Nvidia GeForce GTX 2080 engineering samples spotted: supports ray tracing and DLSS

The GeForce RTX 20 series launch event in August 2018, was the debut of RTX-branded graphics cards. Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang once joked that the GeForce GTX 1180 graphics card was announced, but recent new information shows that Nvidia seems to have originally planned to use the GTX brand.

Recently, some netizens found an engineering sample of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 2080, which seems to use the same radiator design as the GeForce RTX 2080 Founders Edition. However, the words RTX above were replaced by GTX, and the number 2080 was not marked on the front and back of the graphics card. Additionally, a sticker on the back of the graphics card confirms that the PCB used is a PG180 design, the same as the retail version of the GeForce RTX 2080 graphics card.

This graphics card was purchased on eBay for $360, and the seller has been using this card for “exercise” in the past. Prototype graphics cards like Nvidia are very rare, especially the Founders Edition. In fact, photos of this graphics card have been leaked on the Internet in the past, so many people speculated that Nvidia decided to replace GTX with RTX in the final preparation stage of the GeForce RTX 20 series.

It is understood that this Nvidia GeForce GTX 2080 has the same performance as the retail version of the GeForce RTX 2080, and also supports ray tracing and DLSS functions. Other than the appearance, there is no difference for gamers to use, but for enthusiasts, this GeForce GTX 2080 graphics card is a rare collectible.