The successor to Nvidia's RTX 20 series of graphics cards could be revealed soon, in the form of the still-unnamed RTX 3080 and 3080 Ti. Since early Spring, Nvidia has hinted at new GPU architecture but without mentioning how its imminent changes would affect the gaming world. More recently, lots of unconfirmed leaks and rumors add details for what could be the company's next generation of consumer-grade PC hardware.
This round of GPU rumors is especially exciting because the pressure's on for Nvidia. Its biggest rival, AMD, has already partially shown its hand by displaying PlayStation 5. Once those game consoles hit the market, AMD will have more real-world examples of its latest advancements and, more importantly, millions of consumer products in homes using its hardware. Those are strong selling points that will help AMD's consumer PC cards sell, a fact of which Nvidia must be aware.
Nvidia's response, what we expect will be the RTX 30 series of GPUs, is springing intense rumors since a Twitter banner has shown a supernova next to the text "#THEULTIMATECOUNTDOWN 21 Days. 21 Years." The heavy implication is that the company will have either a major announcement or an event in roughly 21 days, so the possibility of a new suite of RTX cards being revealed in early September has cranked up the rumor mill.
Leaks and Speculation Surround the GeForce RTX 3080
Since May 2020, a massive outpouring of possible leaks and rumors have come from multiple corners of the PC enthusiast landscape. Most commonly, the talk is that Nvidia's A100 – which was shown in Spring as a huge, powerful chip in the next-gen consoles.
Wccftech has tons of a maximum bandwidth of about 612 GB/s and the 3080 Ti could be around 1 TB. There's also been a leak suggesting a "SUPER" RTX 3080 in 2021, which would offer even better performance.
Release tiers are also a heavy focal point of the RTX 30 rumors. Most of the online discussion has centered on the idea that things will likely remain unchanged. That would mean a "Founder's Edition" 3080 Ti would launch first (leaks suggest September 2020) and it would be the highest-end card of the bunch. It would be followed by or launch alongside the normal RTX 3080 GPU, which would cost slightly less. In the following months (presumably October and November), we'd see a 3070 and 3060. The assumption is all of these cards would be ray-tracing capable, which is crucial after AMD's new Navi standard. Price-wise, the cards should range from nearly $2,000 on the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti to about $600 on the 3060, but costs and names are the most dynamic parts of the industry, so take that with a grain of salt.