Introduced in January of this year, the GeForce RTX 3080 with 12GB of memory had a dual function for NVIDIA: on the one hand to further segment the high-end, on the other to allow it to recover further faulty GA102 GPUs, not adequate to end up in higher-end solutions.
The model, in fact, did not only figure 2 GB of memory more but also more active CUDA cores (8960): NVIDIA made a total of five models from the GA102, from the RTX 3080 10GB with 8704 CUDA core to the RTX 3090 TI with 10752 CUDA core.
Strange to say after years of sky-high prices and limited availability, video cards are now on the market in more numbers than manufacturers anticipated, which is why it is racing to return to more manageable inventory levels in anticipation of the next generation of GPUs. Discounts and production stops would seem to be the right move to bring down existing inventory, but apparently there is a hitch.
According to the leaker MEGAsizeGPU, NVIDIA would have reactivated production of its own GeForce RTX 3080 12GB because it would have a huge stock of GA102 GPUs to dispose of. The company had stopped production less than two months ago, again according to the leaker, but the quantity of GA102 GPUs produced and held in stock would have induced it to reactivate the supply chain of that model, which arrived on the market only through partners and without the blast of trumpets.
The inventory situation, coupled with this development. they might lead to further price reductions for NVIDIA’s current high-end. In short, some interesting deals could come up for those looking for a video card urgently, while those who aspire to improve their gaming PC are unlikely to divert attention from the launch of the new generation of NVIDIA and AMD expected in the last part of the year.