Nvidia has taken a step back and decided to "stop releasing" the RTX 4080 12GB. The company had intended to release two RTX 4080 graphics cards (open in new tab) next month, the RTX 4080 12GB and RTX 4080 16GB, with completely different specifications, but has now decided against releasing the lower-spec card.

"The RTX 4080 12GB is a great graphics card, but the name is not appropriate; having two GPUs under the 4080 designation is confusing," Nvidia said in a surprisingly brief blog post (opens in new tab).

"So hit the 'unlaunch' button on the 4080 12GB; the RTX 4080 16GB is amazing and will delight gamers worldwide on November 16."

When Nvidia first announced the RTX 4080, we were a bit surprised to see two RTX 4080s on the market. While the name alone might lead one to believe that they are two models of the same card with different memory configurations, they are actually two graphics cards with very different specifications.

After Nvidia announced the cards, many were confused and questioned why the RTX 4080 12GB was not named RTX 4070 to reflect its lower specifications.

To my surprise, Nvidia took this feedback and did something I really didn't expect: even Nvidia was convinced it was the right decision until recently.

"It should make intuitive sense." 16GB is a better GPU and faster; no one would think that 16GB is not better than 4080 (12GB); Justin Walker, Nvidia's senior director of product management, said RTX 40 series cards, said at a pre-briefing on the RTX 40 series cards: "We are very excited about the RTX 40 series cards.

Below is a table of the original RTX 4080 lineup:

What this means is that next month a single graphics card, the RTX 4080 16GB, will be available on November 16. Assuming the price of this card remains all the same, it will be available for $1,199.

After that, the card that was once going to be the RTX 4080 12GB will likely take on a new guise as the RTX 4070, but we no longer know when that will happen. Assuming pricing remains the same, the card will eventually be available for $899. Since this will be a potentially expensive xx70 card, is that price also currently in flux?

Nvidia did not plan a RTX 4080 12GB Founders Edition, which may have made the decision to cancel and reconfigure a bit easier. Nevertheless, it is clear that some plans have reached a set-in-stone stage: Nvidia's GPU partners were likely preparing the RTX 4080 12GB card for launch next month. As a result, the specs on that card could change significantly.

If you want to know what more is to come from the RTX 40 series cards, check out our Nvidia RTX 4090 review (opens in new tab) now.