GeForce RTX 5080, not RTX 5090, will be the first Blackwell generation graphics card to come out
We got news on next-gen graphics cards, which should be out in the second half of the year (or early next year). This time, they pertain to Nvidia’s upcoming cards, GeForce RTX 5000s with Blackwell GPUs. Two rumors arrived shortly after each other, initially claiming that Nvidia would release only the most expensive model this year, but this was almost immediately corrected to more affordable model actually being the first out.
Two things happened in the rumor circulating parts of the internet shortly after each other, regarding the arrival of GeForce RTX 5000 graphics cards. First,the youtuber Moore’s Law is Dead brought news that Nvidia will only release one graphics card from the new generation this year, and that will be the GeForce RTX 5090, the top-of-the-line model. The company usually releases graphics cards starting with the highest-end model, so this would be nothing special.
However, the detail that this would be the only model coming out this year would have been important, as it would mean that overall the launch will fall more towards the end of the year. In any case, cheaper models than the RTX 5090 shouldn’t due to arrive until the end of the year, according to Moore’s Law is Dead, they wouldn’t be available for purchase until 2025.
However, this report was immediately contradicted by Kopite7kimi, who tends to have the best insight into Nvidia’s plans and is the most reliable of these leak sources. According to them, it’s not true that the GeForce RTX 5090 would be released first, because according to their sources, Nvidia plans to release the GeForce RTX 5080 model first.
Specific names probably aren’t set in stone yet and Nvidia can change them, but what this means is that Nvidia won’t start with the most powerful model, but only the one notch lower graphics card first. Quite possibly this could mean that the second, smaller GPU in the sequence, which is labelled GB203 and should have 256-bit memory (and thus a capacity of about 16 GB), would be released first. If it is based on GB203, this graphics card would be the successor to today’s GeForce RTX 4080 and GeForce RTX 4080 Super, but with GDDR7 memory and a generational upgrade with the Blackwell architecture – the GB203 could possibly have 96 SM blocks and up to 12,288 shaders.
The more powerful GP202, which is supposed to have up to 24,576 shaders and 512-bit memory (and thus up to 32 GB of memory), could come out after this first cheaper version of Blackwell in this scenario.
There is probably some chance that the GeForce RTX 5080 will be based not on GB203, but on a cut down version of the GB202 chip instead, however that would be more expensive for Nvidia. The fact that AMD has reportedly cancelled the most powerful version of the RDNA 4 generation GPU likely gives Nvidia the opportunity to go the cheaper route and offer gamers merely the GeForce RTX 5080 with a smaller chip first. And then possibly convince some people to buy the next, more powerful RTX 5090 model in a few months if there is a significant leap in performance.
On the other hand, a lower price isn’t exactly guaranteed even with the GeForce RTX 5080 card. In recent generations, Nvidia has had a somewhat ambivalent policies, although the company has been steadily increasing its pricing over time, in general. The GeForce RTX 3080 had a surprisingly low price, but it then priced the GeForce RTX 4080 at a brutal 1,200 USD at launch. If the price goes up again, the GeForce RTX 5080 could even end up being hardly any cheaper compared to what the top-of-the-line GeForce RTX 4090 is selling for now.
- Read more: First look at Nvidia’s next-gen high end. The GB202 GPU has 192 SMs
- Read more: GDDR7 memory on GeForce RTX 5090: What’s the capacity and speed?
- Read more: GeForce RTX 5090 finally with 512-bit memory, GB203 has 96 SMs
- Read more: GeForce RTX 5000 to have the same 4nm node as the B200, not 3nm
Earlier release?
Of the two sources discussed here, Kopite7kimi should be the more reliable, so for now we’d recommend assuming that the entire report from Moore’s Law Is Dead is not based in reality or is otherwise misinformed. And that likely applies to the notion that the release will be at the end of the year as well.
Cards with Blackwell GPUs could thus be on the market sooner, but Kopite7kimi has not yet given any estimate of the release date. However, if we consider the Moore’s Law Is Dead report discredited, that means that the Nvidia also still might be able to manage to release more models of this generation before the end of the year, not just the RTX 5080.
Sources: Kopite7kimi, VideoCardz, TechPowerUp
English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš
⠀
- Contents
- GeForce RTX 5080, not RTX 5090, will be the first Blackwell generation graphics card to come out
