While many gamers are hotly anticipatingthe battle between the next-generation PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles, it appears that the biggest battle in the world of gaming right now is coming from the PC graphics card market. Specifically the growing hype around the battle between Nvidia, and their upcoming GeForce RTX 30 series, and AMD with their upcoming Navi 2X series. The latest in a string of rumors suggests that gamers wanting sky-high frame rates may not have long to wait, as Nvidia’s flagship cards may be launching in less than a couple of months.
The leak comes from Chinese site ITHome, and claims that the hotly anticipated GeForce RTX 3080 and more-powerful RTX 3080 Ti cards will both launch on September 17th 2020. This is slightly later than suggested by another recent leak from Overclocking.com, who stated thata small run of Founders Edition RTX 30 Series cardswould be made available in August. Potentially both rumors could be right, if Nvidia holds a limited launch in August, and full launch in September.
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As part of ramping up the production and sales of the new high-end cards, the rumor also states that Nvidia are planning to discontinue several of the current generation equivalents. With the RTX 2070, RTX 2070 Super, RTX 2080 Ti, and RTX 2080 Super cards all believed to be in-line for delisting soon, making way forthe newer, faster, and more power hungry cards.
Having the launch in September would fit with past launches, as the current generation RTX 2080 was announced at a similar time,during the Gamescom 2018 event. It would also provide Nvidia with a solid timing advantage over AMD if another release rumor is correct. Wjm47196, a Chiphell user with a history of accurate leaks, has suggested that AMD’s Navi 2X is further away than expected from launch, and may not see release until October or November.
While the hype around the new graphics card battle grows, so do the calls for gamers looking for an upgrade to wait. The remaining Turing based RTX 20 series cards are expected to sell out quickly due to their use in cryptocurrency mining, as has happened previously. When combined with the current limited chip supply. it seems unlikely that gamers will get clearance bargains. While the increased competition between Nvidia and AMD over the next-gen launches of Ampere and Navi 2X cards could result in lower than expected pricing, neither range is likely to be cheap.
However, with theNvidia GeForce RTX 3080 rumored to be 20% faster than the existing RTX 2080 Ticard, it may well turn out that the extra cost is justified by the jump in performance. As with all the current information available though, it comes from rumors and alleged leaks, so gamers will have to wait to know for sure.
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 and RTX 3080 Ti are rumored to launch on 17th September, no official date has been announced.
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