Friday, October 14th 2022
NVIDIA Cancels GeForce RTX 4080 12GB, To Relaunch it With a Different Name
NVIDIA has decided to cancel the November 2022 launch of the GeForce RTX 4080 12 GB. The company will relaunch the card under a different name, though it didn't announce the replacement name just yet. The naming of the RTX 4080 12 GB was cause for much controversy. With the RTX 40-series "Ada," NVIDIA debuted three SKUs—the already launched RTX 4090 which is in stores right now; the RTX 4080 16 GB, and the RTX 4080 12 GB. Memory size notwithstanding, the RTX 4080 12 GB is a vastly different graphics card from the RTX 4080 16 GB.
The RTX 4080 12 GB and RTX 4080 16 GB didn't even share the same silicon. While the 16 GB model is based on the larger "AD103" silicon, has 9,728 CUDA cores, and a 256-bit wide GDDR6X memory bus; the RTX 4080 12 GB is based on the smaller "AD104" silicon, has just 7,680 CUDA cores (21% fewer CUDA cores); and a meager 192-bit wide GDDR6X memory bus. This had the potential to confuse buyers, especially given the $900 price. With criticism spanning not just social media but also bad press, NVIDIA decided to pull the plug on the RTX 4080 12 GB. The company will likely re-brand it as a successor to the RTX 3070 Ti, although then it will have a hard time justifying its $900 price-tag. The RTX 4080 16 GB, however, is on track for a November 16 availability date, with a baseline price of $1,200.
Source:
NVIDIA
The RTX 4080 12 GB and RTX 4080 16 GB didn't even share the same silicon. While the 16 GB model is based on the larger "AD103" silicon, has 9,728 CUDA cores, and a 256-bit wide GDDR6X memory bus; the RTX 4080 12 GB is based on the smaller "AD104" silicon, has just 7,680 CUDA cores (21% fewer CUDA cores); and a meager 192-bit wide GDDR6X memory bus. This had the potential to confuse buyers, especially given the $900 price. With criticism spanning not just social media but also bad press, NVIDIA decided to pull the plug on the RTX 4080 12 GB. The company will likely re-brand it as a successor to the RTX 3070 Ti, although then it will have a hard time justifying its $900 price-tag. The RTX 4080 16 GB, however, is on track for a November 16 availability date, with a baseline price of $1,200.
423 Comments on NVIDIA Cancels GeForce RTX 4080 12GB, To Relaunch it With a Different Name
But I wouldn't call this a canceling but rather renaming it to a model it should've been in the beginning.
RX 6950 XT difference to RTX 4090 is only 53%.
The performance jump from the older generation top dog RX 5700 XT to RX 6900 XT was 101% in a single move.
AMD can do it.
Radeon RT cores will be weaker than GeForce RT cores and there's no indication that AMD will dethrone NVIDIA any time soon in machine learning either.
And one key battleground is the developer environment. NVIDIA stands very tall here.
There are product stickers on the PCB with the wrong SKU and some AIB partners might have put the model number on the cooler.
All of the packaging will have to be scrapped of course.
Remember that Apple's iOS software is RTM'ed shortly before the iPhone launch, maybe 10-14 days to give the manufacturer time to flash units for channel distribution and bricks-and-mortar stores.
I doubt Frau Su would do that if it meant losing the flagship competition outright.
Supposedly Navi31 with the same conditions can hit close to 4GHz, let's say 3.9GHz that's +30% speed improvement.
The most power efficient Navi21 GPU in most cases/res was RX6800.
That had 2105MHz boost, add 30% on that (already high, 15% is the official TSMC difference regarding nodes) and maybe we have 2735MHz boost for the most efficient Navi31 based GPU (the one that they claim has +50% more performance/W?)
With so low frequency and if we are talking about a 300W to 335W Navi31 based model the performance potential can be uneventful. (in relation with what Nvidia can achieve)
Add to that the pessimistic scenario that the +50% performance/W claim made using upcoming FSR3.0 that maybe RDNA3 has an advantage there and the conclusions are even more pessimistic regarding performance potential.
Anyway, the above are probably bullshit, I don't believe them, i just examined the possibilities...
As far as I can tell, NVIDIA doesn't have any problem right now selling 4090 cards. The best binned GPU chips will end up in data centers anyhow.
It's really the low to mid-range graphics cards (Ampere and RDNA2) that are the major source of headaches for both companies and have contributed to these weird marketing conundrums.A very tricky one for AMD, Intel, NVIDIA, and others.Well, the hardware for the 7900XT is already done. It's not like AMD can make it a multi-chiplet GPU in reaction to the 4090. These sort of architectural decisions need to be made years in advance.
It's important to point out that Intel gave AMD a chance to catch up by failing to transition to a smaller process node in a timely manner. It's not just the chiplet design that helped, TSMC gets a lot of the credit in the success of Ryzen 2, Ryzen 3, and now Ryzen 4.
Both AMD and NVIDIA are using TSMC's foundries for this new generation's family of GPUs. NVIDIA probably gave AMD a little help by using Samsung's foundries for the Ampere generation.
I wish Nvidia treated their own customers properly with new featrures, imagine buying a gtx 1080 and all the old cards get cool new features, but then they release the rtx 20 series and they cant even release anything new for gtx 1080, and having to rely on AMD FSR instead.
I am 3 pages in so far and calling it a night.
Is it just me "sensing a pattern" with the last couple graphics cards launches from the "big green camp"?
I mean first to time around(rtx3xna series) could be seen as a one off , but , all over again can shift towards another p.o.w. , such as , the "green camp" turned into a troll(price-scalping troll).
Not like that I couldn't fork the buck-a-roos for a 3000 series at launch'es (-90-80-70) , though it of been to the last cent then. Similarly different thing now , kinda all over again type a situation, got the savings ok after not having to "burn" trough them post surgery. Nope , nVidia's RTX 4090 out of stock, or way north of $2Kilo. At peace with skipping this gen' of theirs I am.
I bet the price doesn't change.