NVIDIA has confirmed and released today a new 12GB model of its RTX 3080 graphics card. It has been rumored due to leaks and even benchmarks, but this is the official announcement from NVIDIA that confirms the existence of this model.
It was first reported on in the latest GeForce drivers from Nvidia, but now it is known that the new 12GB model goes on sale today through select motherboard partners. This model offers 2 GB more memory than the RTX 3080 original 10 GB on the same architecture.
A 12GB VRAM version of the RTX 3080 is on sale now
The memory increase is welcome, especially since the 10GB that the vanilla version had drew some criticism in 2020. It also matches the 12GB found in the middle of NVIDIA RTX 3080Ti. This new RTX 3080 model also packs 8960 CUDA cores, an increase of almost 3 percent from the original.
The improved memory also means that this GPU has 20% more cumulative bandwidth than the original 10GB variant, thanks to a larger 384-bit memory bus. NVIDIA still recommends a 750W power supply, but this 3080GB RTX 12 draws 30 more watts, up to a total of 350 watts compared to 320W for the original RTX 3080.
It's a relatively minor upgrade to the original RTX 3080, and it comes just days after the company announced at CES 2022 a new NVIDIA RTX 3090 Ti with faster memory and better performance, and a $3050 RTX 249. The RTX 3050 budget offers DLSS and ray tracing support at a much more affordable price.
Source: The Verge
