GTX 2080, a proof RTX branding was the last minute change?
Reddit ascendance22 posted photos of the unreleased GeForce GTX 2080 graphics card, and no, that’s not a typo.
GeForce GTX 2080, Source: ascendance22
At NVIDIA GeForce 20 series launch in August 2018 NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang made a joke of announcing a GTX 1180 graphics. That was contrary to the rumors of a new GeForce RTX branding making a debut. Such GTX model was obviously never launched, but it seems that the original plans might have been to use GTX branding after all.
Redditor found an engineering sample of GTX 2080 graphics card, or so it seems. The card features the same reference cooler design, but the absent RTX branding was replaced with GTX. There is also no 2080 logo on the card’s front and backplate.
GeForce GTX 2080 prototype, Source: eBay
It looks like this card was purchased from eBay for around 360 USD. This prototype above looks identical to the card posted on Reddit. Interestingly the seller has been using these cards for … cryptomining. The sticker on the back confirms it’s a PG180 board, the same board the retail RTX 2080 graphics card uses.
GeForce GTX 2080 prototype, Source: eBay
Such NVIDIA prototypes are very rare, especially for the gaming series and NVIDIA reference design (Founders Edition). The card supposedly offers identical performance to the retail unit so for gamers it’s just a GPU, for enthusiast that’s a collector’s item for sure. And yes, it supports raytracing and DLSS, the only GTX card to do so.
GeForce RTX 2080 Founders Edition, Source: NVIDIA