NVIDIA preparing GeForce RTX 3080 with GA102-220 GPU and 12GB memory for January 2022 launch

NVIDIA to add another GeForce RTX 3080 with more memory

It looks like the original launch plans have been brought back from the drawer. 

According to our sources, NVIDIA has just informed board partners that they will have a new version of GeForce RTX 3080. The model carrying a GA102-220 GPU would be equipped with 12GB GDDR6X memory, an upgrade of 2GB over the existing RTX 3080 10GB SKU. Board partners are not entirely sure why is this card being added to the roadmap right now, but it is apparent that the existing 10GB model may go be discontinued, our sources believe.

The GA102-220 GPU is not expected to feature a change to CUDA core count, however, this has not yet been confirmed. An upgrade to 12GB memory will mean a requirement of a wider memory bus of 384-bit, increasing the maximum bandwidth in the process. However, this will depend on the memory speed, which has not been communicated to board partners yet. It is worth noting that the GA102-220 GPU has been first mentioned by @kopite7kimi just last week.

Obviously, the first question to arise is, why is NVIDIA launching a 12GB RTX 3080 model right now when there are plans for 16GB RTX 3070 Ti already (which by the way will feature GA104-401 GPU). Board partners have no answer to that, but it seems that NVIDIA is focusing on memory bandwidth rather than capacity.

A list of upcoming GPUs has been first listed by Vermicelli on Chiphell.

NVIDIA GA & TU GPUs arriving in January, Source: Chiphell

The card was added to the launch scheduled for January 2022 alongside GeForce RTX 3090 Ti and RTX 3070 Ti 16GB SKUs. NVIDIA is also bringing RTX 2060 with 12GB memory, which will use RTX 2060 SUPER PCB design according to our sources.

The RTX 30 “Ampere” lineup is becoming a bit confusing now, with as many as six different consumer GA102 variants, and six GA104 GPUs. We expect to hear more about updated RTX 3090, 3080, and 3070 Ti models soon though. NVIDIA is clearly focusing on memory upgrades with Ampere’s mid-life refresh.