NVIDIA To Unveil GeForce RTX 5090 & RTX 5080 At The Same Time, Availability A Few Weeks Apart

NVIDIA's next-generation GeForce RTX 5090 & RTX 5080 graphics cards are expected to be unveiled at the same time but availability will be a few weeks apart.

The latest rumor comes from @XpeaGPU who states that NVIDIA will be unveiling both of its ultra-enthusiast GeForce RTX 5090 & RTX 5080 gaming graphics cards at the same time. We can expect the company to host a special GeForce event which will be teased a few days prior as has been the case with previous launches.

To be exact, they should be announced at same time with availability separated by few weeks

— AGF (@XpeaGPU) May 9, 2024

In terms of retail availability, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 and GeForce RTX 5080 will hit stores a few weeks apart from each other. In a previous rumor, it was stated that the GeForce RTX 5080 is going to be the first to be released followed by the RTX 5090. This is slightly different than the Ada launch which saw the RTX 4090 release in the market first followed by the RTX 4080. The RTX 4090 was launched on 12th October followed by the RTX 4080 on the 16th of November. Both graphics cards were unveiled on the same day (20th September 2022).

Based on previous rumors, NVIDIA is expected to have two flagship dies under the GB202 and the GB203 banner. The former is likely going to be utilized by the GeForce RTX 5090 while the latter is expected to be utilized by the RTX 5080. The GB203 is rumored to be half of the GB202 GPU & both GPUs are expected to utilize the latest GDDR7 memory interface with up to 512-bit bus interfaces. Following is what the memory configurations on the various Blackwell GPU SKUs may look like:

The GB202 GPU for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 graphics cards is expected to feature as many as 192 SMs which is 33% more SMs than the full AD102 die and 50% more SMs than the GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card. We can expect the RTX 5090 to utilize a cut-down die with around 170-180 SM units enabled.

The GB203 GPU for the GeForce RTX 5080 graphics cards, on the other hand, is expected to feature half the SMs of the GB202 die, totaling up to 96 SMs. This will be 20% more SMs than the full AD103 die and 26% more SMs vs the RTX 4080. Once again, we don't expect the RTX 5080 to utilize the full die from the get-go as the company tends to offer a refreshed "SUPER" lineup later in the timeline.

Just yesterday, we reported how NVIDIA was possibly testing and verifying the cooling modules for its next-gen gaming GPU lineup, more on that here.

If the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 truly ends up utilizing the GB203 GPU die, we can expect a large performance difference between the flagship "90" and the "80" cards. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 itself was around 25-30% faster than the RTX 4080 and it looks like we can see close to 30-40% difference between the next-gen enthusiast cards. This might prompt gamers to upgrade to the higher-end RTX 5090. NVIDIA's RTX 4090 sales already outpaced the RTX 4080 due to its much higher performance capabilities along with the higher VRAM availability.

In terms of pricing, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 should end up around $1500 US while the RTX 5080 should be around $1000 US, the same as the RTX 4080 SUPER. Once again, the launch of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 "Blackwell" Gaming GPUs is expected later this year so stay tuned for more information by late Q3 or early Q4 2024.

News Source: VideoCardz