A render of NVIDIA’s upcoming GeForce RTX 30 series Ampere gaming graphics cards in its reference Founders Edition design. (Image via Reddit User u/dertpert88)
NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 30 ‘Ampere’ Gaming graphics cards are less than a month away from their official unveiling and the latest rumors are now pointing out that the green team has decided to boost the memory specifications of its entire next-generation lineup including the Geforce RTX 3080 Ti & the GeForce RTX 3080.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 ‘Ampere’ Gaming Graphics Cards Launching In 24 GB, 20 GB, 10 GB Variants, GDDR6X Memory Highlighted Too
Recently, we covered in an exclusive report that NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 30 Series graphics cards based on the Ampere GPU architecture will be receiving a huge boost in terms of total memory capacity. Now the latest information from a leaker, Wjm47196 (Via Videocardz) seems to point out that that is definitely the case and we will be getting at least three high-end GeForce RTX graphics cards at announcement day on 1st September.
The leaker highlights a 24 GB variant, 20 GB variant, and a 10 GB variant. All of these cards are based on the GA102 GPU core since they are suggested to feature a 384-bit and a 320-bit VRAM bus interface. The GA104 GPU will come with a smaller 256-bit bus as it has come historically. It looks like NVIDIA has decided to do away with a 16 GB variant so AMD’s Radeon RX ‘Big Navi’ GPU will take up the spot of the highest-end 16 GB offering this year but from the looks of it, even a 10 GB model from NVIDIA is going to be highly competitive against what AMD has to offer in the high-end segment.
We don’t know which specific SKU these memory configurations would be utilized for but from the recent rumors, we can tell that the next-generation Titan which is supposedly using the full GA102 GPU die is going to offer 24 GB memory. This will be followed by the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3080, both of which would utilize a 320-bit bus interface but with 20 GB & 10 GB memory capacity, respectively.
With that said, the leaker also points out to GDDR6X memory which is something that was also revealed by Kopite7kimi. While the memory has not been confirmed in production by any DRAM manufacturer yet or showcased in existing roadmaps, there’s a huge chance that NVIDIA might have asked DRAM manufacturers working on the next-generation DRAM for its graphics cards under wraps till the announcement is made. So if GDDR6 does exist, then we are likely to know it by 1st September.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX ‘Ampere’ SUPER Graphics Cards Coming Next Year?
Another thing pointed out by the leaker is that the NVIDIA plans to release a SUPER lineup in the coming year as an upgrade to the existing cards. There’s no telling what the SUPER lineup is going to bring but we could see the graphics cards moving one GPU tier up and getting a boost in clocks, memory speeds/capacity, etc, similar to the existing cards. The SUPER lineup would also drop the prices for the existing cards when they launch but one shouldn’t expect them until the second half of 2021.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX ‘Ampere’ Graphics Cards Launching in Custom Flavors at Launch?
In addition to all the talks, TweakTown has reportedly confirmed through its sources at various AIBs that custom GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards will be available at launch alongside the Founders Edition variants. While NVIDIA would open pre-orders for their own Founders Edition variants first, users who will be waiting for a custom variant will definitely be getting one of the cards by launch day which will be a few weeks away from announcement.
Here’s Everything We Know About The NVIDIA GeForce RTX Ampere Gaming Graphics Cards
As for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Ampere gaming graphics cards, it is stated that the lineup is expected to consist of four graphics cards for 2020, these include:
- NVIDIA RTX 3080 Ti
- NVIDIA RTX 3080
- NVIDIA RTX 3070
- NVIDIA RTX 3060
All four graphics cards are rumored for launch in 2020 but will have different launch schedules. The high-end cards will be prioritized first with the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and GeForce RTX 3080 slated to launch in September which is just about a month away from now. The GeForce RTX 3070 will be launch a month later in October while the GeForce RTX 3060 mainstream graphics card will hop on the retail shelves in November.
As for what we can expect from NVIDIA’s high-end GeForce RTX 30 series Ampere gaming graphics cards, we have speculated/rumored information provided below:
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti – The Fastest Ampere Gaming Graphics Card
According to the details, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti will feature the GA102-300-A1 GPU. The GA102-300-A1 GPU is said to be comprised of 5248 CUDA cores or 82 SMs. In total, that’s a 20% increase in cores over the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti. No details such as clock speeds, TMU/ROP counts are provided and we can’t take the Ampere A100 die as a reference since gaming & HPC parts share a different configuration hierarchy.
Moving on to the memory side, things start to look interesting as it is stated that the card will get up to 20 GB memory with faster GDDR6 pin speeds. Since that’s a 320-bit bus we are looking at, it will be able to offer nearly 1 TB/s bandwidth considering that the new GDDR6X memory which is rumored for this graphics card runs at higher speeds than the existing GDDR6 memory dies which clock up to 16-18 Gbps.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 – GA102 For High-End Gaming
Moving on to the GeForce RTX 3080, the rumor reports that the card will be featuring the GA102-200-KD-A1 SKU. This cut down SKU will feature the same 4352 CUDA cores as the RTX 2080 Ti that will be arranged in a total of 68 SMs. The card is reportedly going to feature 20 GB of memory that is also going to be GDDR6X, running at 19 Gbps across a 320-bit bus interface with a bandwidth of 760 GB/s.
The switch to GA102 from TU104 on the RTX 2080 is definitely an interesting one. A high-end SKU would also result in higher wattage and thermals but I believe this could be done to raise the bar up on the sub $500 segment which should comprise of GA104 based RTX 3070 and RTX 3060. The latest performance leaks also show a considerable performance improvement over the RTX 2080 and even the RTX 2080 Ti in synthetic benchmarks. If the same could translate over to the gaming performance, then Ampere does look like a super enticing product for gamers who have waited for almost 2 years now.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 “Ampere’ Graphics Card Rumored Lineup:
| Graphics Card Name | GPU Name | CUDA Cores / SMs | Memory Capacity | Memory Bus | Bandwidth | TDP | Launch Timeframe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX RTX 3090 | Ampere GA102-300 | 10496 (82) | 24 GB GDDR6X | 384-bit | 936 Gbps (19.5 Gbps) | 350W | September 2020 |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti/SUPER? | Ampere GA102-250? | TBD | 20 GB GDDR6X | 320-bit | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 | Ampere GA102-200 | 8704 (68) | 10 GB GDDR6X | 320-bit | 760 Gbps (19 Gbps) | 320W | September 2020 |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti/SUPER? | Ampere GA104-400? | 6144 (48)? | 16 GB GDDR6X | 256-bit | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 | Ampere GA104-300 | 5888 (46) | 8 GB GDDR6 | 256-bit | 512 Gbps (16 Gbps) | 220W | October 2020 |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti/SUPER? | Ampere GA104-200? | 4864 (38)? | 8 GB GDDR6? | 256-bit? | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | Ampere GA106-300? | TBD | 6 GB GDDR6? | 192-bit? | TBD | TBD | November 2020? |
Recent reports have suggested that NVIDIA has halted the production of its higher-end GeForce RTX GPU lineup to prepare for the Ampere GeForce RTX launch. Only small quantities of the said GPUs are left in the retail channel thus suggesting that we are getting closer to the launch. There’s definitely a lot more to talk about regarding the Ampere GPUs but we will have to wait until more information comes our way.