WTF?! Do you’re keen on Ray Tracing Texel eXtreme (RTX) or do you continue to yearn for the times of Giga Texel Shader eXtreme (GTX)? It turns on the market’s a means you may have each, type of: the GTX 2080, a prototype 20-series card that carried the outdated GTX branding. A Reddit person simply purchased one in every of these uncommon fashions off eBay, and it is actually an fascinating discover.
Redditor ascendance22 (through Tom’s {Hardware}) posted particulars about their bought GTX 2080, which seems to be and performs virtually identically to the RTX-branded model. The large visible distinction is the dearth of the 2080 brand and the “GEFORCE GTX” printed on the facet.
The eBay service provider providing these playing cards is promoting them for $360. They have been used for mining, so that you may need to bear that in thoughts should you purchase one for novelty worth.
ascendance22 posted a GPU-Z display seize exhibiting the system recognizing the cardboard as an RTX 2080 with the identical TU104 GPU and specs as that card. However the prototype does differ from the common RTX 2080 in that Nvidia has disabled the RT cores. The 3DMark TimeSpy outcomes additionally match the RTX model.
In 2018, there have been a number of rumors that Nvidia was planning to launch a GTX 1180 card—this was earlier than we knew about Nvidia switching to the RTX identify. The GTX 2080 might have been a deliberate GTX xx80 mannequin that by no means got here to fruition, providing Turing structure in a GTX card past the lower-end GTX 16xx collection.
You may keep in mind that when the RTX line first arrived, most individuals did not discover ray tracing the compelling characteristic that Nvidia claimed (many nonetheless do not), particularly because it crushes efficiency. And whereas DLSS has improved drastically over time to grow to be an extremely widespread choice amongst players, its preliminary implementation left lots to be desired. Furthermore, these RTX-designed options did not have a lot assist from recreation builders on the time.
It is theorized that the GTX 2080 might have been a means of providing the extra highly effective Turning structure in a high-end card to customers with out the RTX cores enabled, making it a less expensive choice for individuals who did not care about their related options.