There’ll reportedly be two variations of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080, an preliminary one with 16GB of GDDR7 of VRAM, and a second one with 24GB of reminiscence that may come later. If it’s true, this rumor has echoes of the GeForce RTX 4080 GPU launch, with that chip initially set to return in 12GB and 16GB graphics playing cards. Nevertheless, the previous was later “unlaunched” as a result of unfavourable response of PC avid gamers to its underwhelming specs.
The brand new Blackwell-based GPU is predicted to launch alongside the GeForce RTX 5090 at the beginning of 2025, with the latter anticipated to be the best graphics card within the Nvidia gaming secure. Nevertheless, the most-recently leaked GeForce RTX 5080 specs don’t paint a flattering image of Nvidia’s new second-tier GPU, with it trying fairly weedy in comparison with the RTX 5090, because of half the VRAM and fewer than half the variety of CUDA cores.
It’s the previous that would doubtlessly be resolved if this newest leak is true. This explicit rumor comes from Chiphellforum consumer PolyMorph, who acknowledged that the “5080 might be launched in 24G later” (Google Translate from Chinese language) in a post on the discussion board. In fact, none of this has been formally confirmed by Nvidia, so don’t take this as truth, however PolyMorph has beforehand turned up some dependable Nvidia leaks, together with sharing a photograph of the GeForce RTX 3090 GPU with the right “GA102-300-A1” codename, earlier than it was launched.
As Wccftech notes, Nvidia may doubtlessly make a 24GB model of the RTX 5080 with out altering the remainder of the GPU’s spec too, as GDDR7 might be provided in each 2GB and 3GB chips, that means the brand new reminiscence could possibly be a drop-in substitute with out having to vary the width of the reminiscence bus, or certainly the variety of reminiscence chips surrounding the GPU.
That’s a significantly better state of affairs than we had with the RTX 4080 12GB and 16GB, the place the 2 graphics playing cards didn’t simply have a distinct quantity of VRAM, but in addition a lesser spec, with a narrower reminiscence interface and fewer CUDA cores on the 12GB card (which was later launched because the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti).
This time, as soon as 3GB GDDR7 chips can be found in first rate yields, Nvidia may improve the RTX 5080 from 16GB to 24GB with out altering the core spec elsewhere, and with out including the large further price of constructing a 32GB card. As such, we may anticipate the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 16GB to launch first, and a second RTX 5080 24GB to reach later, maybe with an overclock on the GPU as effectively.
In the event you’re excited about what’s in retailer with Nvidia’s forthcoming new GPUs, take a look at our full Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 information, the place we run you thru all the pieces we all know thus far concerning the new flagship graphics card.