We’re hopefully only some weeks away from the grand unveiling of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5000 lineup at CES in January now, however the newest rumor concerning the new Blackwell gaming GPU lineup is that the specs are similar to these of the present RTX 4000 collection. The one exception, based on a tech leaker who claims to have seen the specs, is the flagship RTX 5090.
The latter actually seems set to be a formidable GPU from what we’ve seen of the RTX 5090 specs thus far. If present rumors are to be believed, the brand new top-end Nvidia graphics card will come outfitted with an enormous 32GB of GDDR7 VRAM that’s connected to a super-wide 512-bit reminiscence interface, whereas the GPU itself comes outfitted with as much as 21,760 CUDA cores. That’s a good improve over the present RTX 4090, however the remainder of the Blackwell lineup is seemingly wanting much less inspiring.
Actually, based on a post on X (previously Twitter) by common tech leaker Olrak29_, the RTX 5000 specs are “BORING except for the 5090,” saying that the “pleasure instantly went away after I noticed all the brand new GPU configs.” Olrak29_ later expands on these statements in a reply additional down the thread, saying that the “configs (particularly on the decrease finish dies) are similar to Lovelace.”
This tallies with different rumors we’ve seen concerning the new Blackwell gaming GPU lineup thus far, which counsel that the RTX 5080 specs have the identical 16GB of VRAM because the RTX 4080, however utilizing GDDR7 fairly than GDDR6X, whereas the RTX 5070 specs are nonetheless rumored to sport simply 12GB of VRAM, and the RTX 5060 is reportedly nonetheless sticking with simply 8GB of VRAM, once more similar to their Ada predecessors. Comparatively, even Intel is upping the stakes right here, with the $249 Intel Arc B580 coming outfitted with 12GB of VRAM.
Nonetheless, there are rumors that RTX 5090 ray tracing will likely be “enhanced” in comparison with previous-generation GPUs, and there could also be a brand new model of Nvidia DLSS within the works too. It seems as if, when you step down from the RTX 5090, Nvidia is principally seeking to enhance gaming efficiency utilizing AI, whereas additionally boosting ray tracing efficiency, fairly than specializing in uncooked shader efficiency.
If that’s true, then it’s disappointing, however it’s hardly stunning when Nvidia has so little in the best way of competitors proper now. The specs and value of the RTX 4060 had been disappointing too, however that hasn’t stopped it from racing to the quantity three spot on the most recent Steam {hardware} survey, whereas AMD is nowhere to be seen exterior the highest ten.
After all, Nvidia hasn’t formally confirmed any details about the brand new RTX 5000 lineup but, so take the above with a grain of salt for the second. We’re hoping to get a correct have a look at the brand new GPUs at CES 2025, however within the meantime, take a look at our information to the best graphics card should you’re seeking to improve your gaming rig now.