NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Unveiled In 16 GB & 12 GB Flavors: Twice As Fast As RTX 3080 Ti, Pricing at $1199 & $899 US

Sep 20, 2022 at 02:33pm EDT
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Graphics Card Listed By US & UK Retailers, Starting at $1200 US 1

NVIDIA has unleashed its next-gen GeForce RTX 4080 series graphics cards that come in 16 GB & 12 GB flavors at $1199 & $899 US pricing.

NVIDIA Unleashes GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB & 12 GB Graphics Cards For $1199 & $899 US

NVIDIA has officially confirmed that the GeForce RTX 4080 graphics cards will be available in not one but two flavors, one packing up to 16 GB memory and the other packing 12 GB of GDDR6X memory. The graphics cards will vary in specifications but will be offering some huge increases in gaming performance compared to their 10 GB and 12 GB (RTX 3080) predecessors.

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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB 'Official' Specifications

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB graphics card is expected to utilize a cut-down AD103-300 GPU configuration with 9,728 cores or 76 SMs enabled of the total 84 units whereas the previous configuration offered 80 SMs or 10,240 cores. While the full GPU comes packed with 64 MB of L2 cache and up to 224 ROPs, the RTX 4080 might end up with 48 MB of L2 cache and lower ROPs too due to its cut-down design. The card is expected to be based on the PG136/139-SKU360 PCB. The graphics card is said to offer a peak clock rate of 2505 MHz.

As for memory specs, the GeForce RTX 4080 is expected to rock 16 GB GDDR6X capacities that are said to be adjusted at 22.5 Gbps speeds across a 256-bit bus interface. This will provide up to 720 GB/s of bandwidth. This is still a tad bit slower than the 760 GB/s bandwidth offered by the RTX 3080 since it comes with a 320-bit interface but a lowly 10 GB capacity. To compensate for the lower bandwidth, NVIDIA could be integrating a next-gen memory compression suite to make up for the 256-bit interface.

For power, the TBP is now set to be rated at 340W, a 20W increase from the previous 320W spec that we got. This brings the TBP to the same ballpark as the existing RTX 3080 graphics card (up to 350W). The maximum BIOS TGP is said to be rated at 516W. Now it is not known whether the other RTX 40 series graphics cards will also be getting the faster GDDR6X memory treatment but we know that Micron has commenced full mass production of up to 24 Gbps GDDR6X memory modules so they have to go somewhere.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series Official Specs:

Graphics Card NameNVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 DNVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 TiNVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 TiNVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060
GPU NameAda Lovelace AD102-300Ada Lovelace AD102-250Ada Lovelace AD103-300Ada Lovelace AD104-400Ada Lovelace AD104-250Ada Lovelace AD106-350Ada Lovelace AD107-400
Process NodeTSMC 4NTSMC 4NTSMC 4NTSMC 4NTSMC 4NTSMC 4NTSMC 4N
Die Size608mm2608mm2378.6mm2294.5mm2294.5mm2190.0mm2146.0mm2
Transistors76 Billion76 Billion45.9 Billion35.8 Billion35.8 Billion22.9 BillionTBD
CUDA Cores163841459297287680588843523072
TMUs / ROPs512 / 176TBD320 / 112240 / 80184 / 64136 / 48TBD
Tensor / RT Cores512 / 128456 / 128304 / 76240 / 60184 / 46136 / 34TBD
L2 Cache72 MB72 MB64 MB48 MB36 MB32 MB24 MB
Base Clock2230 MHz2280 MHz2210 MHz2310 MHz1920 MHz2310 MHz1830 MHz
Boost Clock2520 MHz2520 MHz2510 MHz2610 MHz2475 MHz2535 MHz2460 MHz
FP32 Compute83 TFLOPsTBD49 TFLOPs40 TFLOPs29 TFLOPs22 TFLOPs15 TFLOPs
RT TFLOPs191 TFLOPsTBD113 TFLOPs82 TFLOPs67 TFLOPs51 TFLOPs35 TFLOPs
Tensor-TOPs1321 TOPsTBD780 TOPs641 TOPs466 TOPs353 TOPs242 TOPs
Memory Capacity24 GB GDDR6X24 GB GDDR6X16 GB GDDR6X12 GB GDDR6X12 GB GDDR6X8-16 GB GDDR68 GB GDDR6
Memory Bus384-bit384-bit256-bit192-bit192-bit128-bit128-bit
Memory Speed21.0 Gbps21.0 Gbps23.0 Gbps21.0 Gbps21.0 Gbps18.0 Gbps17.0 Gbps
Bandwidth1008 GB/s1008 GB/s736 GB/s504 GB/s504 GB/s288 GB/s
(554 GB/s Effective)
272 GB/s
(453 GB/s Effective)
TBP450W425W320W285W200W160-165W115W
Price (MSRP / FE)$1599 US / 1949 EU12,999 RMB (China-Only)$1199 US / 1469 EU$799 US$599 US$399-$499 US$299 US
Price (Current)$1599 US / 1859 EU12,999 RMB (China-Only)$1199 US / 1399 EU$799 US$599 US$399-$499 US$299 US
Launch (Availability)12th October 202228th December 202316th November 20225th January 202313th April 202324th May / 18th July 202329th June 2023

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 12 GB 'Official' Specifications

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 will also feature a 12 GB variant that is expected to utilize the AD104-400 GPU configuration with 7,680 cores or 60  SMs enabled which is the full-fat SKU. The GPU will be packing 48 MB of L2 cache and features a 192-bit bus interface so that's why we are getting up to 12 GB of GDDR6X capacities. The memory is said to be running at 21 Gbps speeds for a memory bandwidth of 504 GB/s. The card is said to be clocked at a 2610 MHz boost clock however the peak frequency will be higher.

For power, the TBP is now set to be rated at 285W which is a 35W decrease versus the RTX 3080 10 GB model. The card is expected to offer better performance than the RTX 3080 but given the specs cut over the 4080 16 GB, there will be a big gap between both models. The maximum BIOS TGP is said to be rated at 366W.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series Official Specs:

Graphics Card NameNVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 DNVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 TiNVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 TiNVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060
GPU NameAda Lovelace AD102-300Ada Lovelace AD102-250Ada Lovelace AD103-300Ada Lovelace AD104-400Ada Lovelace AD104-250Ada Lovelace AD106-350Ada Lovelace AD107-400
Process NodeTSMC 4NTSMC 4NTSMC 4NTSMC 4NTSMC 4NTSMC 4NTSMC 4N
Die Size608mm2608mm2378.6mm2294.5mm2294.5mm2190.0mm2146.0mm2
Transistors76 Billion76 Billion45.9 Billion35.8 Billion35.8 Billion22.9 BillionTBD
CUDA Cores163841459297287680588843523072
TMUs / ROPs512 / 176TBD320 / 112240 / 80184 / 64136 / 48TBD
Tensor / RT Cores512 / 128456 / 128304 / 76240 / 60184 / 46136 / 34TBD
L2 Cache72 MB72 MB64 MB48 MB36 MB32 MB24 MB
Base Clock2230 MHz2280 MHz2210 MHz2310 MHz1920 MHz2310 MHz1830 MHz
Boost Clock2520 MHz2520 MHz2510 MHz2610 MHz2475 MHz2535 MHz2460 MHz
FP32 Compute83 TFLOPsTBD49 TFLOPs40 TFLOPs29 TFLOPs22 TFLOPs15 TFLOPs
RT TFLOPs191 TFLOPsTBD113 TFLOPs82 TFLOPs67 TFLOPs51 TFLOPs35 TFLOPs
Tensor-TOPs1321 TOPsTBD780 TOPs641 TOPs466 TOPs353 TOPs242 TOPs
Memory Capacity24 GB GDDR6X24 GB GDDR6X16 GB GDDR6X12 GB GDDR6X12 GB GDDR6X8-16 GB GDDR68 GB GDDR6
Memory Bus384-bit384-bit256-bit192-bit192-bit128-bit128-bit
Memory Speed21.0 Gbps21.0 Gbps23.0 Gbps21.0 Gbps21.0 Gbps18.0 Gbps17.0 Gbps
Bandwidth1008 GB/s1008 GB/s736 GB/s504 GB/s504 GB/s288 GB/s
(554 GB/s Effective)
272 GB/s
(453 GB/s Effective)
TBP450W425W320W285W200W160-165W115W
Price (MSRP / FE)$1599 US / 1949 EU12,999 RMB (China-Only)$1199 US / 1469 EU$799 US$599 US$399-$499 US$299 US
Price (Current)$1599 US / 1859 EU12,999 RMB (China-Only)$1199 US / 1399 EU$799 US$599 US$399-$499 US$299 US
Launch (Availability)12th October 202228th December 202316th November 20225th January 202313th April 202324th May / 18th July 202329th June 2023

In terms of performance, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB will have a bigger uplift versus the RTX 4080 12 GB. The 4080 12 GB will still be around 1.5 to 2.0x faster than the RTX 3080 Ti but its the RTX 4080 16 GB that will push things beyond 3X.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB and RTX 4080 12 GB graphics cards will be launching in November and be priced at $1199 US and $899 US, respectively.

About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.

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