Hobbled Titan then. NVidia could have provided such drivers but chose not to, but it doesn't change that the last several generations have had the best cut 102 die be classified as a Titan.
I still think that they're not using either the Titan or Ti branding at the high end because they realize that these aren't worthy of those designations. There's another clever bit in there because even if AMD does wind up having a better card than the 3080 or even the 3090 they only managed to beat a 3080 or a 3090, not a Ti or a Titan.
Now there's an interesting question. Was it shame or fear that kept NVidia from using those names? It's a clever move, but not one made by anyone confident in their position.
I struggle to know where to even begin....
A hobbled titan is the xx80ti...... The titan is all about the pro driver features, thats why they charge so much for them. Its not the full die or the extra ram, its the drivers. Always has been. Thats why a full GA102 quadro costs 5 grand, even with 48gbs ram.
Even amd have their pro workstation line with the exact same chip but costs many times more because it has professional drivers that unlock performance optimisations in workstation programs
Nvidia found that to save money a person or company that needed the pro driver would buy the titan rather than the quadro. So they killed it off and spun it like your getting a titan for cheaper, except only a gamer would accept that because they dont need or even know about the pro drivers that normal go with the titan brand.
They couldnt sell the 3090 as a 3080ti because gamers and tech channels would have made noise about the price increase from 2080ti to 3080ti. So they called it the 3090 instead, as if introducing an entirely new product segment. And people bought it
They released a 3080 10gb model as low as possible to paint amd into a corner. A 3080 20gb will be several hundred more than a 3080 10gb with a higher tdp, yet perform no better.
There will be no 3080ti because there is no room for it in the stack between the 3080 and 3090(real 3080ti).
If amd end up beating the 3090 then they beat the best nvidia had to offer, regardless of what ever name it had.