Nvidia launched the highly-rumored RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3070 Ti during its Computex 2021 keynote. The RTX 3080 Ti is set to launch on June 3 for $1,199, and the RTX 3070 Ti is scheduled to release on June 10 for $599.
Both cards are based on the same Ampere architecture as the RTX 3080 and 3070, but they come with additional cores and video memory, among other improvements.
| RTX 3080 Ti | RTX 3070 Ti | |
| GPU | GA102-225 | GA104-400 |
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 | PCIe 4.0 |
| CUDA cores | 10,240 | 6,144 |
| Tensor cores | 320 | 192 |
| RT cores | 80 | 48 |
| Base clock | 1,365MHz | TBD |
| Boost clock | 1,665MHz | TBD |
| Memory | 12GB GDDR6X | 8GB GDDR6X |
| Memory speed | 19Gbps | 19Gbps |
| Bandwidth | 912GBps | 608GBps |
| Memory bus | 384-bit | 256-bit |
| TDP | 320W | TBD |
The RTX 3080 Ti will dethrone the RTX 3080 as Nvidia’s flagship GPU. Over the base model, the RTX 3080 Ti shows improvements across the board. It comes with 1,536 more CUDA cores, 48 more Tensor cores, 12 more RT cores, and an extra 2GB of GDDR6X memory.
Short of video memory, the RTX 3080 Ti is basically an RTX 3090. It has nearly identical specs, including the larger memory bus. The big difference is 12GB of VRAM on the 3080 Ti versus 24GB on the 3090. The extra VRAM on the 3090 isn’t always necessary for gaming, so the 3080 Ti provides a nice middle ground in Nvidia’s Ampere lineup for anyone looking for the best gaming performance without overspending
The RTX 3070 Ti doesn’t show as large of an improvement, but it’s still a significant step up from the standard RTX 3070. The updated version comes with an additional 256 CUDA cores, eight more Tensor cores, and two more RT cores. It comes with the same 8GB of VRAM as the base model, though the Ti version uses GDDR6X memory, not GDDR6 memory. That improves memory bandwidth from 448GBps on the 3070 to 608GBps on the 3070 Ti.
Both cards feature Nvidia’s new Lite Hash Rate (LHR) GPU. This new GPU core will limit the Ethereum hash rate, which should curb some demand from cryptocurrency miners. That said, Nvidia’s new cards still come amid the worst GPU shortage the market has seen in years.
The RTX 3080 Ti and 3070 Ti look impressive, so long as they perform as well as their specs suggest at launch. Would-be buyers may not be able to find one, though. Following previous Nvidia launches, we expect the RTX 3080 Ti and 3070 Ti to sell out immediately at launch and stay out of stock for quite some time.
