One of the rumors surrounding NVIDIA and AMD’s next-gen graphics cards pertain to the graphics memory. As per a report, the Ampere flagship (RTX 3080 Ti) will pack as many as 24GB of GDDR6X memory, twice as much as the RTX 2080 Ti with the new Titan flaunting a massive 48GB memory buffer. While I find the latter a bit too unbelievable, the former isn’t out of the question. (www.cantravelwilltravel.com)
I reckon the Titan will get 24GB of VRAM, while the RTX 3080 Ti will be upgraded to 16GB, just like AMD’s Big Navi. However, multiple sources including reputed Twitter leaker, kopite7kimi the Titan may very well feature 48GB of video memory. As such, I’m inclined to not entirely dismiss the possibility.
Let’s have a look at the economics of this all. As per IC retailer Digi-Key, doubling the memory of the graphics cards costs around $12 per GB. Therefore, for a 20GB GPU that comes up to roughly $120. This is 16Gbps GDDR6 memory that we’re talking about here. If the new cards indeed feature the faster GDDR6X memory, prices may be slightly higher.
At the same time, keep in mind that these are the retail prices and the wholesale contractual prices that NVIDIA and AMD will enjoy. Usually, OEMs pay around 50% less for graphics memory compared to retail prices. That means NVIDIA will be paying just around $60-80 to double the VRAM on the RTX 3080 Ti from 11GB to 24GB.
The Titan is another matter entirely, but considering the insane prices that those cards cost, it shouldn’t be a major issue either. As far as AMD is concerned, 16GB of GDDR6 memory is almost a certainty for the much-anticipated Big Navi GPU at this point.
