The launch of Nvidia’s next-gen best graphics cards is right around the corner, and we’re getting new leaks about the specs almost every day. Today, Benchlife reveals that the RTX 5080 may be the only RTX 50-series GPU to receive 30Gbps memory modules from the get-go. This would give the RTX 5080 a slight advantage, but there’s also some conflicting information about the memory configuration for this GPU.
All of Nvidia’s next-gen graphics cards are said to use new GDDR7 memory, and yesterday’s Zotac leak confirmed that the RTX 5090 will sport 32GB of GDDR7 VRAM. That’s a massive upgrade over the previous generation, but the RTX 5080 won’t enjoy the same improvements — the GPU is said to retain both the 16GB memory and the 256-bit bus we’ve already seen in the RTX 4080 (and its Super version).
Despite that same configuration, the RTX 5080 might enjoy a lot more bandwidth if it does end up getting that higher speed. Benchlife claims that it’ll sport faster 30Gbps GDDR7 modules, which would add up to a bandwidth of 960 GB/s. Compared to the RTX 4080 Super, that’s a 34% increase, although many gamers would appreciate more VRAM to go along with that speed boost.
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RTX 5080 will use 30Gbps GDDR7https://t.co/Kr7H0xGQWC pic.twitter.com/g99txA4OHE
— 포시포시 (@harukaze5719) December 17, 2024
That’s unlikely to happen, though, and all signs so far point to the RTX 5090 being much, much faster than the RTX 5080. We’re expecting a huge performance gap, although, of course, everything may still change at this point.
There’s some room for error in these RTX 5080 predictions, too. Earlier this year, we heard rumors that the RTX 5080 will receive faster memory, so that adds up — but early leaks pointed to 32Gbps modules, not 30Gbps. This would give the 5080 a more sizeable bandwidth boost, bringing it to 1TB/s.
The memory speed upgrade would be nice for the RTX 5080, but it’s hard not to wonder whether it’d also have some impact on the pricing of the card. Nvidia initially launched the RTX 4080 with a $1,200 price tag, and given the gap between the 4080 and the 4090, many considered that to be too much. The RTX 4080 Super made things better by bringing the price down to $1,000. If the situation repeats itself in the RTX 50-series, gamers may once again protest when faced with a pricier RTX 5080, even if it’ll be the only card to get slightly faster memory.
On the upside, there’s a possibility of more VRAM somewhere down the line. Leakers believe that the 50-series refresh — whenever that may happen — will use 3GB GDDR7 modules, which could finally give the RTX 5080, and all the other GPUs, more VRAM. Right now, it seems that 16GB is the maximum we’ll get outside of the monstrous RTX 5090.
