NVIDIA has grown tired of the 12 GB version of its GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card already, according to a recent tweet from MEGAsizeGPU that claims green team has stopped the production of its newish Ampere variant. A glance at listings from major retailers that include Newegg can help unravel why: many GeForce RTX 3080 (12 GB) graphics cards now seem to be selling at (or even below) their 10 GB counterparts, an indication that NVIDIA probably terminated the version with extra VRAM and a wider bus so it can more easily clear out existing stock of GeForce RTX 3080 (10 GB) graphics cards ahead of the highly anticipated GeForce RTX 40 Series. Another probably has to do with the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, whose MSRP is dropping substantially, so much so that more and more enthusiasts are considering just getting the faster Titanium version instead. NVIDIA released its GeForce RTX 3080 (12 GB) graphics card earlier this year, a revision that counts 256 more CUDA cores and increased memory interface width (384-bit vs. 320-bit) among its improvements.
You are very lucky to get a brand new 3080 12G since it’s already been stop produced.
— MEGAsizeGPU (@Zed__Wang) June 26, 2022
| GeForce RTX 3080 (10 GB) | GeForce RTX 3080 (12 GB) | GeForce RTX 3080 Ti | |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPU | GA102-200 | GA102-220 | GA102-225 |
| CUDA cores | 8704 | 8960 | 10240 |
| Memory | 10GB GDDR6X | 12GB GDDR6X | 12GB GDDR6X |
| Memory Bus | 320-bit | 384-bit | 384-bit |
| Effective Bandwidth | 760.3 GB/s | 912.4 GB/s | 912.4 GB/s |
What is Nvidia to do if it wants to sell stockpiles of 3080 10GB cards that no one should buy ahead of the 12GB version at the same price? That’s easy, cancel the 12GB. That means buyers will have to buy the 3080 10GB (which is still an excellent card) or cough up the money for the 3080 Ti, which is essentially a 3080 12GB with more shaders.
3080 10GB buyers have very little to worry about though. The real world performance differences between the 10GB and 12GB cards aren’t large at all. Unless you’re playing games at 4K with large texture packs, 10GB is still sufficient, though to what degree that will remain the case in 2023 and beyond is uncertain.
Source: MEGAsizeGPU (via PC Gamer)