NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 20 GB, RTX 3070 16 GB, RTX 3060 8 GB Graphics Cards Confirmed By Gigabyte

Gigabyte has spilled the beans on NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards which would include the GeForce RTX 3080 20 GB, GeForce RTX 3070 16 GB, and GeForce RTX 3060 8 GB models. The information comes from Videocardz who managed to get hold of a list of unreleased cards at Gigabyte's Watch Dogs Legion code redeeming webpage.

The list includes several variants as part of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series lineup from Gigabyte.  There are variants listed with the "S" moniker which could represent a "SUPER" series branding for the higher-spec'd variants. At the same time, models are also listed with twice the memory buffer size but no "S" series tag. The graphics cards include:

From the looks of it, the GeForce RTX 3080 20 GB models could get two variants based on the listed product codenames. That however is speculation for now but there are chances of a higher-end 80 series model coming out after AMD's Big Navi unveil. The GeForce RTX 3070 seems to be getting 2x memory too. A 16 GB VRAM buffer would be great for the card, especially since NVIDIA claims that the card is going to be faster than the RTX 2080 Ti that features 11 GB memory.

Finally, there's the GeForce RTX 3060 (SUPER) which would feature 8 GB memory, and reports are that the card would end up featuring a cut-down GA104 GPU rather than the GA106 GPU which is designed for the mid-tier parts.

NVIDIA is aware that AMD might try to leverage the higher VRAM capacity as a big marketing point for its RDNA 2 lineup which is why NVIDIA wants to offer its own higher VRAM offerings. The 20 GB RTX 3080 could be ideally positioned against a 16 GB card from AMD while a 16 GB RTX 3070 can be a good marketing standpoint against a 12 GB variant. That's not to say that the lower-VRAM cards that are already out by then wouldn't offer great performance but like I said, the amount of VRAM will be huge for marketing this gen.

While these cards have the same names as the standard variants, don't expect similar pricing at all. The GeForce RTX 3070 with double the memory (16 GB) could end up close to the pricing of the GeForce RTX 3080. The GeForce RT 3080 with 20 GB could end up between $799-$899. These two cards aren't meant to replace the ones that are initially announced but rather offer a step-up in terms of memory and possibly even better core specs, at higher prices. The rumor that NVIDIA is going to adjust the prices of existing cards to make way for newer variants is untrue.

Now I know that most people running older graphics cards would not hold out for much longer and just grab an RTX 3080 (if it's available) for their gaming need. I know that a month-long wait to see what RDNA 2 has to offer and then further wait for it to be available in the market sure seems like a lot of time but if possible, it is recommended to hold out on your purchase for a bit more to see the response from the competition and the counter-response from NVIDIA in the form of these specific variants in the coming month. With that said, the GeForce RTX 3080 is no slouch and an impressive card in its own right, you can read our review for it over here.