What you need to know
- NVIDIA quietly announced that a 12GB variant of its RTX 3080 GPU is real and should be releasing via partners.
- With that said, it didn't state a price and actually finding this supposedly real GPU is a goose chase at the moment.
- A similar situation occurred with the 12GB RTX 2060 launch in 2021.
The best graphics cards are rare birds these days. But while some have decided it's easier to just steal GPUs than buy them the legit way, others remain patient and respectful of the market, waiting with their wallets for a chance to properly order the card of their dreams. And now, they have that chance with the RTX, 3080 12GB launch—
No, we're just kidding, that chance is still likely off the table. As usual, even though this new GPU supposedly exists, the odds of anyone being able to buy it are slim to none. NVIDIA announced a 3080 variant with 12GB GDDR6X memory, claiming partners would be selling it starting January 11, 2022, but as has become a pattern, said GPU is almost nowhere to be found. This is a copy-paste situation of what happened with the RTX 2060 12GB "launch," wherein a product supposedly entered the market without actually entering it.
In other words, file all this knowledge away in the back of your mind and proceed with your existing efforts to get a graphics card. Right now, EVGA is one of the only partners even referencing the RTX 3080 12GB's existence, is charging a minimum of $1,249 for the thing, and has it labeled as so out of stock that you can't even sign up for EVGA's notify queue. ASUS also has a variant on the way.
