I think Linus completely miss the point of why the 3080ti is a shameless cash grab. He completely ignored the effect on 3080 and 3080 gamers.
When the 3080 was launched, the demand for 3080 was and still sky high. Compare to 3090, which no sane person should buy unless you need the vram, the demand of 3090 is a lot less than 3080.
The 3080ti is base on the same die as 3080 and 3090, we can safe to say that every 3080ti could have been a 3080 if 3080ti don't exist, and the 3080 also uses fewer GDDR6X chips compare to 3080ti.
The existent of 3080ti would certainly reduce how many 3080 could be made, which reduces the supply of 3080.
The demand for 3080 is still sky high, and the 3080ti doesn't make sense for most 3080 gamers because of the high price.
3080ti don't reduce the demand for 3080 much if at all, but it certainly reduces the supply of 3080.
Nvidia can sell 3080to for more money, and sell less 3080 which makes less money.
The 3080ti don't help the situation of the 3080 shortage, but Nvidia can make more money.
I think It makes sense that people are mad and say that the 3080ti is a cash grab.
I agree that the 3080ti has better value than the 3090, and 3090 buyers could go for a 3080ti.
But there are a lot more people wanting a 3080 than people wanting a 3090, and the 3080ti not only doesn't help but also very likely to reduce the supply of 3080.
The 3080ti itself done nothing wrong, if the situation is normal, people won't be mad at the 3080ti and just simply go for a 3080 instead.
However, because of the gpu shortage, and the 3080ti are very likely to worsen the 3080 shortage, which makes people mad.
It just Linus completely misses that, still thinking the 3080ti in a normal world.
