Cutting corners: Go this right, Nvidia is releasing a new graphics card today. Sort of new. Upgraded might be a ameliorate term, but in that location is a new version of the RTX 3080 hitting shelves today. Now, for those who've been trying to purchase an RTX 3080 for the by ii years at anything resembling a reasonable price, will probably raise an eyebrow at nevertheless another new product using the aforementioned GA102 silicon -- particularly a more expensive product -- and while that'south somewhat of an issue, it's the to the lowest degree of our concerns.

The "new" GeForce RTX 3080 12GB is launching today, but yous're unlikely to find a single review of it anywhere informing you in regards to how it performs. This is because Nvidia has deliberately blocked all day-one reviews. It'south difficult to say why, and as far equally we can tell information technology makes very little sense, though we practise take a theory.

But before I get to that, let'due south rewind a petty scrap...

Nearly 4 weeks ago, the offset AIB partners started to accomplish out informing us of multiple product releases in January, i of which was a new version of the RTX 3080 with 12GB of VRAM. At the time, I was presented with a typical NDA to sign which would ensure we were provided with a sample prior to the public release, and so we could test and permit y'all know ahead of time what the product was all about. Standard stuff in that location.

Of form, I signed the NDA because it in no way prohibits u.s.a. from crapping all over the product if necessary, and yous've seen us do that to endless products from multiple brands over the years. Now, I was told at the time that we'd have samples in mitt about a week before the product release. Again, that's pretty standard, in fact a week is oft a best-case scenario.

MSI managed to get u.s.a. their massive Suprim 10 carte a week agone, and so we were on track to deliver a detailed review today. After spending 3 back-to-back days of pure benchmarking to update our results for previously released products, I reached out to Nvidia on Jan 5 to discover out when the review commuter would go available.

I was promptly told they'd become dorsum to me with that info.

Two days afterwards, we heard nil and it was now Friday, January 7th, only 4 days to go before the release if yous include the weekend. I reached out again and at that signal Nvidia informed me that there wouldn't exist a review driver, instead reviewers would take to wait until the product was released to the public, at which point they could download the public release driver and employ that.

This means no 24-hour interval-one reviews, and it'south likely going to exist a few days earlier the beginning detailed reviews appear online. This caught u.s. and Nvidia's partners completely off guard as we were all expecting to provide y'all with day-1 content. For me personally this isn't an issue. Deadlines suck, and frankly I enjoyed getting to spend the weekend with my family unit opposed to working long hours on an RTX 3080 12GB review. In that sense, I'g not at all upset. Merely I am annoyed at how unnecessary and dodgy this move is.

It's worth noting that without a supporting driver, it'southward incommunicable to exam the graphics card. Existing drivers won't work, at least not without modification, which for a new GPU configuration is likely a circuitous process. For Nvidia, on the other hand, information technology's piece of cake to provide the driver alee of time and this is standard practice for getting their new products tested and reviewed by the launch engagement.

Truth is, the RTX 3080 12GB won't bring us any surprises. Information technology has a few actress cores and some extra retentivity bandwidth / capacity, which in terms of operation should country it between the original RTX 3080 and the RTX 3080 Ti. So why the Nvidia shenanigans then?

We believe the reason is Nvidia anticipated this release will receive mostly negative feedback from reviewers, particularly those that were difficult on the pointless 3070 Ti and 3080 Ti -- which was most credible reviewers. Now, you might be thinking, "come on, as if Nvidia cares right now... they can literally release anything and gamers/scalpers/miners will snap it upward in a heartbeat," and while the latter is truthful, I believe Nvidia does care.

It'southward been my experience over the concluding decade that Nvidia is extremely sensitive to criticism, and this has become particularly evident since the release of Turing (a.k.a. RTX 20 serial). A flood of mostly negative GeForce reviews hitting the net at the aforementioned time is something Nvidia wishes to avert, even in the electric current marketplace.

But why might RTX 3080 12GB reviews be negative? Keep in mind that as this opinion column goes live (video hither), I've nevertheless to actually use or test the carte, even though I've had on hand for a week at present.

Information technology all boils down to pricing and availability.

The original GeForce RTX 3080 was released in September 2020 and was set to be the best GeForce release in years (we gave it a 90/100 score), but it'southward ended upward existence a huge thwarting due to poor availability and heaven high prices. With loyal fans literally lined up to become their hands on one, Nvidia has washed nothing substantial to assistance them out over the past two years.

Don't fifty-fifty bother telling me nigh LHR cards or direct sales, both of which take deemed to little more than than marketing stunts. The fact that Nvidia has continued to segment the GA102 lineup with higher margin parts, while mostly abandoning the RTX 3080 says it all, and the 12GB model is a continuation of this.

Rather than increasing supply of the more affordable RTX 3080, which might aid to drive prices down eventually, Nvidia predictably went the other style by making a more expensive RTX 3080, after of course, making an even more expensive RTX 3080 Ti.

In other words, the 12GB RTX 3080 release is no different than the RTX 3080 Ti. Nvidia is simply looking to maximize profits, but at present they want to have their cake and swallow it, too, and by that I mean they desire to spiral over their customers are much every bit the market place will permit while receiving as little blow back from media as possible.

Similar the RTX 3080 Ti, the 12GB 3080 is a price reset for GA102. Charging $700 for the RTX 3080's silicon was a mistake as far as Nvidia is concerned, and bumping the MSRP by just over 70% for the 3080 Ti was the start step in correcting that mistake.

Recently, they quietly revived the RTX 2060 with a 12GB model. Again, no reviews, and perhaps more concerning, no MSRP, allowing Nvidia to dynamically arrange pricing based on what the market will bare. I hate to say it, only I think they're going with the same plan for the 12GB 3080.

When asked only days before the release, what the expected MSRP would be, Nvidia promptly replied with "We don't have annihilation to announce at this time." Suggesting to me that nosotros might not get an MSRP at all, or all-time case it's going to be $ane,000+.

At this point, it'due south obvious that these companies don't intendance virtually gamers, or more specifically their customers. Whether information technology'south Nvidia, AMD, or Intel, they never have, they just care nigh profits -- shocker, I know -- but the way some people deport, defending the likes of Nvidia at every plough, y'all'd think these companies exist but to delight them.

Nvidia deserves all the negative press that should come their way over this move to filibuster and even suppress reviews. At the end of the day, it'south dodgy and anti-consumer, and maybe too big-headed. Just I'chiliad sure by trying to minimize media coverage they've but amplified negative coverage.

I should also make it clear that Nvidia is okay with reviews. They've allowed their partners to sample the menu, just they specifically merely want those reviews out after consumers can purchase them. They are non blocking reviews entirely; they want to delay the content until after their own proclamation and release to control the story, while also making it seem like they're playing dainty with reviewers.

Additionally, I should note that we don't believe reviewers deserve pre-release access to products, and for many other companies at that place are no pre-release reviews. But it's specifically the change in process for this product that is dodgy. Customers are used to reviews earlier or on the release date, and that process is beingness deliberately altered just for this production to terminate that from happening.

Nosotros've done our bit past bringing this story to light, at present it's on you lot guys, the enthusiast community to push back. Of class, we'll also have a detailed review in a few days' time, so be on the sentry for that.