Nvidia recently revealed the newest RTX 3000 series GPUs, the RTX 3070 Ti and the RTX 3080 Ti at Computex 2021. Offering significantly more power than their standard counterparts, they come equipped with better VRAM alongside the ray-tracing and DLSS capabilities. Due to the ongoing shortage of semiconductors, Nvidia has also limited the Ethereum mining rates for both the RTX 3070 Ti and RTX 3080 Ti to try and make the cards less appealing to cyrpto miners.
With the extra performance boosts, the Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti and RTX 3080 Ti are powerful upgrades to most builds. In particular, the RTX 3080 Ti seems to be the new flagship gaming card for Nvidia as its specs are much closer to the Nvidia RTX 3090 instead of its RTX 3080 counterpart. While it may be difficult to grab the video cards at the MSRP price due to shortages, the performance boost is well worth the price for fans lucky enough to grab one.
Breakdown of Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti
The Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti improves on the popular Nvidia RTX 3070 card by adding CUDA cores and using the improved GDDR6X memory over the regular GDDR6 memory. The VRAM remains the same at 8GB but with the improved memory clock, the RTX 3070 Ti will have much better performance and memory bandwidth. The RTX 3070 Ti will also get an extra 5 Gbps on its memory clock making it a solid improvement over the original RTX 3070 at the cost of heavier power consumption.
Similar to the other Nvidia cards, the RTX 3070 Ti will support ray-tracing, Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), and Nvidia Reflex. Currently, the MSRP for the Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti is $599 USD which means that it's a fairly inexpensive upgrade given the original RTX 3070's price of $499. Set to be released on June 10th, the Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti is a great fit for enthusiasts looking to upgrade their 1440p build.
Breakdown of Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti
On the other hand, the RTX 3080 Ti is intended to be Nvidia's newest flagship gaming card and is more comparable to the RTX 3090 instead of the original RTX 3080 counterpart. Essentially the RTX 3090 but with half the VRAM, the RTX 3080 Ti is a valuable upgrade for those looking for 4K gaming. Whereas the RTX 3090 is a 24GB card, the RTX 3080 Ti is 12GB and has a slightly lower clockspeed. However, as with most high end cards, the performance difference will be fairly minor as the RTX 3090 will likely have a 10% edge over the RTX 3080 Ti.
As with other Nvidia cards, the RTX 3080 Ti will also support ray-tracing, DLSS, and Nvidia Reflex. The price for the Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti will be $1199 which makes it a great upgrade for users who might not want to drop $1499 on the RTX 3090. As long as they don't use up the 12GB of VRAM, it's a much cheaper option than going the RTX 3090 route.
Limited Quantities of the RTX 3070 Ti and RTX 3080 Ti
Unfortunately, the current semiconductor shortage has caused the demand for GPUs to skyrocket while the supply cannot keep up. Thankfully, Nvidia has decided to reduce the hash rate for Ethereum mining on the RTX 3070 Ti and RTX 3080 Ti. This will make the cards less appealing to crypto miners and hopefully put more into the hands of actual gamers. Realistically though, Nvidia expects this shortage to continue throughout the year so fans will likely have to deal with aftermarket prices if they want to grab a video card. For now, while the RTX 3070 Ti and RTX 3080 Ti are both worthy upgrades at their retail price, it's likely not worth it to spend anything more substantial than that.