While there have been many leaks, rumors, and reports surrounding Nvidia’s upcoming flagship RTX 5090 and the 5080 graphics cards, we now have some definitive specs thanks to a recent and massive leak.
Well-known and reliable Nvidia leaker kopite7kimi posted on their X (formerly known as Twitter) account specs for the forthcoming Blackwell graphics cards.
According to said leaks, the RTX 5090 will supposedly use the GB202-300 GPU with 21,760 FP32 CUDA cores (a decrease from the 24,576 of the whole chip), a 512-bit memory bus, 32GB of GDDR7 RAM, and use a whopping 600W of power. It’s still apparently using a two-slot cooler despite the power output increasing from the 4090’s 450 to 600, which most likely points to a differently designed cooling system.
Meanwhile, the RTX 5080 is rumored to use the GB203-400 GPU with 10,572 FP32 CUDA cores, a 256-bit memory bus, 16GB of GDDR7 VRAM, and consuming 400W of power. The power usage is up from the 4080’s 320W.
As for an official release date, Nvidia still hasn’t announced anything on their end, while leakers have been coming up mostly short. There was one leak that asserted the cards would launch in late September 2024, but that seems unlikely now.
What do these leaks mean for the 5090 and 5080?
The specs for the RTX 5090 are nothing short of impressive, though that 600W of power usage puts quite a damper on things. Hopefully, whatever cooling system Nvidia develops for it will be up to the task of keeping it running at reasonable levels (maybe the Cooler Master one will be up to the task?). However, it won’t address the steep environmental impact of that power – not to mention that the price on this thing will be astronomical.
If the leaks are to be trusted, the RTX 5080 is shaping up to be pretty disappointing. The fact that we’re only getting 16GB of VRAM for what should be a premium card is absolutely a joke. It reminds me of the embarrassing RTX 4080 variant with only 12GB of VRAM that was later ‘unlaunched’ after public outcry.
The worst part is that the 5080 will undoubtedly cost an eye-watering amount and yet come with barely more VRAM than an underpowered last-gen card that was canceled. It’s staggering at this point that Nvidia would still put out graphics cards like that. Not to mention that the wattage is far too high for the level of performance that it’s sure to offer if this leak is true.
Can we please get some budget cards instead? The average gamer is dying of thirst, waiting for an affordable way to upgrade their gaming rigs.
