NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080/3070 Specifications Allegedly Leaked: Up to 20 GB of GDDR6 Memory

Tsing

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NVIDIA may be unveiling its Ampere-based 7 nm GPUs earlier than expected. According to an article at China's Fast Technology (mydrivers.com) publishing platform, the company will be showing off the RTX 2000 series' first successors in March (GTC 2020). As some may have guessed, NVIDIA has decided to label these the GeForce RTX 3080 and RTX 3070.

The processor codes of these GPUs have been identified as GA103 and GA104, respectively. The RTX 3080 will reportedly pack 3480 stream processors (SPs), 60 stream multiprocessors (SMs), and 10 or 20 GB (GeForce/Quadro?) of GDDR6 RAM on a 320-bit memory bus. Its weaker sibling is listed with 3072 SPs, 48 SMs, and 8 or 16 GB of GDDR6 RAM on a 256-bit memory bus.

These sound like a major upgrade, but will there be a Ti and Titan variant? The reporter suggests that this is a definite possibility based on the coding schemes for the RTX 3080 and RTX 3070. NVIDIA's RTX 2080 Ti utilizes the TU102, so a GA102 GPU presumably exists and is being reserved for green team's next round of halo products.
 
That much VRAM would certainly increase the price, it is most likely for the professional parts. 20GB is way beyond what you need in today's gaming, even at 4K. I can see the need for 10-12GB at 4K, and still, 8GB is fine for 1440p.

The only other reason I'd see them push so much VRAM is to start in on the 5K or 8K gaming craze.
 
I have to agree about 20GB being overkill for 4K. I've seen enough 8K videos to know that 20GB would be a sweet spot for that but typically NVIDIA's GPUs are at least a generation behind whatever ram they bundle with thier cards. Presently we can see 4K easily use 8-11GB and probably could go as far as 14GB but meanwhile not one of their GPUs is truly capable of handling a demanding game with a constant 60 fps. The 1080TI had 11GB and wasn't a 4K card, the 2080TI improved to mostly hold 60 fps but still not quite there even with faster memory. For an 8K card to really be viable it would need more than twice the performance of a 2080TI and I'd say that's all but impossible for NVIDIA to release.
 
I've seen my 1080ti with 8-9 GB usage at 2K, depending on game. So, I could see 16 GB on a top tier card.
 
If they can give us the increase transistor counts, and increased memory amounts and maintain price parity to the previous generations release prices I could see this being a solid card generation.

If they can't... and prices shoot up another 3-400 what the hell is the point?
 
Also to add... it seems like these leaks and news releases are directly designed to make people question if the new NAVI will be enough. We live in the good times again for custom PC builders.. (meaning those that build their own.)
 
Grimlakin said:
Also to add... it seems like these leaks and news releases are directly designed to make people question if the new NAVI will be enough. We live in the good times again for custom PC builders.. (meaning those that build their own.)
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This is exactly what I think is occurring.

Odds are Big Navi won’t beat a 3080, but I think without Big Navi then the 3080 costs another $100-200 premium over an already premium 2080
 
I said it in a few other threads. Nvidia has been working hard to shift the mid range in to the $500-700 price point. Probably higher. I wouldn't be surprised if these 3080's debut at $1300, and 3080Ti to drop at $1500-1700.

Why? Because they can. They already know people will pay it. Willingly or unwillingly. So what if people complain. They're still going to sell, and sell well.
 
Riccochet said:
I said it in a few other threads. Nvidia has been working hard to shift the mid range in to the $500-700 price point. Probably higher. I wouldn't be surprised if these 3080's debut at $1300, and 3080Ti to drop at $1500-1700.

Why? Because they can. They already know people will pay it. Willingly or unwillingly. So what if people complain. They're still going to sell, and sell well.
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You're probably right but man I hope you're wrong. Most of us knew that the 2080TI would be around $1000 before release. Plenty of rumors and leaks to support it then. I was ready for that. Wasn't ready for an instant markup of $100-$300 on release day from the partners. I wasn't happy when I succumbed to the $1300-$1400 I paid for my Strix. It's been awesome but that still hurts. Willingly or unwillingly.
 
It's interesting that's for sure. Based on the shader counts it seems like these new parts won't necessarily be faster than a 2080 ti for classic gaming, depending on clocks, architecture enhancements, etc. I'd guess that a GA102 titan/ti part may be coming later. What that means for pricing I don't know. If they are legitimately the 3070 and 3080 they should be at a similar price point to the 2070 super and 2080 super while being quite a bit faster. I don't see how big Navi could put enough pressure on to move the prices down and I certainly don't think Nvidia would sell newer models for less than the old models. Maybe they'll cut the prices on the high end 20 series a bit to clear out inventory.
 
Well, I was about to start aggressively paying down my mortgage.... maybe I need to set aside some of that for...reasons.
 
Just wait until both big navi and the 3k series of video cards are out then buy the one that makes the most bang for the buck for you. Don't get suckered in by marketing from either side before then and avoid the upgrade itch as best you can.

Says the guy running a 2080 purchased before the super's came out.
 
Storm Nobleheart said:
If the 3080's have a crazy price on them, I will likely buy a big Navi even if the 3080's have much better performance. If the big Navi's have a crazy price, I will likely stick with the 1080 for a lot longer.
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Yeah I'm rocking a 1080 ti that I got used for a song, unless 3080x is some balls out awesomesauce I guess I can stay put. I hope Big Navi isn't just a hype.... It would be nice for Nvidia to have some actual competition so as to remain price competitive. Been a one horse race for way too long.
 
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I bought my 980 for around $500 back before the 980Ti's were released. I don't regret that, it was almost 6 months later before the 980Ti was released. I've just been sitting on that ever since. I guess I can say I'm getting my money's worth out of this card.

I usually wait until I can roughly double my performance for about the same amount of money. I don't know that I can do that yet (2080Ti comes close at performance, but no where near the price point yet), and it's questionable if that will be possible even in the next generation of video cards.

I'm still mostly satisfied with my 980 - there are a lot of things I have to turn down, but it hasn't been insufferable, even at 4K, for the types of games that I usually play, but I don't play terribly demanding games for the most part either.

I can say, I absolutely won't buy anything new without HDMI 2.1 / DP 2.0
 
I usually just buy the previous gen second or best from EVGA's B-Stock. That's how i got my 980Ti and GTX 1080 for $350 each, with the 980Ti being "free" since I sold it for around $390 during the crypto nonsense in 2018. 2080's and 2080Ti's are still insanely expensive even on B-Stock though.
 
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