With the Nvidia RTX 3080Ti rumors are popping up everywhere, those interested have been paying close attention to the potential specs of the new graphics card. Recently, sources have suggested that the Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti would ship with 20GB of GDDR6X onboard memory, however, those sources are speculating that things may have changed.
The Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti GPU looks to be having its release date pushed back, and according to well-known Twitter leaker kopite7kimi, the 3080 Ti may have the expected 20 GB of GDDR6X memory shifted down to only 12GB of GDDR6X memory, as well as a change to its overall number of available CUDA cores.
The release date change and the reduction to the total amount of onboard GDDR6X memory for Nvidia's RTX 3080 Ti may only be the start of the rumored changes coming to the un-announced GPU. The GPU’s FP32 core count could also be seeing a reduction, from previously rumored 10496 CUDA cores, down to 10240 CUDA cores. The 3080 Ti’s memory bandwidth looks to be landing at 864GB/S with a memory clock of 19Gbps, leaving it well above comparative cards such as the AMD RX 6900 XT- which boasts 512GB/s memory bandwidth and 16Gbps on the memory clock.
With limited official information surrounding Nvidia’s 3080 Ti, it is hard to say why this potential change may be happening. It could very well be a way to reduce costs due to the currently high cost of memory. A lower cost could also improve sales, or it could be a means of preventing the 3080 Ti from encroaching too much on Nvidia’s 3090 GPU territory.
These rumored changes to Nvidia's RTX 3080 Ti raise a few questions. Many consumers may be wondering if the reduction to memory bandwidth, and loss of CUDA cores, will make a significant change in the estimated difference between the Nvidia 3080 Ti. Plus, the AMD RX 6900 XT. AMD’s RX 6900 XT may look more appealing now considering it holds 16GB of onboard memory, compared to the rumored drop to 12GB for Nvidia’s RTX 3080 Ti. The AMD 6900 XT also boasts its unique Infinity Cache, which can boost its memory bandwidth.
Only time will tell how Nvidia’s RTX 3080 Ti will be configured for market. When consumers finally get their hands on Nvidia’s RTX 3080 Ti, it will become clearer how it will stack up compared to its competitors, as well as its little brother, the Nvidia RTX 3080. With the RTX 3080 holding 10GB of onboard memory, these rumored changes to the 3080 Ti, bring the 3080 and the 3080 Ti closer together on the performance scale.