Nvidia Geforce RTX 3080 Pictured? An unusual design

Alleged images of Nvidia’s reference RTX 3080 graphics card have appeared via Chiphell, revealing an unusual dual-fan design for the company’s first Ampere-powered gaming graphics cards. 

This unique GPU cooler design breaks away from the designs of most aftermarket and reference graphics cards of today, offering users a dual-fan design which features a fan on both sides of the GPU, with one fan on the front and another on the rear. Based on the layout of these graphics card, Nvidia’s power cables have moved to the back of Nvidia’s RTX 3080 design, making this GPU similar to Nvidia reference RTX 2060 and Quadro models. 

At this time, Nvidia has not confirmed the release date or feature set of their next-generation graphics hardware, though rumour has it that new GPU launches are planned for September. This release timeframe would make now the perfect time for early GPU designs to leak, as Nvidia is undoubtedly validating their drivers for their next-generation graphics card launches. 

Near the PCIe slot of the graphics card below, the words “Certification Pending” are visible on Nvidia’s alleged RTX 3080 PCB, making this GPU design appear to be a testing/validation sample. This means that this cooler design may not be final, and that’s assuming that this design is legitimate in the first place.