Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti reportedly delayed — thanks to AMD's unimpressive showing

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Those holding out for a RTX 3080 Ti may have to wait a little longer

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti
(Image credit: Nvidia)

Nvidia's RTX 3080 Ti has reportedly been delayed from January to February as the company continues to try and meet high demand for its current crop of cards. Just as important, AMD's RX 6000 series is not proving to be much of a threat. 

According to German journalist Igor Wallossek of Igor's Lab, Nvidia had been awaiting the launch of the RX 6000 series before officially unveiling the RTX 3080 Ti. While the RTX 3080 only has 10GB of RAM when compared to the RX 6800 XT's 16GB, it hasn't shifted the conversation away from Nvidia. 

On paper, the RX 6800 XT should pull ahead from Nvidia. Yet tests continue to show the two cards going almost neck-and-neck in titles like Cyberpunk 2077, and in some cases team green is pulling ahead. 

According to Wallossek's sources, which go down to the supply chain, the 3080 Ti will launch after the Chinese New Year (Feb. 11-17). Tom's Guide was able to corroborate this with our own sources.

When compared to the standard RTX 3080, the upcoming 3080 Ti is reported to have double the RAM at 20GB. For most titles this would be overkill. But in games like Cyberpunk 2077, per testing by Digital Foundry, it found the 24GBs of GDDR6X RAM in the RTX 3090 beneficial to overall performance. 

There are also reports of two RTX 3060 variants to be announced at CES 2021. The RTX 3060 12GB will aim to take on the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT 12GB. While the 3050 Ti will be rebranded as the RTX 3060 6GB. The 12GB variant is looking to be a significant upgrade over the RTX 2060 Super, which had 8GB of RAM by comparison.

Wallossek has been hearing varying bits of information regarding the 3060 from different sources. This could either be miscommunication from Nvidia's part, or a tactic to try and discern leakers. For that reason, Wallossek was careful not to reveal more finite detail. At the moment, the RTX 3060 line is rumored to launch in January.

Imad Khan
Imad Khan

Imad is currently Senior Google and Internet Culture reporter for CNET, but until recently was News Editor at Tom's Guide. Hailing from Texas, Imad started his journalism career in 2013 and has amassed bylines with the New York Times, the Washington Post, ESPN, Wired and Men's Health Magazine, among others. Outside of work, you can find him sitting blankly in front of a Word document trying desperately to write the first pages of a new book.