If you were planning to buy a new Nvidia 40-series GPU this year, you may have even more money to save than you planned. That’s because the GPU maker has confirmed its plans to “launch” the previously planned and cheaper 12GB RTX 4080 model. Instead, only the more expensive and faster 16GB RTX 4080 will launch next month.
A few weeks ago, after much rumor and much speculation, Nvidia has finally announced its next series of high-end PC graphics cards. The plan back then was to launch two different variants of RTX 4080 GPUs in November: the 16GB RTX 4080 ($1199) and a 12GB RTX 4080 ($899). A $1600 4090 was also announced during the same event. These prices turned out about as well as you might expect, with many claiming they were overpriced. And now the “cheapest” of these new expensive cards isn’t even coming out next month.
Continue reading: Nvidia’s new 40 series PC graphics cards are too expensive
As announced today by Nvidia, the company is “unlaunching” the 12GB RTX 4080. It claims this is because the card, while “amazing,” is too “confusing” to have two different GPUs, both labeled “RTX 4080.” . That resonates Criticism that came from many consumers after the recent announcements of the 40 series; Many suggested that the 12GB RTX 4080’s significantly lower specs are more akin to a theoretical “4070” or “4079” card.
my box has contacted Nvidia regarding the cancellation and the future of the 12GB RTX 4080 model.
“So we hit the ‘unlaunch’ button on the 4080 12GB,” Nvidia said in a brief statement released on the company’s official website. “The RTX 4080 16GB is amazing and it’s bound to wow gamers everywhere on November 16th.”
Of course, it’s hard not to see this move as a way for Nvidia to convince more of its customers – many of whom have been reluctant to buy a new GPU for a number of years while tickets remained hard to buy– Spend more money on a more expensive card. And while initial previews of the cheaper 12GB 4080 had shown it to be significantly slower than the more expensive 16GB version, it was still nice to have at least one option that cost less than $1,000. But that’s gone now. What will happen remains to be seen, but perhaps Nvidia will actually rename the 12GB RTX 4080s to 4070s.
