Rumors of Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3080 Ti have been building for months now, starting life as a few tidbits of information and ballooning with leaked specs, listings and further speculation.
The latest leak comes courtesy of TechPowerUp, which posted an image that shows the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti has received GPU-Z validation and reveals a suite of specs (more on that later) for what’s set to be a high-end graphics card. As such, it’s looking rather likely that Nvidia will take the covers off the RTX 3080 Ti before too long.
As it’s very hard to find where to buy the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 these days, an upgraded take on that graphics card could see the RTX 3080 Ti offer an alternative for people who can’t get the GeForce RTX 3080 and don’t want to splash $1,499 on the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090.
So with that in mind, here’s what we know about the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti so far.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti release date
It’s looking very likely that the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti will be revealed on May 31, as that’s when Nvidia has teased it’ll hold a GeForce-related event. Nvidia could throw a curveball and simply talk about GeForce tech innovations to improve gaming graphics, but going by the surge of RTX 3080 Ti leaks over the past few weeks, we rather suspect the graphics card will get revealed.
When the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti will be available to buy is another question. Semiconductor shortages have caused a graphics card shortage, while also making it difficult to spot a promising PS5 restock or Xbox Series X restock. However, we’d not be surprised if the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti was released around July or August, roughly ticking along at a cadence of three or four months between Nvidia GPU releases.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti price
As the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is expected to be a supercharged version of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080, it’s going to cost more than $699. Yet we’d place a substantial bet that it won’t be as pricey as the RTX 3090. As such, we’d predict the RTX 3080 Ti will sit at the $1,000 mark, as that’s where previous high-end GeForce RTX 20-series cards have sat.
However the demand for GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is likely to be very high; that’s been the case with all new Nvidia and AMD graphics cards for the past eight months or so. And that could mean retailers and scalpers cranking up the price of the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. Our hope is that Nvidia takes measures to ensure the RTX 3080 doesn’t appeal to cryptocurrency miners. General scalpers will continue to be a separate problem for team green.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti specs
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 | Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti (based on leaks) | Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 | |
---|---|---|---|
Starting Price | $699 | $999 | $1,499 |
Nvidia CUDA Cores | 8,704 | 10,240 | 10,496 |
Boost Clock (GHz) | 1.71 | 1.66 | 1.70 |
Standard Memory Config | 10GB GDDR6X | 12GB GDDR6X | 24GB GDDR6X |
Memory Interface Width | 320-bit | 384-bit | 384-bit |
Memory speed | 19 Gbps | N/A | 19.5 Gbps |
Memory bandwidth | 760.3 GB/s | 912.4 GB/s | 936.2 GB/s |
Ray tracing cores | 68 | 80 | 82 |
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) |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti performance
We can predict the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti will target 4K resolution gaming, much like the GeForce RTX 3080, though aiming to deliver faster frame rates this time. It’s likely to be targeted at PC gamers looking to not only crank all the graphics settings up in demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077, but also switch on full ray tracing and potentially game at 120 frames per second or above.
That could be a big ask. But the extra memory, CUDA cores and higher clock speeds could certainly give the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti a boost over its less powerful sibling. It’s also likely to be better for gaming performance than the RTX 3090, which Nvidia has said doesn’t offer a huge amount more in performance at 4K than the RTX 3080.
In short, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is likely to sit between the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090, targeting PC fans who want a graphics card that delivers stellar 4K gaming performance but isn’t overkill for the resolution of their desktop setup.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti outlook
There’s an argument that the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti isn’t really needed when the RTX 3080 is more than enough for most games. But as game developers come to grips with the capabilities of the PS5 and Xbox Series X, they’ll start to push graphics further, meaning PC games with everything dialed up to the max could demand a lot for even the most powerful GPUs.
As powerful as the RTX 3080 is, it will still struggle to run the most demanding games at 60 frames per second with ray tracing enabled. So the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti could provide a boost to make smooth high-fidelity 4K gaming beyond 60 fps an achievable target. And now that high refresh rate monitors are more readily available, gamers who want compromise-free graphics and performance could see the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti as a tantalizing prospect.
Of course, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is likely to have a hefty price tag and limited stock to begin with. But it’s certainly a graphics card to get excited about, or you could just buy one of the pre-built rigs from our best gaming PCs roundup.