NVIDIA is canceling its GeForce RTX 4080 12GB graphics card just ahead of its commercial launch.
If you don’t understand why NVIDIA released two GeForce RTX 4080 cards with completely different capabilities, you’re not alone. For this reason, NVIDIA has made the decision to drop its RTX 4080 12GB. While the founder remains convinced that the 12GB version is a very good graphics card, he explains that the lower spec model doesn’t have a “good name”. The company did not specify whether or how it intends to restart this card, and did not announce it further.
NVIDIA is dropping its GeForce RTX 4080 12GB graphics card
The 16GB RTX 4080 is still scheduled for November 16th at $1,199 for the NVIDIA Founders Edition. This raises the entry ticket for the RTX 40 range. But it’s not as bad as you might think. The 12GB version was supposed to start at $899, but its reliance on third-party manufacturers would likely drive prices up.
shortly before its commercial launch
In addition, the differences were not actually limited to the amount of RAM. While the 12GB model has 7680 CUDA cores and a 192-bit memory bus, the 16GB model has 9728 with a 256-bit memory bus. So you will have a much slower GPU with the 12GB model despite the RTX 4080 nomenclature and the performance gap can be significant. NVIDIA’s own tests have shown differences of up to 30% between the two in popular games. This can be disappointing if you bought a 12GB card expecting similar performance (excluding RAM).
This cancellation shouldn’t cause too many problems for NVIDIA. The launch of the RTX 4090 has created huge demand, and the 4080 could easily become a go-to card for gamers who don’t necessarily have the budget required for the 4090. In any case, this kind of trading mistake is rare enough to highlight. NVIDIA misjudged the market so badly that it was forced to stop releasing graphics cards just before they hit consumers.