Nvidia has presented a new model of the Geforce RTX 3080. The 12 GB version is already available at high prices in the first shops.
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Nvidia’s Geforce RTX 3080 is now also available with 12 GB
At CES 2022 last week, Nvidia presented the two new desktop RTX graphics cards Geforce RTX 3050 and RTX 3090 Ti. Nvidia has now also announced another model without much marketing fuss. The Geforce RTX 3080 with 12 GB GDDR6 memory. There was no press release or anything like that. The reference to the new 12 GB model was simply added on the Nvidia page for the Geforce 3080 under “Technical data” (quite far down on this Nvidia page).
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On the Nvidia page for the Geforce RTX 3080 there is a reference to the new 12 GB model
© IDG
The first model of the RTX 3080 was launched in autumn 2020 with “only” 10 gigabytes (here in the PC-WELT test), a weak point in games that require a lot of graphics card memory in 4K, such as Doom.
RTX 3080: New 12 GB model faster than 10 GB variant
Rumors about a Geforce RTX 3080 with 12 gigabytes of RAM had been around for some time. So now this model is actually coming onto the market. With the new 12 gigabyte model, Nvidia is also increasing the memory bus width from 320 to 384 bits, increasing the total memory bandwidth from 760 gigabytes per second to 912 gigabytes per second. The TDP increases from 320 to 350 watts.
But there are other improvements: The number of CUDA graphics cores has increased from 8704 in the 10 GB model to 8960 in the 12 GB model. Together with the additional memory, the 12 GB RTX 3080 should be a little faster than the original.
It should be confusing that Nvidia leaves the name “Geforce RTX 3080” unchanged and the buyers have to pay close attention to which model they actually want to buy. Another name, such as “Geforce RTX 3080 Super” might have provided more clarity.
The first shops are offering Geforce RTX 3080 12 GB at high prices
The prices for current graphics card models are still quite high due to the shortage of chips, if you can get them at all. The new Geforce RTX 3080 12 GB is not even listed in the Nvidia online shop, prices for the 10 GB model are quoted for well over 1,100 euros, while the FE model from Nvidia with an RRP of 719 euros is of course not available is.
The manufacturer Asus announced in a press release that its models of the Geforce RTX 3080 12 GB will be available in stores with a recommended retail price of 1,519 euros (TZF Gaming Geforce RTX 3080 12GB OC) or 1,639 euros (ROG Strix Geforce RTX 3080 12GB OC) will.
At Mindfactory, the MSI Geforce RTX 3080 Gaming Z Trio LHR with 12 GB is offered at the proud price of 1,699 euros and is even still available. Two 10 GB models of the RTX 3080 (both from Gigabyte) are currently available from Mindfactory for 1,399 euros.
The new RTX-3080 models should also be listed soon at other retailers. Current RTX-3080 offers can be found here in our PC-WELT price comparison.
Graphics card comparison 2022: GeForce RTX and Radeon RX GPUs in the test – with ranking