GeForce RTX 3080 Ti could offer 30 percent performance boost

Rumours are fast spreading that the forthcoming GeForce RTX 3080 Ti will offer a 30 percent performance increase over the 2080 Ti. 

As always, such reports should be taken with a hefty pinch of salt but this one comes courtesy of a private 3DMark gleaned by HardwareLeaks.

The 3DMark Time Spy Graphics Score reported an "Unknown Nvidia Ampere GPU" with a 1,935MHz boost clock and memory clock of 6,000MHz. The score? 18,257 compared to the RTX 2080 Ti Founder's Edition's 13,939. That's just over 30 percent better. It also performed just over 20 percent better than a stock MSI RTX 2080 Ti Lightning Z as well as a stock Nvidia Titan RTX. 

Obviously scores are a sometimes messy business with optimal situations and so forth. They get messier here given the memory clock doesn't entirely make sense with what we know about GDDR6, but it's been suggested that's down to inaccurate reports by 3DMark and the potential for a new type of memory it hasn't seen yet - i.e. GDDR6X memory which the RTX 3080 Ti is meant to feature. HardwareLeaks is reasonably confident this is an accurate test too, declaring it's verified that the test was completed by an anonymous Nvidia employee.

Nvidia is reported to be using the GA102 silicon in three variants of the RTX 30 series with a RTX 3080, RTX 3080 Ti and Titan option all available. HardwareLeaks reckons that one will offer 24GB of VRAM, one 12GB of VRAM and one 10GB VRAM. You can probably guess how this arrangement is likely to work. 

The boost clock is potentially a little lower than anticipated too but it'll be interesting to see if that matters given these kind of figures.

It's been rumoured that the RTX 30 series will enter mass production in August with the full unveiling coming in September. Timings wise, this is a plausible time for us to see some leaked benchmarks although you should still hold onto that salt shaker. 

For now, we'll have to wait and see but this could be a huge generational leap. Keep your eyes on growing rumours and news between now and September's big announcement.