The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 has only just been released, but there’s a fairly substantial rumor that a new 20GB version is on its way, alongside a GeForce RTX 3060.
A presentation from graphics card maker Galax, spotted by VideoCardz, showed off a 20GB version of the RTX 3080 alongside the 10GB version of the GPU that’s available now if you can find it. And the presentation also listed the GeForce RTX 3060, though no specs for that card were mentioned.
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A 20GB GeForce RTX 3080 would likely be a "Super" or "Ti" version of the vanilla graphics card. We’ve seen Nvidia do this with the GeForce RTX 2080, though the RTX 2080 Ti was a launch card and the Super variant came along quite a bit after. However, this Galax presentation could simply be a roadmap for what GPUs Nvidia might be working on to push out to its card partners, rather than a clue that new additions to the RTX 3000-series are incoming.
That being said, Nvidia often follows up its high-end graphics card with a mid-range variant with "60" in its model name. As such, we’d be willing to place a lot of money on the rumor that a GeForce RTX 3060 is being worked on and will pop up either towards the end of the year or early 2021.
Such a graphics card, if it’s well-specced and well-priced, would further challenge AMD’s Radeon graphics cards in the mid-range GPU arena. And it would likely be a retort to AMD's Radeon RX 6000 series.
Led by AMD Big Navi, we’re expecting the Radeon RX 6000 series to bring in at least one powerful graphics card to take on the RTX 3080, as well as a clutch of other cards to challenge Nvidia at different tiers.
With that in mind, a powered up RTX 3080 would help Nvidia keep Big Navi at bay without relying on its very expensive and very powerful $1,499 GeForce RTX 3090. And an RTX 3060 would take on any mid-range or mainstream new Radeon graphics cards.
Galax’s presentation also mentioned an unnamed graphics card with the model number “PG142 SKU 0” that could be a Super variant on the GeForce RTX 3070, which hasn't been released yet but will come in October time. Speaking of October, AMD will reveal its new Radeon graphics cards on October 28.
So with AMD Big Navi arriving in October, PS5 and Xbox Series X coming in November, and new Nvidia RTX 3000-series graphics cards on the horizon, the coming months should be interesting for gamers of all varieties.
