In an unexpected twist, NVIDIA has “unlaunched” the GeForce RTX 4080 12GB after widespread criticism from enthusiasts and media alike. Unlike the 16GB variant, it was derived from the AD104 die, which is notably smaller and less potent than the AD103 core powering its sibling. In addition to the memory buffer, we’re talking about fewer core counts (9,728->7,680 FP32), a slimmer bus (256-bit->192-bit), slower GDDR6X chips (23Gbps->21Gbps), as well as a much smaller L2 cache reserve (64MB->48MB).
| GPU | GeForce RTX 4090 | GeForce RTX 4080 16G | RTX 4070 | GeForce RTX 3090 Ti | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPU Name | AD102 | AD103 | AD104 | AD104 | GA102 |
| SMs | 128 | 76 | 60 | 46 | 80 |
| FP32 Cores | 16384 | 9728 | 7680 | 5888 | 10240 |
| TMUs/ROPs | 512 / 176 | 320 / 112 | 240 / 80 | 184/64 | 320 / 112 |
| Tensor/RT Cores | 512 / 128 | 304 / 76 | 240 / 60 | 184/46 | 320 / 80 |
| Base Clock | 2230 MHz | 2210 MHz | 2310 MHz | 1365 MHz | |
| Boost Clock | 2520 MHz | 2510 MHz | 2610 MHz | 1665 MHz | |
| Memory Buffer | 24 GB G6X | 16 GB G6X | 12 GB G6X | 12GB G6X | 24 GB G6X |
| Bus | 384-bit | 256-bit | 192-bit | 192-bit | 384-bit |
| Memory Speed | 21Gbps | 23Gbps | 21Gbps | 21Gbps | 19Gbps |
| Bandwidth | 1008 GB/s | 736 GB/s | 504 GB/s | 504GB/s | 912 Gbps |
| L2 Cache | 72MB | 64MB | 48MB | 36MB | 6MB |
| TBP | 450W | 320W | 285W | 250W | 350W |
| MSRP | $1599 | $1199 | $899 | $649? | $1199 |
| Launch | Oct 2022 | Nov 2022 | 5th Jan 2023 | 3rd June 2021 |
In a blog post, NVIDIA had the following to say:
The RTX 4080 12GB is a fantastic graphics card, but it’s not named right. Having two GPUs with the 4080 designation is confusing.
So, we’re pressing the “unlaunch” button on the 4080 12GB. The RTX 4080 16GB is amazing and on track to delight gamers everywhere on November 16th.
If the lines around the block and enthusiasm for the 4090 is any indication, the reception for the 4080 will be awesome.
NVIDIA
It looks like Team Green won’t be entirely scrapping the RTX 4080 12GB but launching it as a separate SKU, likely the RTX 4070 Ti. It’s unclear if the price will be reduced, but given that this is a relatively mainstream GPU, anything higher than $699 would be too much. From now on, GeForce RTX 4080 will refer to the 16GB variant set to launch next month at an MSRP of $1,199.
