New Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 expected

Nvidia is expected to unveil an updated GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card on Tuesday, according to a report from Wccftech.

The publication has claimed that information from its sources indicate the new card will be announced at 06:00 Pacific Time — 16:00 in South Africa.

The new card will offer several improvements over the standard RTX 3080.

Its VRAM has been bumped from 10GB to 12GB and now comes with the next-generation GDDR6X design.

That gives the new RTX 3080 memory speeds of 19Gbps.

Combined with a wider 384-bit bus, it will offer a cumulative bandwidth of 912GB/s, 20% more than the 10GB version.

In addition, the card will reportedly boast 3% more CUDA cores, putting its count at 8,960.

Aside from these changes, the RTX 3080 12GB will come with next-generation Ray Tracing cores, Tensor cores, and new streaming multi-processor units.

The card’s Thermal Design Power (TDP) is expected to be 350W, the same as the RTX model and 30W more than the standard version.

Pricing and availability are not yet known, although Wccftech said buyers should expect its price tag to slot in between the standard RTX 3080 and RTX 3080 Ti.

For reference, Wootware sells the current RTX 3080 starting from R23,799, while the most affordable Ti model costs R29,799.

Several tech reviewers have expressed dismay at Nvidia’s decision to launch a new card while struggling to meet demand for its existing line-up.

The global chip shortage has choked supply and, together with cryptocurrency mining, has driven up graphics card prices. Some outlets, including PC Gamer and TechLinked, have questioned how a new card would improve the current situation.

Now read: Nvidia vs AMD — 2021 graphics card showdown