NVIDIA has officially confirmed that it is unlaunching the GeForce RTX 4080 12 GB graphics card while the 16 GB variant is on track for a November launch.
NVIDIA Cancels GeForce RTX 4080 12 GB Graphics Card, RTX 4080 16 GB On Track For November Launch
While the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card has seen positive reviews from across the tech community, there was a lot of controversy regarding the GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB and the 12 GB models. The controversies stemmed from the fact that the RTX 4080 16 GB was priced at $1199 US while the RTX 4080 12 GB has priced at $899 US and the price-to-performance ratio between the 2 cards was simply out of line. In recent benchmarks, NVIDIA showed that the RTX 4080 16 GB was up to 30% faster than the RTX 4080 12 GB.
The RTX 4080 12GB is a fantastic graphics card, but it’s not named right. Having two GPUs with the 4080 designation is confusing.
So, we’re pressing the “unlaunch” button on the 4080 12GB. The RTX 4080 16GB is amazing and on track to delight gamers everywhere on November 16th.
If the lines around the block and enthusiasm for the 4090 is any indication, the reception for the 4080 will be awesome.
To sum things up based on the official benchmarks:
RTX 4090 vs RTX 4080 16 GB at Native 4K = 50% Faster
RTX 4080 16 GB vs RTX 4080 12 GB at Native 4K = 28% Faster
RTX 4080 12 GB vs RTX 3090 Ti at Native 4K = 11% Slower
As you can see, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 16 GB are the only two cards that are fairly ahead of the RTX 3090 Ti, the Ampere flagship.
The RTX 4080 12 GB was around 11% slower yet NVIDIA priced the model at $899 US which is a very bad value considering the RTX 3090 and 3090 Ti can be found for around $800-$1000 US in the retail market and much lower than that in the 2nd hand used marketplace. NVIDIA may have thought that by using RT and DLSS figures, they could’ve shown a better performance positioning for the card but that didn’t work out well, and hence, we are now seeing the official cancellation of the 12 GB RTX 4080 graphics card.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB ‘Official’ Specifications
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB graphics card is expected to utilize a cut-down AD103-300 GPU configuration with 9,728 cores or 76 SMs enabled of the total 84 units whereas the previous configuration offered 80 SMs or 10,240 cores. While the full GPU comes packed with 64 MB of L2 cache and up to 224 ROPs, the RTX 4080 might end up with 48 MB of L2 cache and lower ROPs too due to its cut-down design. The card is expected to be based on the PG136/139-SKU360 PCB. The graphics card is said to offer a peak clock rate of 2505 MHz.
As for memory specs, the GeForce RTX 4080 is expected to rock 16 GB GDDR6X capacities that are said to be adjusted at 22.5 Gbps speeds across a 256-bit bus interface. This will provide up to 720 GB/s of bandwidth. This is still a tad bit slower than the 760 GB/s bandwidth offered by the RTX 3080 since it comes with a 320-bit interface but a lowly 10 GB capacity. To compensate for the lower bandwidth, NVIDIA could be integrating a next-gen memory compression suite to make up for the 256-bit interface.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB “Official” TBP – 320W
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB “Official” TBP – 350W
For power, the TBP is now set to be rated at 340W, a 20W increase from the previous 320W spec that we got. This brings the TBP to the same ballpark as the existing RTX 3080 graphics card (up to 350W). The maximum BIOS TGP is said to be rated at 516W. Now it is not known whether the other RTX 40 series graphics cards will also be getting the faster GDDR6X memory treatment but we know that Micron has commenced full mass production of up to 24 Gbps GDDR6X memory modules so they have to go somewhere.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 12 GB ‘Official’ Specifications (Now Cancelled)
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 will also feature a 12 GB variant that is expected to utilize the AD104-400 GPU configuration with 7,680 cores or 60 SMs enabled which is the full-fat SKU. The GPU will be packing 48 MB of L2 cache and features a 192-bit bus interface so that’s why we are getting up to 12 GB of GDDR6X capacities. The memory is said to be running at 21 Gbps speeds for a memory bandwidth of 504 GB/s. The card is said to be clocked at a 2610 MHz boost clock however the peak frequency will be higher.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 12 GB “Official” TBP – 285W
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 10 GB “Official” TBP – 320W
For power, the TBP is now set to be rated at 285W which is a 35W decrease versus the RTX 3080 10 GB model. The card is expected to offer better performance than the RTX 3080 but given the specs cut over the 4080 16 GB, there will be a big gap between both models. The maximum BIOS TGP is said to be rated at 366W.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series Official Specs:
Graphics Card NameNVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 16GNVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 12G
GPU NameAda Lovelace AD102-300Ada Lovelace AD103-300Ada Lovelace AD104-400
Process NodeTSMC 4NTSMC 4NTSMC 4N
Die Size608mm2378.6mm2294.5mm2
Transistors76 Billion45.9 Billion35.8 Billion
CUDA Cores1638497287680
TMUs / ROPs512 / 176320 / 112240 / 80
Tensor / RT Cores512 / 128304 / 76240 / 60
Base Clock2230 MHz2210 MHz2310 MHz
Boost Clock2520 MHz2510 MHz2610 MHz
FP32 Compute83 TFLOPs49 TFLOPs40 TFLOPs
RT TFLOPs191 TFLOPs113 TFLOPs82 TFLOPs
Tensor-TOPs1321 TOPs780 TOPs641 TOPs
Memory Capacity24 GB GDDR6X16 GB GDDR6X12 GB GDDR6X
Memory Bus384-bit256-bit192-bit
Memory Speed21.0 Gbps23.0 Gbps21.0 Gbps
Bandwidth1008 GB/s736 GB/s504 GB/s
TBP450W320W285W
Price (MSRP / FE)$1599 US$1199 US$899 US
Launch (Availability)12th October 202216th November 2022Cancelled
As per the older schedule, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB and TX 4080 12 GB were supposed to launch in November but it looks like only the 16 GB model will be available on 16th November & the RTX 4080 12 GB might relaunch as a different card, under a different name, sometime later.
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The post NVIDIA “Unlaunches” GeForce RTX 4080 12 GB, RTX 4080 16 GB On Track For 16th November Launch by Hassan Mujtaba appeared first on Wccftech.
