NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 specs: 10GB GDDR6X, 2.1GHz max GPU clock

Alright, switching gears between the flagship NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 graphics card and its tease of 24GB of GDDR6X memory that Micron has clocked at a ridiculous 21Gbps -- we have the GeForce RTX 3080 with some juicy specs.

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According to a new Device ID listing confirmed by leaker _rogame on Twitter, we have some preliminary specs on NVIDIA's next-gen Ampere-based GeForce RTX 3080. The new GeForce RTX 3080 will have its GPU clocks at a limit of 2.1GHz -- which is identical to the Turing GPUs which have a 2.1GHz GPU clock ceiling for the most part.

NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 3080 should have 10GB of GDDR6X which according to these leaked specs, will be clocked at 19Gbps. Micron is making the memory for this batch of Ampere-based GeForce RTX 3000 series graphics cards with Micron providing NVIDIA with some blistering fast 21Gbps chips for its flagship GeForce RTX 3090 (which I really, badly want to be called the RTX 3090 ULTRA or RTX 3090 ULTIMATE).

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The 10GB of GDDR6X is used on a 320-bit memory interface, should offer gamers 760GB/sec of memory bandwidth. This is a gigantic leap over what NVIDIA offered with the 8GB of GDDR6 on the GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER -- a massive 53% increase in memory bandwidth with 760GB/sec on the RTX 3080 versus 496GB/sec on the RTX 2080 SUPER.

Our friends at Wccftech have a great graph that shows us all of the differences in memory used, memory clocks, the memory bus, and memory bandwidth between all of NVIDIA's next-gen RTX 30 series Ampere graphics cards. There's a lot of options here, and I think we might be surprised with how high NVIDIA pushes things this time around compared to Pascal and Turing.

GeForce RTX 3080 specs (so far):

• Ampere GA102 GPU: What we know so far is that the GeForce RTX 3080 will use the GA102 GPU, or more specifically the GA102-200-KD-A1 SKU. This packs 4353 CUDA cores, the same amount as the GPU inside of the RTX 2080 Ti.
• 10GB of GDDR6X @ 19Gbps: The GeForce RTX 3080 will have 10GB of next-gen GDDR6X memory from Micron, clocked at a large 19Gbps on a 320-bit with up to 760GB/sec of memory bandwidth. This is 53% higher than the 496GB/sec memory bandwidth on the GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER.

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The very latest: RTX 3090 PCB + GDDR6X @ 21Gbps

• The PCB of the RTX 3090: A juicy leak of the purported PCB of a custom variant of the GeForce RTX 3090 leaked out a few days ago. It is reportedly the COLORFUL iGame GeForce RTX 3090 Vulcan-X. You can see this model has 3 x 8-pin PCIe power connectors, unlike the RTX 3090 Founders Edition that should pack just a single 12-pin PCIe power connector.
• Micron reveals RTX 3090 name, 24GB GDDR6X memory @ 21Gbps: I'm sure this is part of the marketing or else all of us tech media websites would be receiving calls from lawyers, but Micron revealed its next-gen GDDR6X memory that the GeForce RTX 3090 (it admits the card by name) will be clocked at a bonkers-high 21Gbps.

Wait, a 12-pin PCIe power connector?

• 12-pin PCIe power connector on Founders Edition ONLY: NVIDIA will be using a special new 12-pin PCIe power connector on its GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition graphics cards, something that I've confirmed with a few industry sources of mine now (to confirm the rumors floating around online).
• Many, many 8-pin PCIe power connectors on custom AIB: But, custom GeForce RTX 3000 series graphics cards from AIBs like ASUS, COLORFUL, EVGA, MSI, etc will not be using the 12-pin PCIe power connector and rather multiple (2 and even up to 3 x 8-pin PCIe power connectors).

More reading:

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• Traversal coprocessor: We have had more leaks on NVIDIA's next-gen GeForce RTX 3000 series than any family of graphics cards before it, with an interesting "traversal coprocessor" on the new GeForce RTX 3080 and GeForce RTX 3090 graphics cards. You can read more on that here.
• NVCache: Ampere is meant to have something called NVCache, which would be NVIDIA's own form of AMD's HBCC (High Bandwidth Cache Controller, more on that here). NVCache would use your system RAM and SSD to super-speed game load times, as well as optimizing VRAM usage. You can read more on NVCache here.
• Tensor Memory Compression: NVCache is interesting, but Tensor Memory Compression will be on Ampere, and will reportedly use Tensor Cores to both compress and decompress items that are stored in VRAM. This could see a 20-40% reduction in VRAM usage, or more VRAM usage with higher textures in next-gen games and Tensor Memory Compression decreasing that VRAM footprint by 20-40%.
• How fast is the GeForce RTX 3090? Freaking fast according to rumors, with 60-90% more performance than the current Turing-based flagship GeForce RTX 2080 Ti. We could see this huge performance leap in ray tracing titles, but we'll have to wait a little while longer to see how much graphical power NVIDIA crams into these new cards. You can read more on those rumors here.
• Power hungry: As for power consumption, GA102 reportedly uses 230W -- while 24GB of GDDR6X (which we should see on the new Ampere-based TITAN RTX) consumes 60W of power. You can read more on that here.
• Production begins soon: NVIDIA is reportedly in the DVT (or Design Validation Test) range of its new GeForce RTX 3000 series graphics cards. Mass production reportedly kicks off in August 2020, with a media event, benchmarks, and more in September 2020 as I predicted many months ago. More on that here.

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I've already written about rumors that NVIDIA's next-gen Ampere GPU architecture would be up to 75% faster than current-gen GPUs such as the Turing architecture, right after rumors that Ampere would offer 50% more performance at half the power of Turing. This is pretty crazy stuff right there.

Not only that, but we've got some rumored specs on the purported GeForce RTX 3080 and GeForce RTX 3070 graphics cards, which will both be powered by NVIDIA's new Ampere GPU architecture.

We've already heard that Ampere would offer 50% more performance at half the power of Turing, which sent the hairs on my neck standing up. Better yet, you can read about the leaked specs on the purported Ampere-based GeForce RTX 3080 and GeForce RTX 3070 right here.

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Even more reading:

• NVIDIA hosting 'special event' for next-gen GeForce on September 1
• NVIDIA mega rumor: GeForce RTX 2190, GeForce RTX 2180 Ti naming scheme
• NVIDIA is 'not worried' about AMD's next-gen Big Navi GPU
• NVIDIA crazy rumor: RTX 3080 software locked VRAM until RDNA 2 is out
• NVIDIA's flagship GeForce RTX 30 series card could have 24GB VRAM
• Exclusive: AIB custom Ampere cards launch alongside Founders Edition
• NVIDIA should reveal next-gen GeForce RTX 30 series cards on August 31
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3000 series announcement rumored for September 9
• NVIDIA reportedly discontinues GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER graphics card
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti: rumored launch of September 17
• AMD Big Navi: 5120 stream processors teased for RDNA 2 flagship again
• AMD Radeon Instinct MI100 Acturus teased, NVIDIA Ampere destroyer?!
• GeForce RTX 3090: 50% faster than RTX 2080 Ti in early benchmarks
• NVIDIA A100 Ampere benchmarked, is now the 'fastest GPU ever recorded'
• Yeah, NVIDIA should unleash GeForce RTX 3000 series in September
• AMD Big Navi 'NVIDIA Killer' flagship card has 16GB of memory
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 rumor: 20% faster than GeForce RTX 2080 Ti
• NVIDIA's next-gen Ampere DLSS 3.0 could work on ANY game that uses TAA
• AMD aims Big Navi launch for November as 'show of strength' for RDNA 2
• NVIDIA's next-gen Ampere GeForce RTX 30 series: new 12-pin PCIe power
• AMD's next-gen RDNA 2 rumor: 40-50% faster than GeForce RTX 2080 Ti
• NVIDIA stops making RTX 20 series, ramps to GeForce RTX 30 series
• GeForce RTX 3060 should cost $300-$400, here's some leaked specs
• NVIDIA bundles Death Stranding with GeForce RTX graphics cards
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, RTX 3070 rumored specs: two sub $500 cards
• Want NVIDIA's next-gen Ampere GPU now? You can have it... for $12,500
• NVIDIA's Ampere GeForce RTX rumor: built on Samsung 8nm, not TSMC 7nm
• Say hello to the ASUS GeForce RTX 3080 Ti ROG STRIX, maybe
• NVIDIA's new A100 PCIe accelerator: 40GB HBM2e memory, PCIe 4.0 tech
• This new GeForce RTX 3090 leak has it at 26% faster than RTX 2080 Ti
• New GeForce RTX 3090 leaks: 12GB GDDR6X at insane 21Gbps
• GeForce RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 rumored to pack 'traversal coprocessor'
• NVIDIA's next-gen GeForce RTX 3080, RTX 3090 to enter production soon
• GeForce RTX 3090: GA102 consumes 230W, 24GB GDDR6 consumes 60W power
• NVIDIA rumored to use HUGE cooling block on GeForce RTX 3080
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 cooler: rumored to cost $150 on its own
• GeForce RTX 3090 rumor: 24GB GDDR6X, would annihilate RTX 2080 Ti
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 rumors: up to 60-90% faster than RTX 2080 Ti
• Check out these awesome renders of NVIDIA's next-gen GeForce RTX 3080
• This could be our first picture of the GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card
• AMD and NVIDIA to both launch next-gen GPUs in September 2020
• NVIDIA reportedly drops Tesla brand, too close to Elon Musk's Tesla
• NVIDIA amps up fight against COVID-19 with Ampere-based supercomputer
• NVIDIA DGX A100: 8 x A100 Ampere GPUs, AMD CPU, 15TB NVMe SSD
• NVIDIA Ampere A100 specs: 54 billion transistors, 40GB HBM2, 7nm TSMC