription services are sold this way, they even use it to trick people to choose between equally-fake options like when you buy imaginary points or gems or levels in games.

    The problem for Nvidia is that AMD released a competing product, which also is using Nvidia's anchors - but in a way to try to make their entire line look like relatively (emphasis on RELATIVELY) better value options.. So now Nvidia needs to find a new way to anchor their entire product stack to try and convince people to spend more money on a 3080 ti despite the fact it will be the 4th card on the market that performs within 10% of a 3080.
    Reply
  • Giroro
    phn7a said:
    3090 is basically a titan product, whether or not Nvidia admits this is irrelevant. Just like the 1080 ti, I expect the 3080 ti to be the next hot product to go OOS... maybe then I can snag a used 3080 on ebay at somewhat reasonable prices.

    It is relevant, because they are marketing the 3090 as a gaming card to make the 3080 look good.
    Imagine the ckickbait headlines if they started doing that with quadro cards.
    "OMG the 3080 has better gaming performance as this $5000 RTX A6000 for only $700, how do they do it?! "

    If Nvidia is willing to admit that the 3090 is not a gaming card, then that gives them space to crank the clocks on the 3080ti until it meets/exceeds the gaming performance in most situations. And then people will be talking about how it as just as good as a 3090 for ~$300 cheaper instead of focusing on how its about the same as a 3080 for a $500 price hike
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    Giroro said:
    There may be a major gap in pricing between the 3080 and 3090.... But not so much in terms of gaming performance.
    What is Nvidia even hoping to accomplish with a 3080 Ti? Maybe they'll get a 5% uplift in gaming performance for a $500 premium over the 3080 instead of a 8% uplift for $800?
    They've got nowhere to go in terms of price/performance value, unless they're willing to admit that the 3090 is a Titan-class product that they never expected anybody to actually buy for gaming.
    From the start there was supposed to be a 20GB 3080 to slot between the 10GB 3080 and 24GB 3090. That got cancelled probably primarily because NVidia was so far from meeting demand that there was no point releasing another model using the same chip that they already couldn't get enough of and partially because AMD was providing some real competition and released a card at the $1000 price point.

    It's almost a foregone conclusion that the 3080Ti FE will have a $1000 MSRP to compete with the 6900xt. At $300 more than the 10GB 3080, Nvidia has to do something more than just double RAM, so it gets the cuda core bump to the 3090, which should keep it ahead of the 6900XT, while still a smidge behind the 3090 due to lower memory bandwidth.
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    Giroro said:
    It is relevant, because they are marketing the 3090 as a gaming card to make the 3080 look good.
    Imagine the ckickbait headlines if they started doing that with quadro cards.
    "OMG the 3080 has better gaming performance as this $5000 RTX A6000 for only $700, how do they do it?! "

    If Nvidia is willing to admit that the 3090 is not a gaming card, then that gives them space to crank the clocks on the 3080ti until it meets/exceeds the gaming performance in most situations. And then people will be talking about how it as just as good as a 3090 for ~$300 cheaper instead of focusing on how its about the same as a 3080 for a $500 price hike
    It is possible to use a card in multiple markets. Nvidia is marketing the cards towards gamers because they want gamers to spend $1500 on a video card. They don't have to market towards professionals because they will buy the product that works for them regardless of target audience. Nvidia absolutely intends the 3090 to be used by professionals. It still has an NVlink connector when Nvidia has announced no support for SLI after this year. The card also supports memory pooling when linked to a 2nd card which is a feature 100% targeted for the professional market and isn't used at all for gaming.
    Reply
  • Gurg
    3090 Gaming card or Professional? Who cares? Not even Nvidia! Ohio MC lists a EVGA 3090 @ $1799 and some wealthy person shows up with cash and buys it as soon as they or their significant other can drive to MC.

    3080 with 10 GBs a mistake? No it appears to be the perfectly matched GPU to saturate a 4k 60hz monitor at close to ultra settings. Anything more is pretty much superfluous. No problem with quickly selling those @$750+ either.

    Have or looking to buy a $750 minimum 4k 144hz monitor and whatever current GPU is more powerful that a 3080/10GBs will generate a higher frame rate but still not saturate the 144hz at maximum frame rates. Apparently that is 2-4 years off in the future.
    Reply