Skip to main content

The canceled Nvidia RTX 4080 12GB takes a beating in benchmarks

Nvidia decided to “unlaunch” the 12GB version of the RTX 4080, but those graphics cards were still made by Nvidia’s board partners. This means that, as with any other piece of PC hardware, some benchmarks of these ill-fated GPUs are expected to leak out.

Today, one such set of benchmarks appeared online, giving us our first look at what could have been the RTX 4080 12GB. Spoiler alert: It was beaten by GPUs from the previous generations.

Benchmark of the RTX 4080.
panzerlied/Chiphell

Nvidia’s RTX 4080 12GB, also known as the graphics card that was just not meant to be, appeared on Chiphell forums in leaked benchmarks. Nvidia may have chosen to cancel the RTX 4080 12GB and place all bets on the 16GB version instead, but Nvidia’s board partners were already hard at work preparing the graphics cards for an imminent launch. Even though they won’t make it to the stores under the RTX 4080 12GB branding, these GPUs still exist, and a member of the Chiphell forums took one out for a spin in a series of tests.

Recommended Videos

We don’t know the exact model of this RTX 4080 12GB, but the leaker provided some information about how it fared during the test. It’s worth noting that it was most likely running on a factory overclock, but this wasn’t mentioned by the tester. The GPU’s clock speed maxed out at 2,820MHz and the maximum power consumption hit 262W. At peak, it managed to deliver 42 teraflops (TFLOPs) of FP32 compute power.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!

In Cyberpunk 2077, running at 4K with ray tracing enabled, the card maintained an average of 67.52 frames per second (fps). It was also put through a number of synthetic benchmarks, including 3DMark Speed Way where it scored 5,382 points;  3DMark Time Spy Extreme (10,794 points); 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra (13,472 points), and the DXR Feature TEST (66.98 fps).

Wccftech compiled all these results and compared the unreleased RTX 4080 12GB to some of the best graphics cards that are available right now. Unsurprisingly, the RTX 4090 reigns supreme by a landslide so we won’t mention that GPU, but the RTX 4080 12GB was outperformed by RTX 30-series and RX 6000-series GPUs on several occasions.

New Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 GPU over a black and green background.
Nvidia

In 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra, the RTX 4080 12GB gets defeated by the AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT, 6900 XT, and 6800 XT. It scored about the same as the RTX 3090 Ti and barely more than the RTX 3090. It fared better in 3DMark Time Spy Extreme, falling just short of competing against the RTX 3090 Ti. In 3DMark Speed Way, it was significantly worse than both the RTX 3090 Ti and the RTX 3090.

Given the controversies that surround the RTX 4080 12GB, it was probably the right idea for Nvidia to “unlaunch” it, seeing as both the name and the price tag didn’t add up to the performance promised by the specifications. However, it might be a costly choice for Nvidia, which is currently also dealing with a rising number of reports of RTX 4090s melting.

Monica J. White
Monica is a computing writer at Digital Trends, focusing on PC hardware. Since joining the team in 2021, Monica has written…
Nvidia is giving away the RTX 5090 — here’s how to win
MSI's RTX 5090.

Nvidia's insanely powerful RTX 5090 is right around the corner. Priced at $2,000, the GPU is far from cheap -- but Nvidia is hosting a sweepstakes where you can try your luck at winning one. Here's how to participate and attempt to win Nvidia's best graphics card.

Nvidia has already been giving away some GPUs, as well as a whole custom PC, in the lead-up to the launch of the RTX 50-series. Now that the cards are no longer a secret, the sweepstakes have moved on from the classic GeForce 256 to the GeForce RTX 5090, which is bound to be a beastly card (although perhaps not as beastly as the benchmarks would have you believe).

Read more
Nvidia’s RTX 5080 might be outrageously expensive
RTX 4080 graphics card installed in a test bench.

We're mere days away from Nvidia officially announcing the RTX 50-series. Many leakers have already shared information about the specs of Nvidia's upcoming best graphics cards, but the pricing has remained a mystery -- until now. Vex, a YouTuber, just shared a claim about the pricing of Nvidia's RTX 5080, and it looks like we might have a repeat of the previous generation on our hands, and then some.

Before we dive in, here's the obligatory disclaimer: We have no way of verifying the credibility of this leak. Vex was reportedly contacted by someone who works for an Australian retailer, and that person provided a screenshot listing many Asus RTX 5080 graphics cards, along with some basic specs and pricing. It could be true, and it could be fake -- we just don't know right now. One thing is certain, though: If this is real, it's not good news for gamers.

Read more
The hype is real: Nvidia finally teases the RTX 50-series
A PC with some loot boxes on a desk. Marketing material for the RTX 50-series.

It's finally happening. Nvidia has just teased the upcoming RTX 50-series in a major way, with a full-on fan event leading up to the official announcement in January. Under the banner of #GeForceGreats, Nvidia is celebrating some of its best graphics cards, but it's already looking to the future. Here's what's happening and how to get involved.

After a long stretch of silence, the Nvidia GeForce social media accounts posted updates about GeForce at CES 2025, inviting fans to watch the keynote on January 6, 2025. We already knew about the keynote, but this is the first official confirmation that it won't be all about Nvidia's data center business -- we're definitely getting updates on next-gen gaming GPUs, too.

Read more