Nvidia ‘unlaunching’ RTX 4080 (12 GB) GPU due to ‘confusing’ name

Nvidia will be “unlaunching” the 12 GB model of its RTX 4080 graphics card, the company announced Friday. This announcement comes only weeks after Nvidia revealed the product in a new series of GPUs. In a brief blog post, Nvidia did not provide much context for the decision beyond saying that the card was “not named right.”

Nvidia announced two — well, The technical aspect three — new GPUs in late September, the RTX 4090 and RTX 4080. Nvidia announced that the RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 would come in two models: one model with 16GB video memory, and another with 12GB.

Based on this, it might seem that only the RAM difference would exist between the two RTX 4080 models. However, that was not the case — the GPUs were to feature considerably different specifications. The 16 GB model has 9,728 CUDA cores, an increase of more than 26% over the 12 GB card’s 7,680 cores. While both models have GDDR6X memory the 12 GB version has slower RAM and lower memory bandwidth. As we put it in our write-up of Nvidia’s 40-series GPU announcement, it might be better to consider the 12 GB model “as an entry-level RTX 4080 that’s closer to a RTX 4070.5” rather than a true high-powered RTX 4080.

“Having two GPUs with the 4080 designation is confusing,” Nvidia acknowledged Friday.

The two RTX 4080 models were priced according to their specs — the 16 GB version would start at $1,199, whereas the 12 GB model would start at $899. Nvidia’s decision to pull the cheaper card leaves only two extremely expensive GPUs in the company’s 40-series line: The RTX 4090, which launched earlier this week, starts at an eye-watering $1,599. It’s a lot to swallow when the steep prices of these new graphics cards have already led PC gamers to express concern over being able to afford them.

The future of the 12 GB RTX 4080 remains unclear; all that Nvidia said was that the company would be “unlaunching” it. (While we’re here, it’s worth noting that neither model of the RTX 4080 has actually launched yet — both were scheduled to debut in November.)

“Unlaunching” could mean that Nvidia will permanently shelve the 12 GB card. It’s also possible that Nvidia will simply rebrand this GPU in a way that feels more representative of its specs. The company presumably has plans for lower-powered 40-series graphics cards in the future — an RTX 4070, RTX 4060, etc. — so perhaps this one could slot into that progression somewhere.

Polygon reached out to Nvidia in order to get more information about its decision as well as clarification regarding the future 12 GB RTX4080. We’ll update this article with any information we receive.