Nvidia RTX 5080 plans are in flux but it’s not all bad news

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5000 Series graphics cards are fast approaching, but release dates are anyone’s guess at this point. Contradicting previous whispers, the latest leak suggests we probably, maybe, perhaps won’t see RTX 5080 this year after all. Fortunately, we’ll find out more about Blackwell architecture soon enough.

All signs point towards RTX 5090 landing on digital shelves before the end of the year. The more accessible RTX 5080, however, has yo-yoed a bit. Originally thought to arrive in 2025, sources speaking with Moore’s Law is Dead (MLID) suggested AMD sped up Nvidia’s timeline, forcing a paper launch in 2024 with limited availability. The same sources are now expressing uncertainty about the claim.

In an early May update, MLID sources are “getting the impression that we may just launch RTX 5090 this year,” though they’re “not 100% sure.” Nvidia will prepare “at least one” for Q3 or Q4 2024, which will undoubtedly be Team Green’s flagship. The worst part of the news here, however, is that nobody knows just how many will make it to market. We could see the same scarcity as the dreaded global chip shortage; we’ll just have to wait and see.

Mobile RTX 5000 Series development is also reportedly two months behind its predecessor’s roadmap. Given Lovelace launched in February 2023, we might not see Blackwell laptops until March or April 2025. There’s a silver lining with claims that laptop RTX 5080 and 5090 will share the same top-tier GB203 chip, complete with GDDR7 video memory and PCIe 5.0 support.

MLID suggests Nvidia likely won’t skimp on the video memory this time, potentially kitting out mobile RTX 5080 with 16GB and RTX 5070 with 12GB. Since AMD Strix Halo packs a massive iGPU, Team Green needs to come out the door swinging.

As we’ve seen plenty of times, plans are subject to change. Until we hear from the horse’s mouth, it’s best to take all the information with a pinch of salt. Thankfully, we might not have too long to wait, as all eyes are on Computex for the possible reveal. Nvidia CEO, Jensen Huang, will deliver a keynote on June 2 at 7pm Taiwan Time, where we hope he’ll deliver the good news.