While much of the hype and expectation around Nvidia's next generation graphics cards was focused on the hugely powerful GeForce RTX 3090 and RTX 3080, the reveal also created excitement for just how good a deal the RTX 3070 appears to be. Now Nvidia has announced that the mid-range Ampere powered card will launch on October 15, a couple of weeks sooner than expected by many.
A post on the Nvidia Reddit page by representative NV_Tim revealed the launch date, which had previously been marked only as October, with many gamers expecting a release late in the month so Nvidia could focus on the RTX 3090 and RTX 3080 launch windows. The release date notably means that the RTX 3070 will launch before AMD reveals its next generation RX 6000 graphics cards.
The post also stated that reviews and detailed benchmarks for the high-end RTX 3080 would be delayed until September 16, the day before release. The reason given for the delay is that some publications have asked for more time due to COVID-19 related postal delays and difficulties. Although some alleged benchmarks have already leaked, the only official ones have been required to stick to games and comparisons selected by Nvidia.
Given that AMD will be revealing its new RDNA 2 powered RX 6000 graphics cards on October 28, Nvidia are looking to try and capitalize on sales before its main competitor has a chance to announce its range and pricing. The RTX 3070 bears 5888 CUDA cores with a boost clock of 1730 MHz, along with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory. Despite slower memory than the RTX 3090 and RTX 3080, these specifications are reported to produce greater performance than an RTX 2080 Ti, which until recently could cost upwards of $1000, versus the $499 asking price of the RTX 3070 Founders Edition.
Despite making recent buyers of the RTX 2080 Ti upset, the competitive pricing of the surprisingly powerful RTX 3070 has been welcomed by the gaming community. The main difficulty for gamers is likely to be getting hold of any RTX 30 Series cards at the retail price, as low initial supply combined with strong demand is likely to encourage some scalpers. For its part, Nvidia is likely to be producing the cards as quickly as it can, so it can sell as many as possible before AMD reveals its competing products. Meanwhile, the RTX 20 Series cards are dropping sharply in price, as gamers get ready to upgrade.
Given AMD appears confident it has the next generation hardware to challenge Nvidia, late 2020 and 2021 look like being the perfect time for gamers hoping to get a significant graphics update at a reasonable price.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 launches October 15.
Source: NV_Tim (Reddit)