Nvidia 'unlaunches' the unwanted RTX 4080 12GB
Nvidia is taking a step back and «unlaunching» the RTX 4080 12GB. The company had intended to release two RTX 4080 graphics cards(opens in new tab) next month, the RTX 4080 12GB and the RTX 4080 16GB, with entirely different specs, but it has now decided against releasing the lower-spec card.
«The RTX 4080 12GB is a fantastic graphics card, but it’s not named right. Having two GPUs with the 4080 designation is confusing,» Nvidia says in a surprisingly concise blog post(opens in new tab).
«So, we’re pressing the 'unlaunch' button on the 4080 12GB. The RTX 4080 16GB is amazing and on track to delight gamers everywhere on November 16th.»
When Nvidia first announced the RTX 4080, we were a bit surprised to find there were two of them on the way. From the name alone, you'd suppose they're two models of the same card with different memory configurations, but they're actually two graphics cards with significantly different specifications.
Following Nvidia's announcement of the cards, many called it confusing and questioned why the RTX 4080 12GB isn't named the RTX 4070 to reflect its lower specs.
Surprisingly, Nvidia has taken that feedback on board and done something I really hadn't expected it to do. Even Nvidia had been quite convinced it was the right call until recently.
«It should be intuitive, right? The 16GB, it's a better GPU, it's faster. I don't think anyone is going to think the 16GB is not better than the 4080 [12GB]. We are going to work on being very clear with our product pages, with our retail space, and anywhere that gamers are looking at GPUs, so that gamers can pick the GPU that's right for them,» Justin Walker, senior director of product management at Nvidia said during a pre-briefing on the RTX 40-series
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