Something to look forward to: Gigabyte submitted a list of new graphics card models to the EEC this week, confirming previous rumors of upgraded RTX 3080 and 3070 Ti models. It also lists AMD's as-of-yet unannounced Radeon RX 6500 XT.

A Tuesday Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) filing introduces 10 new Gigabyte custom RTX 3080 designs, seven new 3070Ti variants, and three RX 6500 GPUs. All the 3080s come with 12 gigabytes of VRAM, whereas currently available 3080s have 10GB. The 3070 Ti cards see their memory doubled from eight to 16GB, while the 6500 XT – intended as a lower-tier card, is listed with only 4GB. The designations in the filing indicate Gigabyte's known custom models like the Aorus, Eagle, and Vision.

The EEC is a regulatory body Gigabyte would have to register with to release the cards in countries like Russia, Belarus, or Armenia. So presumably, it is looking to sell these cards in one or more of these regions soon.

Rumors of these Nvidia upgrades emerged in October, along with leaks of a 12GB RTX 2060. The company eventually confirmed the latter in a roundabout way. The EEC filing doesn't say anything about release dates for the Nvidia cards. Analysts expect AMD to unveil the 6500 XT at CES 2022 in January.

The Nvidia upgrades could be for a refresh similar to the RTX 20 Super lineup, an attempt to ease the tight supply of graphics cards, or both. The odd memory configurations – the 3070Ti carrying more VRAM than the 3080 – are likely a sign of manufacturing constraints Nvidia is facing.