ASUS GeForce RTX 3080 12GB Graphics Cards Now Available; Retails From RM7000

ASUS expanded its graphics cards lineup with the addition of its own custom-cooled NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3080 12GB graphics cards. Featuring 2GB GDDR6X more than the original RTX 3080 that launched last year, ASUS is releasing the card under two of its sub-brandings: the ROG Strix series and TUF Gaming Series.

Starting with the TUF Gaming series, ASUS will be releasing two versions of the card, an OC edition and standard, non-OC edition. In terms of clockspeeds, the non-OC edition will have a gaming mode and OC mode boost clock of 1710MHz and 1740MHz, respectively. While the boost clocks of the TUF Gaming OC edition of the RTX 3080 is set at 1785MHz for its gaming mode and 1815MHz for its OC Mode. For cooling, the card sports a 0dB triple-fan cooling solution, powered by Axial-tech fans nestled on top of a 2.7-slot thick heatsink.

As for the ROG Strix version of the RTX 3080 12GB, it seems that ASUS is only bringing in the OC edition of the card. In terms of speed, the card will be running on a gaming mode boost clock of 1860MHz and an OC mode boost clock of 1890MHz. Like the TUF Gaming series, the cooling solution of the ROG Strix series RTX 3080 12GB comprises a triple 0dB, Axial-tech fan solutions, but with a slightly thicker 2.9-slot heatsink sandwiched between the fans and PCB. Further, its cooler shroud is cloaked with an aRGB LED across the length of the card.

 

Be it the TUF Gaming or ROG series, all variants of ASUS’ RTX 3080 12GB cards sport the same 12GB GDDR6X graphics memory, 8960 CUDA cores, PCIe 4.0 support, dual HDMI 2.1 port, and three DisplayPort 1.4a ports. Pricing for the cards starts at RM7000 for the standard edition TUF Gaming RTX 3080 12GB, RM7050 for the OC edition, and RM7470 for the ROG Strix OC Edition.

Intel ARC Graphics Cards Will Ship Without Anti-Crypto Mining Software

Intel’s ARC Alchemist desktop graphics cards are not slated for launch until sometime within the second quarter of 2022, and as it stands, the chipmaker is reportedly focusing on its mobile ARC GPUs first. Interestingly, when asked if the GPUs will have some form of cryptomining prevention, the answer was, surprisingly, a shaky no.

During an interview with Gadgets 360, Roger Chandler, vice president and general manager for Client Graphics Products and Solutions, Intel, told the news site that Intel has no plans on implementing such mechanisms into its graphics lineup. Simply put, the man said that such measures were not a priority for the chipmaker and that it was not designing a “product or building any features at this point that specifically target miners”.

That last bit is crucial as it could swing interest for Intel ARC graphics cards towards the cryptomining community when they are readily available next year. Of course, it’s still too early to tell if that will be the case, considering that no engineering sample or full-fledge ARC Alchemist graphics cards are even out in the wild for testing.

Beyond that, the interview saw Chandler and Raja Koduri, senior vice president and general manager for Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics (AXG) Group at Intel, also said on the subject of supply that, while he couldn’t promise Intel’s adequate supply of ARC Alchemist cards next year, neither could his competitors, NVIDIA and AMD.

You can check out the transcript in the source, should you wish to read the interview in-depth.

Amazon New World MMORPG Reportedly Still Killing GeForce RTX Graphics Cards

Back in July, reports began cropping up of Amazon’s MMORPG, New World, bricking NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series graphics card and more specifically, GeForce RTX 3090 models made by EVGA. The game has since gone live, drawing a massive wave of interest, and while EVGA itself has admitted to its own shoddy manufacturing issues with its RTX 3090s, there are still reports that the game is still causing other GeForce RTX cards to die.

Reports of New World’s ongoing GPU murder spree was picked up by the custom rig company, PowerGPU, who tweeted that many of their customers were emailing them about their GeForce RTX graphics cards that were bricked while playing -you guessed it – New World. In the same tweet, PowerGPU also says that all affected customers clearly never played the beta and it had been anticipating said issues since the issue came about.

 The serial killing doesn’t stop there either. WinFuture, the German tech publication, reported that its Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3090 Gaming graphics card also suffered the same fate after playing New World. This was despite the tech site enabling the game’s framerate limiter and the 60 fps limit in the NVIDIA GeForce driver; it says that the fans on the card still spinning furiously at 100% speed, before the display went black and the PC shut down immediately thereafter. There are also reports of the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Eagle 12G and other RTX 3080 cards that suffered the same fate, too.

At this point, it’s clear that Amazon’s new MMORPG isn’t just singling out specific brands, but more to the point, it is also clear that the game is a hazard to all high-eng NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards. So, despite Amazon’s claim that it isn’t the game’s fault, there is little doubt that it actually is. Until an actual fix is available or a full investigation into the issue is made, we strongly suggest that GeForce RTX owners hold off from playing the game.

GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3060 Graphics Cards Land In Malaysia: Available From RM 2089 Onwards

Just as NVIDIA announced the official release of its new GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card, several manufacturers have also revealed their RTX 3060 lineup for Malaysia. Among them is GIGABYTE who have planned five models for our market.

Leading the list is the AORUS GeForce RTX 3060 Elite which carries a slightly overlocked GPU at 1867MHz as compared to the stock chip which runs at 1777Mhz. The company has also equipped the card with its signature Windforce 3X cooling solution that comes with three 80mm fans that spin alternately and are being lubricated by “graphene nano lubricant”.

The solution also features five composite copper heat pipes that have direct contact with the graphics card’s GPU and also helped cool down its RAM. GIGABYTE has also installed customisable RGB Fusion 2.0 lights on all three fans.

Variations of the company’s Windforce 3X cooling solution have also been installed on its other RTX 3060 cards. Among them is the GeForce RTX 3060 Vision OC and GeForce RTX 3060 Gaming OC which are also running at a slightly higher clock speed of 1837MHz although they aren’t as fast as the RTX 3060 Elite and these cards also have less composite copper heat pipes in them at just three pipes.

Not to forget, GIGABYTE has also included the GeForce RTX 3060 Eagle in its release list for Malaysia. Equipped with a Windforce 2X cooling system, the solution may feature fewer fans than the Windforce 3X but they are larger in size at 100mm and also features four composite copper heat pipes.

Being the most affordable card in the list at RM 2,089, the RTX 3060 Eagle understandably runs at the standard 1777MHz clock speed although one can choose the OC version of the card that is clocked slightly higher at 1807MHz for RM 2,199. As for the higher-end models that we mentioned earlier, the AORUS RTX 3060 Elite goes for RM 2,569 while RTX 3060 Vision OC and Gaming OC are priced at RM 2,399 and RM 2,339, respectively.

As you might have heard, the graphics card is currently facing a stock shortage issue throughout the world which means that it may not be easy to find these new GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3060 cards at a retail store. So, do check with your favourite retailer for further details.