Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 leak hints at massive performance upgrade

(Epitome credit: Nvidia)

A fresh snap of an alleged Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 has popped up in Reddit, giving usa a lilliputian more insight into what a next-generation graphics card from Nvidia might wait like.

The new motion picture is from a someone going by the proper name of LeeJiangLee, a proper noun not associated with whatsoever previous leaks, so we'd advise yous have the new snap with a good pinch of salt. Only if it's indeed a photo of the GeForce RTX 3080, then it shows the states in that location'due south going to exist a heck of a lot of cooling in the graphics card.

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The new pic shows the graphics card without its shroud on, showing what's going on underneath the dual fan design and sitting alongside the large exposed heatsinks. And there appear to exist plenty of oestrus pipes to help siphon heat away from the GPU.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 — (Image credit: LeeJiangLee)

Despite this guts-and-all manner photograph, there'due south not much more nosotros tin can glean almost the GeForce RTX 3080 just nevertheless. Just we can posit that the big heatsinks, and the fins and fans seen in the previous picture, are needed to go on the RTX 3080'due south GPU ability in check.

For the uninitiated, in general, the more powerful a graphics card gets, the more electric power it needs. And more electricity flowing across the transistors in a graphics menu ways more rut, which, if left unchecked, can damage the silicon on which a GPU is built.

Adequate cooling tin can stop a powerful graphics menu from damaging itself, just serious cooling is needed to ensure that the bill of fare can run at full power for extended amounts of time. Ineffective cooling tin can pb to a graphics carte 'throttling', effectively causing the GPU to tiresome itself down. That'due south non something you desire when graphically demanding next-generation games, presently to be ushered in with the PS5 and Xbox Serial X, arrive later this year.

Sadly, this could pb to the GeForce RTX 3080 sporting a design that doesn't exactly appeal to our tech taste. But we appreciate that some of y'all don't intendance about the aesthetics in the innards of your gaming PC, and instead want as much power as possible. And if that's the case, the GeForce RTX 3080 could exist the menu for yous. Unless, of course, AMD has a Radeon retort in the works

Roland Moore-Colyer is U.Thousand. Editor at Tom's Guide with a focus on news, features and opinion manufactures. He often writes about gaming, phones, laptops and other $.25 of hardware; he'due south too got an involvement in cars. When non at his desk Roland tin can be found wandering around London, often with a await of curiosity on his confront.