Nvidia's line of 30 Series graphics cards has been controversial, to say the least. Despite being rolled out starting in fall 2020, 30 Series graphics cards remain completely unavailable to purchase due to low availability and high demand, driven by international cryptocurrency farms. Regardless, Nvidia continues to move forward with new card releases. Case in point, the newly leaked specifications for Nvidia's currently unannounced RTX 3080 Super graphics card.
The leak comes from reliable source kopite7kimi on Twitter, who shares not just the specs of the Nvidia RTX 3080 Super GPU, but also the basic specs of the Super editions of the 3060, 3070, and 3080. To start with the Nvidia RTX 3080 Super, the GPU features an impressive 8,960 CUDA cores and a healthy 12GB of GDDR6X memory. For comparison's sake, the GeForce RTX 3080's standard configuration features 8,704 CUDA cores and 10GB of GDDR6X memory.
According to the rest of kopite7kimi's numbers, The RTX 3060 Super features 5,632 cores and 12GB of GDDR6 memory, the RTX 3070 Super features 5,888 cores and 8GB of GDDR6X memory, and the RTX 3090 Super has a whopping 10,752 cores and 24GB of GDDR6X memory. kopite7kimi notes that they have their doubts about some of the specs, though they don't clarify which. They also say they think the 3090 Super may receive a different name.
Using Nvidia's 20 Series of graphics cards for comparison, Super editions of graphics cards aren't traditionally significantly more powerful than their predecessors. Rather, they offer small but notable steps forward appropriate for a yearly iteration. Sometimes these improvements can raise the price, such as with the 2060 Super's $50 increase due to 2GB of additional memory. With that in mind, it wouldn't be surprising if the Super editions of the 30 Series didn't decrease in price across the board regardless of changes.
Obviously, the big question for PC gamers and other consumers is whether Nvidia's 30 Series Super cards will be any more readily available than before. Price and performance increases matter very few people can acquire them. An August survey of PCs run by Steam found that less than 5% of desktop PCs were running 30 Series graphics cards. Further, that the 1060 and 2060 cards were growing in usage faster than 30 Series cards.
To make clear, these are unofficial leaked specifications for Nvidia's line of unannounced 30 Series Super cards. While they come from a historically reliable source, they are not official and could either be unfinalized or entirely wrong. Other leakers believe that these Super cards could start rolling out in early 2022 after an announcement during the January 4-8 CES 2022 convention, and 40 Series graphic cards could launch as early as October 2022. Regardless, 2022 will be a very interesting year for Nvidia.