Geforce RTX 4080 with 12 GB RAM is discontinued

That probably went very wrong. The new Nvidia GeForce RTX 4000 graphics cards were supposed to be released in November, including two variants of the Geforce RTX 4080 – with 12 GB and with 16 GB RAM. The confusion among customers was apparently so great that they have now decided to simply discontinue the Geforce RTX 4080 with 12 GB. So the “unlaunch” happens before the card is even available.

Geforce RTX 4080 with 12 GB RAM will no longer be released

What drove Nividia to offer two models of the Geforce RTX 4080 under the same name but with strongly differing performance is probably not known by anyone except the manufacturer. Especially since first performance data and benchmarks showed that the 12 GB model clearly draws the short straw in terms of performance.

Apparently, the confusion among customers due to the naming was also so great that they have now decided to “unlaunch” the Geforce RTX 4080 12 GB variant, as it says in their own blog.

“The RTX 4080 12GB is a fantastic graphics card, but it doesn’t carry the right name. Having two GPUs with the 4080 nameplate is confusing. So we’re hitting the “unlaunch” button on the 4080 12GB,” the short statement reads.

So from now on, the RTX 4000 series will only include the Geforce RTX 4080 with 16GB of VRAM, as well as the new top model RTX 4090. It is conceivable that the now discontinued 12GB model will make a reappearance under the name Geforce RTX 4070 at a later date.

The new RTX 4000 series will be expensive

.
However, this will make the entry into the new graphics card generation immensely more expensive. The now discontinued Geforce RTX 4080 12GB was supposed to launch on November 16 for 1,099 euros. Due to the discontinuation, at least 1,469 Euros will now be called for the entry, while Nvidia sets the price for the already released Geforce RTX 4090 at just under 2,000 Euros.

As an RRP, mind you. High-end graphics cards currently start at 2,439 Euros, while some are even priced at up to 3,330 Euros – depending on the manufacturer, features and model.

Thus, the new high-end graphics card costs as much as a well-equipped mid-range gaming PC. With the Alienware Aurora R15, for example, a powerful model with RTX 4090 is already in the starting blocks, but prices for this are not yet known.  Especially since the power consumption has increased significantly besides the price for the hardware. It is up to 450 watts in the case of the RTX 4090 – 100 watts more compared to the predecessor.