With NVIDIA cracking the whip on the supply chain to pave the way for the next-generation RTX 40-series, we're seeing some very oddball graphics card hit the market as official/retail products. One such card in China is the MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ventus 3X with 20 GB of memory. The card is neither based on the GA102-200 ASIC powering the original RTX 3080 with 10 GB of memory, nor is it based on the GA102-220 powering the RTX 3080 12 GB, but rather the "GA102-250," or at least the board description sticker says so. The card features 20 GB of memory across a 320-bit wid memory bus. Its core-config remains unknown.

The SKU positioned above the RTX 3080 12 GB, the RTX 3080 Ti, is powered by the GA102-225. VideoCardz discovered that the card lacks the LHR hardware-limitation for blockchain hashrates, which could be evidence that MSI had a special stock of graphics cards that it was directly selling to miners even while LHR-enabled cards were being pushed to the retail market. The card yields a hash-rate of 97.48 MH/s in the ETHASH test, proving the lack of the LHR block. The card also features display connectors. The leaker behind pictures of this card says that there may be as many as a 100 of these cards in circulation, priced around RMB 3xxx (USD $432 to $600).

The NVIDIA RTX 3080 Ti has experienced numerous delays with the card's launch most recently being pushed to mid-May. The unreleased RTX 3080 Ti has gone through various internal revisions with the card expected to use a GA102-250 GPU until plans were scrapped in late January. The RTX 3080 Ti is now expected to feature the GA102-225 GPU instead when it finally releases. NVIDIA having already produced the required processors is now repurposing the GA102-250 GPUs slated for the RTX 3080 Ti for use in RTX 3090 Founders Edition cards. This switch makes sense as the GA102-250 was rumored to feature the same number of cores as the RTX 3090 just with a smaller memory size. NVIDIA appears to have now enabled the full 384-bit memory bus and has laser engraved the chips to show their change to GA102-300's.

In the past, we heard rumors about NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics card. Being scheduled for January release, we were just a few weeks away from it. The new graphics card is designed to fill the gap between the RTX 3080 and higher-end RTX 3090, by offering the same GA102 die with the only difference being that the 3080 Ti is GA102-250 instead of GA102-300 die found RTX 3090. It allegedly has the same CUDA core count of 10496 cores, same 82 RT cores, 328 Tensor Cores, 328 Texture Units, and 112 ROPs. However, the RTX 3080 Ti is supposed to bring the GDDR6X memory capacity down to 20 GBs, instead of the 24 GB found on RTX 3090.

However, all of that is going to wait a little bit longer. Thanks to the information obtained by Igor Wallosek from Igor's Lab, we have data that NVIDIA's upcoming high-end GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics card is going to be postponed to February for release. Previous rumors suggested that we are going to get the card in January with the price tag of $999. That, however, has changed and NVIDIA allegedly postponed the launch to February. It is not yet clear what the cause behind it is, however, we speculate that the company can not meet the high demand that the new wave of GPUs is producing.

According to the unknown manufacturer (AIB) based in Taiwan, NVIDIA is preparing to launch the new GeForce RTX 3000 series "Ampere" graphics card. As reported by the HKEPC website, the Santa Clara-based company is preparing to fill the gap between its top-end GeForce RTX 3090 and a bit slower RTX 3080 graphics card. The new product will be called GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. If you are wondering what the specification of the new graphics card will look like, you are in luck because the source has a few pieces of information. The new product will be based on GA102-250-KD-A1 GPU core, with a PG133-SKU15 PCB design scheme. The GPU will contain the same 10496 CUDA core configuration as the RTX 3090.

The only difference to the RTX 3090 will be a reduced GDDR6X amount of 20 GB. Along with the 20 GB of GDDR6X memory, the RTX 3080 Ti graphics cards will feature a 320-bit bus. The TGP of the card is limited to 320 Watts. The sources are reporting that the card will be launched sometime in January of 2021, and it will come at $999. This puts the price category of the RTX 3080 Ti in the same range as AMD's recently launched Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics card, so it will be interesting to see how these two products are competing.

A leak from renowned (and usually on-point) leaker Kopite7kimi claims that NVIDIA has finally settled on new graphics cards to combat AMD's RX 6800 threat after all. After the company has been reported (and never confirmed) to be working on double-memory configurations for their RTX 3070 and RTX 3080 graphics cards (with 16 GB GDDR6 and 20 GB GDDR6X, respectively), the company is now reported to have settled for a 20 GB RTX 3080 Ti to face a (apparently; pending independent reviews) resurgent AMD.

The RTX 3080 Ti specs paint a card with the same CUDA core count as the RTX 3090, with 10496 FP32 cores over the same 320-bit memory bus as the RTX 3080. Kopite includes board and SKU numbers (PG133 SKU 15) along a new GPU codename: GA102-250. The performance differentiator against the RTX 3090 stands to be the memory amount, bus, and eventually core clockspeed; memory speed and board TGP are reported to mirror those of the RTX 3080, so some reduced clocks compared to that graphics card are expected. That amount of CUDA cores means NVIDIA is essentially divvying-up the same GA-102 die between its RTX 3090 (good luck finding one in stock) and the reported RTX 3080 Ti (so good luck finding one of those in stock as well, should the time come). It is unclear how pricing would work out for this SKU, but pricing comparable to that of the RX 6900 XT is the more sensible speculation. Take this report with the usual amount of NaCl.

This generation's GPU release is shaping up to be one of the most interesting in late years; for some good reasons, and bad reasons alike. We've heard - keep in mind, not seen - NVIDIA back down from multiple graphics card releases (the double VRAM versions of RTX 3070 and 3080 come to mind); postponing the RTX 3070 until after they have gleaned exactly what AMD will be offering with their RX 6000 series; preparing to launch an RTX 3060 Ti with no announcement whatsoever and before the RTX 3060 is ever launched; and now, apparently, the company is readying a response to AMD's as-of-yet-unannounced RX 6000 series in the form of the RTX 3080 Ti.

Recent performance leaks have placed an unclear AMD GPU (and apparently, not even the fastest Big Navi chip at that) at the same performance level as NVIDIA's RTX 3080, which is a tremendous increase in performance for the red team, coming from years of only being able to effectively compete in the midrange offerings. Now, Kopite7kimi, a known leaker with a proven track record, has claimed that NVIDIA is already prepping a new GA102-based graphics card, sitting in performance between the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090. He lists identifies the GPU as GA102-250-A1, 9984FP32, 384bits GD6X - let's call it the RTX 3080 Ti. If those details are correct, this is yet another product demanding the same 628 mm² GA102 GPU be available for it - in a scenario with inadequate availability of the RTX 3080, 3090, and likely 3070 Ti graphics cards already, should that later one actually materialize. The memory bus on this prospective RTX 3080 Ti is apparently inheriting the same design as the RTX 3090, with a 384-bit solution (compared to the RTX 3080's 320 bit), and likely 12 GB of GDDR6X memory.