Nvidia RTX 3080 could get a huge boost to torpedo AMD Big Navi

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By Roland Moore-Colyer
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Nvidia RTX 3080 leak reveals a 20GB graphics card could arrive in December

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080
(Image credit: Nvidia)

An upgraded Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 could be on its way in December, bringing a graphics card with 20GB of video memory to chew through demanding games. 

That’s according to Videocardz’s sources, which noted that the upgraded RTX 3080 was originally planned to launch just after AMD Big Navi - a so-called “Nvidia-killer” graphics card - but was pushed back by a month or so. Big Navi and the rest of the new Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards are due to be revealed October 28. 

Rumors around a boosted GeForce RTX 3080 have been doing the rounds for a few months. And we even expected the graphics card to come with 20GB of VRAM rather than the 10GB of GDDR6X it currently has. 

The RTX 3080 is a mighty powerful graphics card for its $699 price tag. It targets 4K gaming at 60 frames per second with everything maxed out and ray-tracing enabled. 

But doubling the pool of VRAM would give it more headroom to handle future demanding games and potentially deliver faster overall performance. Some games like Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 are particularly hungry for video memory, so the more the better, especially when it comes to future-proofing a graphics card. 

And 20GB of VRAM would put this rumored upgraded RTX 3080 within spitting distance of the GeForce RTX 3090. That $1,499 graphics card comes with 24GB of GDDR6X video memory and represents the pinnacle of Nvidia’s GeForce gaming power, though it’s overkill for most PC gamers. 

An upgraded RTX 3080, potentially set to be called the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti or RTX 3080 Super, would be one way for Nvidia to ensure its high-end graphics card keeps Big Navi at bay. AMD’s upcoming flagship graphics card is expected to deliver performance that will nip at the heels of the RTX 3080, if not beat it in some cases. 

We’ll find out rather soon what AMD has in store for its Radeon RX 6000 series and likely see how Nvidia will respond to it. Either way, it’s an exciting time to be a PC gamer, as more competition tends to breed more innovation and keenly priced graphics cards. 

Roland Moore-Colyer
Roland Moore-Colyer

Roland Moore-Colyer a Managing Editor at Tom’s Guide with a focus on news, features and opinion articles. He often writes about gaming, phones, laptops and other bits of hardware; he’s also got an interest in cars. When not at his desk Roland can be found wandering around London, often with a look of curiosity on his face.