Saturday, June 6th 2020

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Pictured?

Here are what could be the very first pictures of a reference NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 "Ampere" graphics card revealing an unusual board design, which is the biggest departure in NVIDIA's design schemes since the original GeForce TITAN. It features a dual-fan aluminium fin-stack cooler, except that one of its fans is located on the obverse side, and the other on the reverse side of the card. The PCB of the card appears to extend only two-thirds the length of the card, ending in an inward cutout, beyond which there's only an extension of the cooling solution. The cooler shroud, rather than being a solid covering of the heatsink, is made of aluminium heatsink ridges. All in all, a very unusual design, which NVIDIA could implement on its top-tier SKUs, such as the RTX 3080, RTX 3080 Ti, and in a cosmetic form on lower SKUs. We get the feeling that "Cyberpunk 2077" has influenced this design.
Sources: ChipHell Forums, HXL (Twitter), VideoCardz
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225 Comments on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Pictured?

#1
birdie
This looks fake as hell and also the card is far too early - rumors have it pinned at Q4 2020 which is at the very least three months away. OEMs mustn't even have the chips at this point.

Edit: some interesting analysis hinting that the card/leak could be very much real:
1. One of the shrouds has a small little tiny "NVIDIA" logo, no faker would invest time into putting a small logo on these types of things. It would require pretty specific tooling and usually with fakers they love to put the logo big so that there's no ambiguity to the fake.
2. Irregular PCB shape, both Komachi and Kitty have said this in prior leaks.
3. It says EMC Certification Pending on the PCI-E connector.
4. The design looks familiar to NVIDIA and it's clear NVIDIA loves to change their cooler design every generation, it's definitely unique for a reference card, but too complex for a faker to make themselves, most fakers do something dumb like add three fans based on the existing cooler and call it a day for their "leak".
5. The blue plastic wrap, any faker wouldn't leave this on, they always like the logos to appear unobstructed, also it just seems too legit to have the blue plastic wrap on there.
Posted on Reply
#2
Space Lynx
Astronaut
all the fins!!! THE POWER WILL BE ULTIMATE!!!!!

actually that is a brilliant design... especially if your PC case has good airflow lol
birdieThis looks fake as hell and also the card is far too early - rumors have it pinned at Q4 2020 which is at the very least three months away.
big navi 2 is already officially coming in September. it makes sense Nvidia would want to respond in kind, even if its a limited launch, now that AMD has officially said Big Navi will arrive in September, Nvidia won't risk losing out on the cyberpunk 2077 market to them. Ampere will be here in Septemeber you better believe it homie.
Posted on Reply
#3
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
birdieThis looks fake as hell and also the card is far too early - rumors have it pinned at Q4 2020 which is at the very least three months away.
For a card to show up in some mom and pop PC store in Nebraska on product launch day, it's usually on the factory floor 4-5 months prior.

These pics look like they were taken at NVIDIA's NVTTM (NVIDIA Time to Market) board OEM.
Posted on Reply
#4
Caring1
I can't see what power pins it takes, but if they can limit it to a 6 pin that would be great.
Posted on Reply
#5
Animalpak
Back to GTX 480 concept ? Like the heatsink is also half of the cover/body.

I really like the concept, maybe these graphics card are not hot as usual i hope so. Especially the fact that theres only one fan.
Posted on Reply
#6
cucker tarlson
the hell is this.weird.but looks good tbh.completely unlike custom coolers we have atm.
Caring1I can't see what power pins it takes, but if they can limit it to a 6 pin that would be great.
why ? that'd suck.
let me have all of its 250w headroom.just make the cooler better!
Posted on Reply
#8
Space Lynx
Astronaut
rtx 3080 is backwards i think. also, the fan blades are melded onto the side... so unless the whole fan spins... yeah im betting these are fake actually. see that gray? that fan can't spin boys. :roll:

def looks like a 3d printer. the metal parts tricked me though.

Posted on Reply
#9
Calmmo
The only thing this really is is ugly.
Posted on Reply
#11
P4-630
Alleged pictures of the upcoming GeForce RTX 3080 graphics cards have been leaked on Chiphell. The models photographed by a leaker are clearly prototypes or engineering samples likely to be one of the many suggested designs for the final choice. The design does appear to be NVIDIA’s.

The card design features a two-fan with a large heatsink likely to be hidden under a shroud, we can see the RTX 3080 backplate on one of the prototypes. The blue color of the upper sample is not the color of the card, this is just a wrap of the silver metallic shroud around the card. The design is very unique, both fans are placed on opposite sides of the card pushing the air in different directions.

The RTX 3080 design features an irregular shaped PCB, you can see this by looking at the rear of the card. This V-shaped design has allowed NVIDIA to place a fan pushing the air through the PCB, without extending the size of the card. This is a similar approach as to GeForce GTX 295 model, which also had a cut in the PCB near the fan.

We can’t see any power connectors in a typical place, which could mean that the connectors have been moved to the side, like on Quadro models. There also appears to be a new version of the NVLink connector near the I/O bracket.


videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-geforce-rtx-3080-pictured
Posted on Reply
#12
Space Lynx
Astronaut
P4-630Alleged pictures of the upcoming GeForce RTX 3080 graphics cards have been leaked on Chiphell. The models photographed by a leaker are clearly prototypes or engineering samples likely to be one of the many suggested designs for the final choice. The design does appear to be NVIDIA’s.

The card design features a two-fan with a large heatsink likely to be hidden under a shroud, we can see the RTX 3080 backplate on one of the prototypes. The blue color of the upper sample is not the color of the card, this is just a wrap of the silver metallic shroud around the card. The design is very unique, both fans are placed on opposite sides of the card pushing the air in different directions.

The RTX 3080 design features an irregular shaped PCB, you can see this by looking at the rear of the card. This V-shaped design has allowed NVIDIA to place a fan pushing the air through the PCB, without extending the size of the card. This is a similar approach as to GeForce GTX 295 model, which also had a cut in the PCB near the fan.

We can’t see any power connectors in a typical place, which could mean that the connectors have been moved to the side, like on Quadro models. There also appears to be a new version of the NVLink connector near the I/O bracket.


videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-geforce-rtx-3080-pictured
any idea why the fan looks 3d printed and can't move as i showed in the screenshot a few posts up?
Posted on Reply
#13
ZeppMan217
lynx29any idea why the fan looks 3d printed and can't move as i showed in the screenshot a few posts up?
The models photographed by a leaker are clearly prototypes or engineering samples likely to be one of the many suggested designs for the final choice.
Nope, Chuck Testa.
Posted on Reply
#14
renz496
lynx29rtx 3080 is backwards i think. also, the fan blades are melded onto the side... so unless the whole fan spins... yeah im betting these are fake actually. see that gray? that fan can't spin boys. :roll:

def looks like a 3d printer. the metal parts tricked me though.

isn't such design becoming more common for fans lately?
Posted on Reply
#15
PhantomTaco
lynx29rtx 3080 is backwards i think. also, the fan blades are melded onto the side... so unless the whole fan spins... yeah im betting these are fake actually. see that gray? that fan can't spin boys. :roll:

def looks like a 3d printer. the metal parts tricked me though.

What part of that looks like it's been 3d printed? I see no signs of z-height stepping, and no other obvious surface finish issues. As for the fan design being fake/can't spin: pretty untrue. Fused cage impeller design is not a new thing; look into Noiseblocker's eLoop fans:
Posted on Reply
#16
Valantar
Caring1I can't see what power pins it takes, but if they can limit it to a 6 pin that would be great.
:roll: :roll::roll:
For an xx80 SKU? Are you delirious? Below 150W? There is no way on earth that is happening, if for no other reason than that leaving too much upwards room for higher end cards. If it was that low power they could reach the same performance with a higher clocked lower size chip and thus increase their margins.



Two issues: this design doesn't seem to have room for any PCIe power plugs. They could possibly fit in the corners next to the fan, but that would be very tight. And the PCB is very small for a reference board, with the odd layout not being very cost effective. Fitting more than 8GB of GDDR6 on a board that small would be a challenge for sure, especially with the odd shape.
AnimalpakBack to GTX 480 concept ? Like the heatsink is also half of the cover/body.

I really like the concept, maybe these graphics card are not hot as usual i hope so. Especially the fact that theres only one fan.
ZoneDymowhy just 1 fan?
There are two fans, one on the front and one on the back. Did you not read the post?
lynx29rtx 3080 is backwards i think. also, the fan blades are melded onto the side... so unless the whole fan spins... yeah im betting these are fake actually. see that gray? that fan can't spin boys. :roll:

def looks like a 3d printer. the metal parts tricked me though.

Fans with some sort of ring connecting the blades aren't that uncommon. The faster Gentle Typhoons had that, for example, and some others too. It's especially useful for counteracting blades stretching and hitting the surrounding frame/heatsink without resorting to exotic materials.
Posted on Reply
#17
efikkan
birdieThis looks fake as hell and also the card is far too early - rumors have it pinned at Q4 2020 which is at the very least three months away. OEMs mustn't even have the chips at this point.
We are now approaching the time partners could get their hands on hardware. Assuming the launch window is around September, they would certainly have approximate PCB specs etc. by now, possibly even working engineering samples, but probably not the final stepping and certainly not the final clock speeds.

I have no opinion on whether these are genuine or not though.
lynx29rtx 3080 is backwards i think.
Yeah, it's upside down.
This could be even a non-functional prototype, if not fake of course.

But anyway, it took Apple many years to realize their logo were upside down on their MacBooks :cool:
Posted on Reply
#18
TheLostSwede
News Editor
lynx29any idea why the fan looks 3d printed and can't move as i showed in the screenshot a few posts up?
It's called using a phone to take pictures with. Also, look at how the cards are lit and I think you're looking at shows/light, not something 3D printed, or it's a different type of fan as suggested above.

From everything I know when it comes to how things are done during manufacturing at board/card makers, this looks legit in terms of the blue plastic strips to keep things clean/scratch free, to the paper labels on which they write sample notes. I don't think this is fake as such.
I do think these are prototypes though and might just be mechanical samples, rather than fully working cards.
Posted on Reply
#19
SL2
lynx29rtx 3080 is backwards i think.
efikkanYeah, it's upside down.
What?

Posted on Reply
#20
Fouquin
birdieThis looks fake as hell and also the card is far too early - rumors have it pinned at Q4 2020 which is at the very least three months away. OEMs mustn't even have the chips at this point.
I've got functional qualification samples that predate their respective retail launch by up to 6 months. It's definitely not too early.
Posted on Reply
#21
Ubersonic
Damn that is a weird design, fans on both sides. I wish Nvidia would go back to using blower coolers on reference cards instead of second rate alternatives that are worse that all the AIB cards but don't work in workstations anymore.
Posted on Reply
#22
Dazzm8
Didn't the R9 Fury X become really small due to it's use of HBM?

Could it be that nvidia is using HBM2 or is this due to another reason?
Posted on Reply
#23
ARF
Let's hope this is relatively slow and Navi 21 completely obliterates it.
Posted on Reply
#24
dyonoctis
UbersonicDamn that is a weird design, fans on both sides. I wish Nvidia would go back to using blower coolers on reference cards instead of second rate alternatives that are worse that all the AIB cards but don't work in workstations anymore.
The rtx 2xxx ref design isn't stricly worse than all the other AIB, they have a good balance between temp, silence and size. Msi cards are often too tall (and without recessed power pin) Asus card are either really tall, or really long and thick. Zotac small cards are not silent at all. Those founder edition are a godsend for small cases.

And you can still get aftermarket blower cooler :
Posted on Reply
#25
Decryptor009
Being honest here, if this is how it will look, it's awesome. Adopting a no nonsense approach, clearly 3080 is going to be a power hungry beast, but cooling is going to need to be stepped up. Looks like Nvidia are doing a Fermi all over again but i reckon that thing will remain under control with temperature and not be that loud.
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