Nvidia announced the RTX 4090 earlier this month which has reviewed insanely well, but it also announced two variations of the RTX 4080, the 16GB which sounded like the true 4080 experience and a 12GB version which was very obviously being released to serve specific business objectives by Nvidia.
This was rightly slammed online as not only confusing, but a likely rebranding of another card that was being served up as a 4080 variant. Nvidia has today cancelled the 12GB version of this card or “unlaunched” it as it said in its blog post. The 16GB RTX 4080 will still be released on November 16th as planned and we’d expect to see the 12GB version back at some point (likely as a RTX 4070 or 4070 Ti).
In the blog post, Nvidia said:
“The RTX 4080 12GB is a fantastic graphics card, but it’s not named right. Having two GPUs with the 4080 designation is confusing.
So, we’re pressing the “unlaunch” button on the 4080 12GB. The RTX 4080 16GB is amazing and on track to delight gamers everywhere on November 16th. If the lines around the block and enthusiasm for the 4090 is any indication, the reception for the 4080 will be awesome.”
The reviewers for the RTX 4090 so far have been incredibly positive so far, with our friends over at AusGamers saying:
“But what a beginning. And really, it makes the prospect of the upcoming GeForce RTX 4080, RTX 4070 and eventual RTX 4060, something to look forward to. From DLSS 3 to new video encoding that will create a new era for streamers, content creators, and their audiences, to simply being able to deliver visual fidelity plus performance in the games we play. The GeForce RTX 4090 is beyond fast, and then some.”
It’s going to be really interesting to see how quickly we see this 12GB card return, and what the rest of the lineup looks like. It’s obviously great to see Nvidia listening to the reactions online and making the necessary changes.