Geforce RTX 3080 with 12 GiB: GA102-220 with more shaders?

The GA102-220 for the Geforce RTX 3080 should not only have a wider memory interface to serve the 2 GiByte more memory, but also a few more FP32 shaders.

Dec 16, 2021 - 05:30
 13
Geforce RTX 3080 with 12 GiB: GA102-220 with more shaders?

The GA102-220 for the Geforce RTX 3080 should not only have a wider memory interface to serve the 2 GiByte more memory, but also a few more FP32 shaders.

New ampere graphics cards are expected for January, including the Geforce RTX 3080 with 12 GiB memory. Technical data has now also leaked out because what has been clear since the model was first introduced is that Nvidia needs a new chip to enable the memory configuration. This is supposed to be the GA102-220, which on the one hand has the necessary 384-bit wide memory interface, which increases the expected bandwidth from 760 to 912 GB / s. On the other hand, it should also have more FP32 shaders.

It should be 8,960 arithmetic units in number, 256 more than the Geforce RTX 3080 with 10 GiB. That is 2.9 percent on paper. With the change, it would actually be nice if Nvidia made this clear in the name. The addition Ti is already gone and 12 GiB is a difference, but actually, a Geforce RTX 3080 Super 12 GB of transparency would be nice for the customer. The TDP should increase slightly from 340 to 350 watts, which is then almost Ti level, but the power consumption of the GDDR6X should not be underestimated. 2.5 watts per 1-gigabyte chip are common.

 RTX 3070 Ti (8GB)RTX 3070 Ti (16GB) *RTX 3080 (10GB)RTX 3080 (12 GB)*RTX 3080 TiRTX 3090RTX 3090 Ti *
GPUGA104-400GA104-401GA102-200GA102-220GA102-225GA102-300GA102-350
Cluster48486870808284
Shader6144614487048960102401049610752
Raytracing48486870808284
Tensor192192272280320328336
TMU192192272320320328336
ROP969696112112112128
Rate1575 MHz?1440 MHz?1365 MHz1395 MHz?
Boost1770 MHz?1710 MHz?1665 MHz1695 MHz?
Interface256 Bit256 Bit320 Bit384 Bit384 Bit384 Bit384 Bit
Storage8 GiB16 GiB10 GiB12 GiB12 GiB24 GiB24 GiB
TypeGDDR6GDDR6GDDR6XGDDR6XGDDR6XGDDR6XGDDR6X
Rate19 Gb/s19 Gb/s19 Gb/s19 Gb/s19 Gb/s19,5 Gb/s21 Gb/s
Bandwidth608 GB/s608 GB/s760 GB/s912 GB/s912 GB/s936 GB/s1008 GB/s
TDP290 Watt?320 Watt350 Watt350 Watt350 Watt450 Watt
Credits: PCGH

* no officially confirmed information for these models The 12 GB version

The 8,960 shaders made the rounds for just such a model; But then came the 12 GB version and now there is a combination of more memory and more shaders. The card with 12 instead of 10 GiB is not really sexy in the end (the Geforce RTX 3070 Ti should get 16 GiB), but Nvidia will no longer be able to solve the problem with the Ampere generation. Hopefully, the topic will be tackled with Lovelace in autumn 2022.

Reasons for the sometimes "crooked" storage equipment at Ampere are not officially known. When it was released, the GDDR6X was expensive and only available with 8 Gbit. Only the Geforce RTX 3090 Ti, which is also expected for January, will then receive Micron modules with 16 Gbit. This suddenly reduces the number of modules by half, which benefits power consumption and waste heat.

But whether the Geforce RTX 3080 and RTX 3070 Ti will actually come in January is currently controversial. It is said that the cards had to be moved again because components are scarce. The Geforce RTX 3090 Ti should start as planned; of which one will probably also produce completely different quantities than of the smaller models and the presumably sporty recommended retail price also allows more leeway in the prices when purchasing goods. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwKM8qW1gfI