Recent whispers have pinned the RTX 3080 Ti for a May release date, further backed up by a boxful of GPUs spotted in a shipment destined to the US. It looks like we now have some actual dates to go by, thanks to a report from ITHome, as a now-deleted forum post on Expreview claims that Nvidia will break its silence with an unveiling of the RTX 3080 Ti on May 18, before a consumer release on May 26.
In line with other RTX 3000 graphics card launches, reviews are expected to go live the day before, on May 25. These reviews should give us a clear idea on whether the RTX 3080 Ti could steal the best graphics card crown from the RTX 3080. Since it reportedly contains an RTX 3090-derived chip and is expected to hit similar clock speeds to Nvidia’s top dog, it looks like it has a real chance.
An earlier ITHome article claimed the RTX 3080 Ti will retail in China for 7,999CN¥, the equivalent of $1,233. For reference, the RTX 3080 and 3090 have MSRPs of $699 and $1,499 respectively.
Despite sample RTX 3080 Tis reportedly able to mine Ethereum at a rate of $380 a month, the consumer models will be nerfed against mining. This could ease stock issues somewhat, but it’s not just cryptocurrency mining that’s running supply dry – demand is at an all-time high, so you might still struggle to get your hands on the new graphics card.