Nvidia RTX 5060 leak asserts entry-level laptops have VRAM woes

Nvidia has long faced criticism for its memory count, and it doesn’t look like that’ll change with upcoming Blackwell GPUs. Taking a peek at what might be, GeForce RTX 5060 particularly seems to run a little lower than expected, and RTX 5090 is no prize winner, either.

Just a couple of days after his RTX 5080 release date leak that’s since been contradicted, YouTuber Moore’s Law is Dead (MLID) has insight into memory and bus widths on laptop models. Better yet, he’s especially confident this time around, claiming that the information “comes from a couple of my best sources.”

Naming conventions are up in the air at the moment, so let’s just cascade down what to potentially expect from top to bottom:

• Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 – 256-bit 16GB
• Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 or 5080 Ti – 256-bit 16GB
• Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 or 5080 – 12GB
• Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 or 5070 – 128-bit 8GB

The top two cards aren’t much of a surprise, given MILD has already stated RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 are reportedly based on the same GB203 die. It feels a little like Nvidia is missing a trick not putting 24GB in its flagship, but 16GB remains unchanged from the current RTX 4090 laptop GPU. It is a portable model, after all, and there are space and cooling constraints.

Of course, the best news is that RTX 5080 and RTX 5070 allegedly increased by 4GB from the current generation. Since it looks identical to the top card on paper, Nvidia will likely separate RTX 5080 using different clock speeds or CUDA core count. Either way, it looks like it’ll be a mobile powerhouse if Nvidia can back all this up.

If true, it’d thrill me to see RTX 5070 offer more than the bog standard. Some games don’t respond well to single-figure memory at certain resolutions, causing a myriad of issues. Take Far Cry 6 at 4K, for example. The game is already approaching three years old and struggles on less than 12GB at UHD. Throw ray tracing in the mix, and GPUs don’t stand a chance.

Sadly, Nvidia might’ve done RTX 5060 dirty by sticking with just 8GB. MLID has said this for years at this point, and it probably shouldn’t surprise anyone. Fortunately, there’s comfort in that Team Green hasn’t confirmed any of this yet. In the meantime, take the leak with a pinch of salt. We might hear more at Computex at the end of May. I have my fingers and toes crossed that the brand will see sense in ditching anything but double-digit VRAM.