Nvidia RTX 3080 12GB reportedly coming in 2022 — everything you need to know

Nvidia RTX 3080 12GB reportedly coming in 2022 — everything you lot need to know

(Image credit: Nvidia)

Update: Nvidia began selling the RTX 3080 with 12GB of retention through select partners on January 11. Original story follows.

Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3080 12GB has had its alleged specs leaked online. If they turn out to be true, the card's upgrades would be great for gamers in theory, but could likewise generate increased interest from cryptocurrency miners.

Rumors of Nvidia releasing a new version of their popular RTX 3080 GPU have been circulating for a while now, just a report from Videocardz comes with mixed news about the alleged update.

The RTX 3080 12GB leak provides new details about significant improvements the new model would bring to the table, only note that Videocardz points out that its release is nonetheless unconfirmed. In the meantime, the 10GB model continues to sell extremely well, and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 restocks however generate sizable demand.

If the RTX 3080 12GB does come to fruition, information technology volition supposedly sport much faster speeds thank you to its 384-scrap retention bus. It would also bring with information technology higher bandwidth speeds of 912 GB/southward, which would be a substantial improvement over the original carte's 760GB/s. This would undoubtedly make the card a sought-after piece of tech in 2022, but it comes with a notable caveat for gamers.

While the RTX 3080 12GB would no doubtfulness be an excellent option of card for gaming enthusiasts, the major heave in speed and power would brand cryptocurrency mining even more efficient. So as if it hasn't been tough enough for gamers to get their hands on 2021'south Nvidia cards, this fresh revision would almost certainly get bought up rapidly by those seeking to enhance their mining capabilities.

Nvidia has previously attempted to utilise software that would cut the hash rate of cards in half when detecting cryptocurrency mining algorithms, but information technology hasn't appeared to brand much of a departure in stopping miners from ownership in majority. Hopefully, Nvidia's plan to launch its new lineup of cards made specifically for cryptocurrency miners (and sporting a special Cryptocurrency Mining Processor) will drastically better the availability of RTX cards.

As of right now, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 12GB has not been officially confirmed by Nvidia, so there is no official word near a release date. Even so, given the increased desire for 4K-capable cards nowadays, the card'south release seems similar a safe bet at some point in 2022.

Billy Givens is a journalist with nearly two decades of experience in editing and writing across a wide variety of topics. He focuses particularly on games coverage for Tom's Guide and other sites including From Gamers Magazine, Retroware, Game Rant and TechRaptor. He'due south besides written for self-improvement sites such as Lifehack and produced in-depth analyses on subjects such equally health, psychology and amusement.