The stage was set earlier this year with the release of the GeForce RTX 40 "SUPER" series, unveiling three new GPUs based on the Ada Lovelace architecture. These GPUs aimed to deliver better performance and value than their non-SUPER counterparts, garnering overall positive feedback. Now, rumors abound about NVIDIA's next-generation GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 "Blackwell" graphics processors, slated for release in the fourth quarter of 2024.
The recently unveiled NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs have been tailor-made for the AI and HPC niche markets so far, but what we can confirm is that there's already a Blackwell GPU IP slated to power the next generation of RTX graphics cards. It's anticipated that these cards will bear the RTX 50 series branding.
Reports suggest that NVIDIA is once again focusing on high-end graphics cards, such as the GeForce RTX 5090, followed by the release of the GeForce RTX 5080 in the fourth quarter of 2024. These cards will enable NVIDIA's board partners to expand their shipment volumes, and with more gamers upgrading to high-end offerings, the release of these GPUs will also contribute to boosting the average selling price (ASP) of GPUs.
With NVIDIA aggressively expanding into the artificial intelligence sector, there's a continuous stream of new products related to graphics cards. Board manufacturers anticipate the debut of NVIDIA's latest RTX 50 series graphics cards in the fourth quarter. Initially, the focus will be on the high-end 5090 and 5080 product lines. Analysts optimistically believe that NVIDIA's biennial GPU updates will boost shipments for board manufacturers this year and drive up the average selling price (ASP) of graphics cards.
According to previous rumors, NVIDIA is expected to release two flagship chips, namely GB202 and GB203. The Blackwell GB202 gaming graphics processor will utilize TSMC's 4NP node, significantly enhancing cache and SM throughput. The former is likely to be adopted by the GeForce RTX 5090, while the latter is expected to be used by the RTX 5080. Both GPUs are projected to feature the latest GDDR7 memory interface, with a maximum bus interface of up to 512 bits. Here are the memory configurations for various Blackwell GPU SKUs:
The recent major releases, Ampere (GeForce RTX 3090) and Ada (GeForce RTX 4090), both occurred towards the end of the third quarter or the beginning of the fourth quarter. Therefore, a release date for the next generation flagship products, GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080, in the fourth quarter of 2024 sounds plausible.