Rumors and leaks about NVIDIA's RTX 5000 GPUs point to an early 2025 launch — Here's what you need to know

NVIDIA announced its current-gen RTX 4000 "Ada" graphics cards (GPU) in September 2022, unveiling first the RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 cards that launched just a couple of weeks later. NVIDIA's RTX 4000 hardware is regarded as making up the bulk of the best GPUs available today, at least for those who want ultimate performance.

NVIDIA's 40-Series GPUs have now been on the market for more than two years, and rumors surrounding the next-gen RTX 5000 "Blackwell" cards have been picking up in recent months. Until NVIDIA confirms anything, I urge you to take the information here as nothing more than speculation. Here's what I know so far.

NVIDIA RTX 5000 release date rumors

NVIDIA hasn't yet announced its new RTX 5000 GPUs, but leaks and rumors have led me to believe that the new hardware will be shown off at CES 2025 in January. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang is set to deliver a keynote speech on January 6 at 6:30 PM PST, which is assumed to be where and when the announcement will take place, if it does at all.

Bolstering this rumor is a report from VideoCardz that covers an accidental leak from an Inno3D representative. In a livestream on the Pichau YouTube channel, the rep stated that the RTX 5090 will be announced at CES 2025. It won't likely be the only GPU announced by NVIDIA, but it makes sense to highlight the flagship card.

As for when the new cards will launch, I'm not expecting a huge gap between the announcement and putting a new GPU in your PC. Leaker kopite7kimi on X, who has provided plenty of quality information, claims that the RTX 5080 should be the first card to hit the market rather than the 5090. VideoCardz reports that, according to Benchlife, board partners are gearing up for a Q1 2025 release of RTX 5090, RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti, and RTX 5070 GPUs, with the RTX 5060 Ti and RTX 5060 launching later in the year.

In another leak spotted by VideoCardz, it seems likely that NVIDIA has discontinued production of most of its RTX 40-series GPUs to make room for RTX 5000 production. The leak, which comes from the Board Channels forum, details the shutdown of the AD106 production line and the downsizing of AD107 production.

Considering that NVIDIA might not launch its more affordable GPUs until later in the year, one can assume that there are still plenty of mid-range RTX 4000 cards available.

NVIDIA RTX 5000 specifications

NVIDIA's RTX 5000 GPUs are making the jump to the company's new Blackwell architecture, taking over for the RTX 4000's Ada Lovelace architecture. It's expected to be in everything from NVIDIA's most affordable consumer GPUs to specialized AI chips.

Pulling from a handful of online rumors, including from trusted leaker kopite7kimi, the flagship RTX 5090 is expected to have 32GB of GDDR7 VRAM on a 512-bit memory bus, using the GB202-300-AI GPU and running at a 600W TGP. The leaker also highlights the RTX 5080, which is expected to use the GB203-400-AI GPU with 16GB of GDDR7 VRAM and a 256-bit memory bus. Listed is a 400W TGP.

Furthermore, if rumors turn out true, you can expect some truly hefty specs from the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080. Standout rumors that I don't expect to change are the PCIe 5.0 x16 support and triple DisplayPort 2.1a connections, but here's a quick look at some of the other numbers.

With VRAM becoming evermore important in modern games, current-gen GPUs like the RTX 4060 with 8GB aren't aging well. I wrote an article about how the RTX 3060 outperforms the RTX 4060 in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, no doubt because of the extra 4GB of VRAM inside.

I'm still working with rumors regarding RTX 5000 cards, but if they turn out to be true, the RTX 5080 and 5090 should have enough VRAM for years to come. How the VRAM situation plays out in NVIDIA's mid-range cards is yet to be seen. Here's to hoping that we don't see anything lower than 12GB.

Will RTX 5000 have DLSS 4?

The release of DLSS 4 alongside the RTX 5000 GPUs is a possibility, but so far, nothing has been confirmed. Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) is a key ingredient in NVIDIA's GPU landscape, boosting performance and quality significantly in many games by leveraging AI and specialized hardware.

DLSS 3.0 launched alongside NVIDIA's RTX 4000 GPUs in 2022, and it's since been upgraded to DLSS 3.5. The latest DLSS standards are reserved only for RTX 4000 GPUs, usually to the chagrin of those who have an RTX 3000 card.

There's some fear that when DLSS 4 does launch, it will be reserved only for NVIDIA's RTX 5000 cards, but that remains to be seen. There's still no confirmation that it's coming with the new GPUs, nevermind any sort of hardware exclusivity.

NVIDIA RTX 5000 pricing rumors

A lot of NVIDIA's RTX 5000 success will hinge on pricing. The RTX 4090 usually sits somewhere between $1,600 and $2,000, though you'll be lucky to find anything in stock these days for less than $2,200 (often climbing beyond $3,000). If that seems steep, the current pricing rumors for next-gen NVIDIA GPUs won't sit well.

There have been rumors surrounding pricing, but the fact is that the actual numbers are being carefully guarded in the lead-up to the coming announcement. OC3D reported on a leak from Bits and Chips, which claims that the RTX 5090 will come in at around $1,900.

This leak by Bits and Chips comes from "several Chinese and Japanese journalists," so take it with a grain of salt. In the replies to the original X post, Bits and Chips also mentions that prices will likely climb for partner cards, especially getting into OC versions. That's not surprising.

More to come

Assuming that NVIDIA does unveil its RTX 5000 GPUs at CES 2025, we won't have to wait much longer to dispel rumors. CES 2025 runs from January 7 to 10 in Las Vegas, but NVIDIA's keynote will kick things off on January 6.

All roads appear to lead back to Blackwell making its debut in less than a month, and I'll be sure to keep this guide updated when official information is revealed.