Two lengthy years after the GeForce RTX 20-series kicked off real-time ray tracing and uncompromising 4K efficiency in earnest, Nvidia lastly took the wraps off its hotly anticipated successors on Tuesday. The first GeForce RTX 30-series GPUs are damned spectacular, culminating within the ferocious GeForce RTX 3090 with 24GB of cutting-edge GDDR6X reminiscence and sufficient energy to recreation on an 8K show. But glancing over the launch lineup, one issues stands out: Why is there no GeForce RTX 3080 Ti? The RTX 2080 Ti was the heavy hitter within the 20-series lineup, in spite of everything.
Nvidia by no means talks about unannounced merchandise, however there are a number of causes to skip a high-end Ti out of the gate this era, and numerous it has to do with the competitors. Big Navi and new consoles cometh, in spite of everything.
Let’s dig in.
Why GeForce RTX 3090 as an alternative of 3080 Ti?
Debuting with a $1,500 GeForce RTX 3090 as an alternative of a GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is smart for 2 key causes: It lets Nvidia proceed to push graphics card pricing upward whereas establishing a hard-to-topple efficiency benchmark, and it leaves room to maneuver if AMD’s imminent RDNA 2-based “Big Navi” Radeon graphics playing cards come out with GPUs blazing.
Let’s begin with that first half. Nvidia’s machinations over the previous few GPU generations make two issues clear: It hates dropping in efficiency benchmarks, and it likes making as a lot cash as doable from its high-performance graphics playing cards. (Which is the whole cause for a enterprise to exist!)
Witness how Nvidia endlessly held off launching the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti as a counter to Radeon Vega’s potential (and unrealized) menace, or the way it launched the superfluous GeForce GTX 1070 Ti solely to take the Radeon Vega 56 down a peg in efficiency charts. Nvidia desires to win, full cease. And in a yr with each Big Navi and the AMD-powered Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 consoles launching, putting first with a monstrous GeForce RTX 3090 firmly establishes Nvidia because the high-water mark for enthusiast-class gaming efficiency. Big Navi might pull a shock upset, however it’s unlikely.
The GeForce RTX 2080 Ti price a staggering $1,200 on arrival, however the GeForce RTX 3090 prices much more.
By pulling this card out with the long-dead xx90 classification, Nvidia may also maintain costs excessive. The firm confronted fierce criticism and sluggish beginning gross sales because of the upper costs established within the GeForce RTX 20-series, which pushed up prices for every GPU tier (the RTX 2070 and 2080 every price $100 greater than their predecessors) however supplied the identical conventional gaming efficiency in every worth tier. The $700 GeForce RTX 2080 went toe-to-toe with the $700 GTX 1080 Ti exterior of ray tracing duties.
If Nvidia referred to as this the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti however priced it $300 larger than the 2080 Ti, forum-goers would seize their torches and pitchforks. Stuffing this a lot efficiency and 24GB of cutting-edge GDDR6X reminiscence right into a radically redesigned graphics card isn’t low cost. By calling it the GeForce RTX 3090, Nvidia can squeeze extra money out of the price-is-no-object fanatics whereas avoiding unrest.
When might we see a GeForce RTX 3080 Ti?
Just as a result of there’s no GeForce RTX 3080 Ti on the 30-series launch doesn’t imply we’ll by no means see one (until it’s referred to as the RTX 3080 Super, that’s).
Some individuals overlook that xx80 Ti fashions usually launch lengthy after their namesakes do. The GeForce GTX 1080 Ti launched virtually a yr after the non-Ti GTX 1080’s debut. The GTX 980 Ti likewise got here 9 lengthy months after the vanilla GTX 980’s debut. The GeForce GTX 780 Ti arrived a bit sooner, however nonetheless six months after the GTX 780. That’s the custom. The GeForce RTX 2080 Ti was the outlier when it exploded onto the scene at launch–Nvidia possible did so in solely to place the absolute best ray tracing efficiency on the road as rapidly as doable. Don’t overlook that Nvidia’s RTX graphics playing cards have been the hen, whereas precise ray traced video games have been the eggs.
So xx80 Ti fashions often come later, and on this specific case, there’s an excellent cause for Nvidia to maintain its playing cards near its chest. Again: AMD’s “Big Navi” Radeon graphics cards are coming, full with real-time ray tracing of their very own and a claimed 50-percent performance-per-watt enhance over first-gen Navi GPUs just like the excellent Radeon RX 5700. AMD hasn’t stated a lot but, however contemplating how potent these first-gen Navi GPUs have been, Big Navi may very well be a beast.
Holding off on a possible GeForce RTX 3080 Ti provides Nvidia room to maneuver towards Radeon’s new high-end graphics card(s), which AMD stated will launch later this yr. If Big Navi winds up extra highly effective than the GeForce RTX 3080, Nvidia received’t be blissful, even when the GeForce RTX 3090 winds up sitting fairly on its luxurious perch atop the benchmark charts. A quicker 3080 Ti might repair that.
AMD’s RDNA 2-based “Big Navi” GPUs are coming very quickly.
Nvidia has used its xx80 Ti playing cards to spoil AMD’s get together on multiple event. The GeForce GTX 1080 Ti’s launch at $700 lower off Radeon Vega on the knees lengthy earlier than Vega even hit the streets, whereas Nvidia launched the GTX 980 Ti simply earlier than the hotly anticipated Radeon Fury X, with juuuuuuust sufficient efficiency to topple it and at a worth that possible made the HBM2-packing, liquid-cooled Fury X painful for AMD to promote.
Why is there no GeForce RTX 3080 Ti? Because Nvidia doesn’t want it…but. But the cardboard may very well be referred to as in just like the cavalry later this yr, or someday in 2021. Time will inform. For now, you’ll be able to make amends for our protection of the GeForce RTX 3090 and 3080 reveal, in addition to our RTX retrospective analyzing what we gained from the primary two years of ray tracing and DLSS.
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