As you will remember, Nvidia announced in mid-October that it would be unlaunching the RTX 4080 12GB because it “wasn’t named right.” The company was doubtlessly reacting to the outcry over the card, which had 4GB less VRAM, 25% fewer CUDA cores, and a narrower memory bus than the RTX 4080 16GB. The RTX 4080 12GB specs made it closer to what should have been an RTX 4070, but it carried an $899 MSRP, around $400 more than the RTX 3070’s MSRP at launch. The outcry led to Nvidia admitting the card should be renamed (and repriced, presumably). Turning the RTX 4080 12GB into the RTX 4070 would leave a question mark over the original RTX 4070’s fate. According to prolific hardware leaker Kopite7kimi, Nvidia has gotten around this by calling the unlaunched card the RTX 4070 Ti—a move many expected it to make. The RTX 4070 Ti should feature all the original specs of the RTX 4080 12GB, including the full-fat AD104 GPU and 7,680 CUDA cores. What we don’t know is if it will stick with the same $899 price. The RTX 3070 Ti launched with an MSRP of $599, so charging $300 more for the Lovelace equivalent is unlikely to go down well with gamers, especially at a time of economic uncertainty when many people are avoiding expensive purchases. Then there’s AMD. Team red recently unveiled the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT, priced at $999 and $899, respectively. Their lower price points, DisplayPort 2.1, and better power efficiency make a compelling combination for even the most ardent Nvidia fan, so Jensen Huang would be wise to give the RTX 3070 Ti a competitive MSRP. Rumors say we’ll find out sometime in January, possibly during CES. If you do have your eye on an RTX 4080, be prepared for lower stock levels than the RTX 4090 when the former launches on November 16. Thanks, VideoCardz
