Today, NVIDIA announced another new graphics card, the RTX 3080. Wait, that doesn’t sound right. But, you read that statement correctly. NVIDIA’s latest RTX 3080 sports 12GB of VRAM and features an updated spec sheet all around. Why did NVIDIA refresh the RTX 3080, and can you even get your hands on one? Let’s take a closer look below.
The new RTX 3080 has more power at least
With the announcement of the RTX 3080 12GB variant today, NVIDIA is changing more than just the available VRAM here. You’ll find that this refreshed model features 8960 CUDA cores, which is nearly 3% more than the previous model offered. In addition to that, the memory bus is 20% more overall bandwidth thanks to being 384-bit now, according to The Verge. This new GPU will also draw an additional 30W of power, which bumps things up to 350W total from 320W, though NVIDIA still recommends the same 750W power supply to run the new 3080 12GB.
No Founders Edition of the card will be available according to NVIDIA, meaning you’ll have to purchase a new 3080 12GB from third-party board partners instead. NVIDIA doesn’t have a set MSRP either, and the company may never set one according to PCGamer. However, some board partners have already listed their prices for the latest RTX 3080, and boy are they astounding.
For starters, the EVGA RTX 3080 12GB XC3 Ultra Gaming is listed for a whopping $1,250. That’s right, $1,250. That’s 42% more than the $880 the 10GB model retails for. ASUS is even more expensive if reports are right, with retail prices starting at $1,722 (after being converted from another currency). If that wasn’t expensive enough, MSI’s card is listed for €1,699 on a German website, as spotted by Videocardz, which converts to around $1,926, which blows the MSRP of the 3090 out of the water, given NVIDIA’s flagship GPU launched at $1,499. Sure, you can’t find an RTX 3090 at MSRP, but given what board partners are charging for the 3080 12GB, one can only imagine what the second-hand market will look like, which is one of the only ways to really secure a GPU these days.
Electronicsforward’ take
Only time will tell if the new RTX 3080 12GB is worth the increased price as it gets into the hands of gamers and reviewers. We’ll be doing our best to secure a sample to let you know if it’s worth it. We were very impressed with the RTX 3080 in our hands-on review last year and found it to be a very capable GPU all around. So, the question isn’t whether or not the RTX 3080 12GB will be powerful, but will it be powerful enough to justify the price hikes?
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