NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ampere Gaming Graphics Card Render. (Image Credits: Reddit u/dertpert88)
NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards are getting closer to launch and the latest reports suggest that we will get to see the launch of the high-end GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and GeForce RTX 3080 graphics cards as early as 17th September. The latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 ‘Ampere’ line of graphics cards will be replacing the whole GeForce RTX 20 ‘Turing’ portfolio this year, offering users higher performance to play the next-generation of AAA gaming titles with superb quality and frame rates.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 ‘Ampere’ Gaming Graphics Cards Imminent With GeForce RTX 3080 Ti & RTX 3080 in September, RTX 3070 in October and RTX 3060 in November
The latest report on the launch date comes from MyDrivers (via Videocardz) who state that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER graphics cards have officially been discontinued. This follows up to the story from last month in which it was reported that NVIDIA has discontinued its high-end Turing series lineup and the last orders have already been shipped which means that there will be a shortage of Turing RTX 20 series cards in the retail channel.
The report also mentions the price hike for the GeForce RTX 2060 and GeForce GTX 16 series cards, especially the GeForce GTX 1660 series (GTX 1660, GTX 1660 Ti & GTX 1660 SUPER). In the previous report, it was mentioned that the resurgence of mining in the APAC region will lead to higher GPU demand for the said graphics cards and NVIDIA has advised AIBs to set pricing accordingly, As per the report, the specific chip prices have been increased by 5-10 USD which means that products in the retail channel will be more expensive by around 20-30 USD.
As for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Ampere gaming graphics cards, it is stated that the lineup will 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 on 17th 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.
This is similar to the Turing launch where the high-end cards did launch first followed by the RTX 2070 but this time, the RTX *060 series card is pushed ahead for an earlier launch. The GeForce RTX 2060 launched at least three months after the GeForce RTX 2070. This time, we are only looking at a difference of a month but once again, this is a rumor so we can’t say if these dates are set in the stone yet. This raises the question that if NVIDIA is indeed planning to launch the high-end cards during the next month, could we expected an announcement earlier?
NVIDIA has yet to announce any public event for the gaming audiences but it could be possible that we start getting a hint of their plans later this month which would be similar to the last one too. The NVIDIA “BeForTheGame” event was announced on 13th August 2018 and the official GeForce RTX 20 series announcement took place on 20th August 2018. The cards eventually followed in the later months.
Gamescom is planned for 27th August however due to COVID-19, we don’t expect a public event for the masses. NVIDIA could host an online event during Gamescom, similar to its successful GTC 2020 event where it first showcased the Ampere A100 GPU, and Jensen Huang could use that as a platform to announce NVIDIA’s latest gaming powerhouses.
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 12 GB memory with faster GDDR6 pin speeds. Since that’s a 384-bit bus we are looking at, it will be able to offer nearly 1 TB/s bandwidth. There’s also talks about an enhanced version of the GDDR6 DRAM known as GDDR6X however there’s no information available yet by any graphics DRAM vendor, unlike the previous GDDR6 DRAM which was officially reported months before its integration on the Turing graphics cards.
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 10 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.
In terms of design, we have already seen leaked pictures of the cooler and heatsink for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card. It features a massive heatsink block with a dual axial-fan design & rumors have also pointed out to a new 12-pin power connector on the reference models which we talked about earlier.
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.