Nvidia silently launched the 12GB RTX 3080, but there aren’t any reviews on launch day. Here’s why, and what it means for Nvidia throughout 2022.
Nvidia released a 12GB variant of the RTX 3080 this morning. On Monday, we heard about Nvidia potentially launching this card, but I didn’t pay it much mind — after all, Nvidia just announced two new graphics cards at CES, and it didn’t make sense to further segment an already granular lineup of GPUs. But the 12GB RTX 3080 is here, at least in spirit. It’s a marginal upgrade over the base model, featuring 2GB more of GDDR6X video memory, a 3% bump in core count, and a 9% increase in power draw. It’s as marginal as upgrades come, despite coming with somewhere around a 50% price increase. We have a check for these types of products — independent reviews. But there aren’t any 12GB RTX 3080 reviews on launch day, the only day where you’ll be able to get a card at a decent price, and that’s a worrying sign for the graphics cards in 2022. The main question tickling the back of my head, and I’m sure many of yours, is: Why? Why release a slight upgrade to a graphics card that’s a year and a half old after announcing two new graphics cards at CES a week ago? Before getting to the disaster that is the 12GB RTX 3080 launch, it’s important to at least consider what Nvidia was trying to accomplish. The GPU shortage has created a tough situation for AMD and Nvidia. List prices mean effectively nothing, hype draws in droves of profit-focused customers, and paper launches have become the norm. I’m giving Nvidia credit here — don’t worry, there’s plenty of criticism to come — but it’s still important to understand this situation from Nvidia’s perspective. Nvidia hasn’t set a list price for the 12GB RTX 3080, which is a good thing.
