It’s been nearly a year and a half since the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 was revealed and then released. yest despite this, it’s still very hard to track down, especially at its original price of $699.
As such finding where to buy the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 is a very frustrating task, and while GPU shipments are expected to increase by 10% this year, the ongoing chip shortages are still a real concern.
Nevertheless, the graphics card is still a compelling one for PC gamers, and even if you can’t find it here’s what you need to know about the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 price and restocks
Sadly, the $699 Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 has been hard to find at its RRP pretty much from the moment pre-orders for it went live.
Given the specs on offer and how it’s cheaper than its predecessor, the GeForce RTX 2080, it’s no surprise the GeForce RTX 3080 is a very desirable GPU. But the great chip shortage over the past year and more has fueled a perfect storm of high demand, low supply and opportunistic scalpers ready to pounce on the graphics card when it’s in stock and sell it on for massively inflated prices. And sadly, the shortage isn’t expected to relent any time soon.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 with 12GB of memory
Nvidia is now selling a new RTX 3080 with 12GB of memory through select partners. The new RTX 3080 has 8,960 CUDA cores compared to the 8,704 found in the 10GB RTX 3080. The GPU also has 20% more cumulative bandwidth than the current RTX 3080, due to a 384-bit memory bus. Nvidia recommends a 750W power supply, which is 350W in total compared to the 320W on the regular RTX 3080.
We do not know how much the card will cost at this time.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 specs
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 | Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 | Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 | |
---|---|---|---|
Starting Price | $1,499 | $699 | $499 |
Nvidia CUDA Cores | 10,496 | 8,704 | 5,888 |
Boost Clock (GHz) | 1.70 | 1.71 | 1.73 |
Standard Memory Config | 24GB GDDR6X | 10GB GDDR6X | 8GB GDDR6 |
Memory Interface Width | 384-bit | 320-bit | 256-bit |
Maximum Resolution | 7680×4320 | 7680×4320 | 7680×4320 |
Ports | HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4a (3x) | HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4a (3x) | HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4a (3x) |
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 packs 30 shader-teraflops (TFLOPS), 58 ray-tracing TFLops and 239 Tensor-TFLOPS. You’ll also get 10GB of G6X graphics RAM, which Nvidia says is the fastest you’ll find in a GPU.
If that all sounds like a second language to you, know that the RTX 3080 promises to deliver twice the performance as the RTX 2080. And if you’re upgrading from an older card such as the RTX 980 Ti, you can look forward to performance gains as high as five times as what your current card is outputting. The RTX 3080 offers consistent 4K gaming at 60 frames per second, similar to the PS5 and Xbox Series X.
The RTX 3080 features what Nvidia calls the “world’s fastest graphics memory,” with GDDR6X VRAM that can perform at a whopping 760 GB/s. There’s also new dedicated ray-tracing hardware for even more immersive lighting and shadows in your favorite PC games.
The RTX 3080 also introduces a new thermal-optimized design that promises 55% more airflow, 30% more efficiency, and the ability to be up to three times quieter during heating gaming sessions.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 performance
Nvidia has claimed the GeForce RTX 3080 is up to twice as fast as the GeForce RTX 2080 it replaces and how it will stomp the RTX 2080 Ti. It’s a bold claim indeed.
Nvidia pitted the RTX 3080 against the RTX 2080 Ti when running Doom Eternal at 4K on Ultra settings. The RTX 3080 is some 50 percent faster than the last top-end Nvidia graphics card, delivering frame rates well above 100fps. And that’s likely before a lot of optimization has been done.
Our sibling publication Tom’s Hardware put the GeForce RTX 3080 to the test and declared that it delivered a “generational leap in performance.” And true to its claims, the RTX 3080 offers significant gains in performance over the RTX 2080 Ti.
“The bottom line, if you don’t mind spoilers, is that the RTX 3080 FE is 33% faster than the RTX 2080 Ti, on average. Or, if you prefer other points of comparison, it’s 57% faster than the RTX 2080 Super, 69% faster than the RTX 2080 FE — heck, it’s even 26% faster than the Titan RTX!” Jarred Walton said in his review.
“But there’s a catch: We measured all of those ‘percent faster’ results across our test suite running at 4K ultra settings. The lead narrows if you drop down to 1440p, and it decreases even more at 1080p. It’s still 42% faster than a 2080 FE at 1080p ultra, but this is very much a card made for higher resolutions.”
Suffice to say, the GeForce RT 3080 is one impressive graphics card, though you’ll need an equally impressive overall PC to get the most out of it.