Performant as GeForce RTX 5080 is, it’s hard not to feel like Nvidia missed an opportunity to give its VRAM a boost instead of matching its predecessor’s 16GB capacity. Curiously, it seems a model boasting more memory could be on the way.
Reddit user Due-Bee-9574 spotted an unusual GeForce RTX 5080 on the MSI X870 Tomahawk WiFi motherboard VGA support list, featuring 24GB of VRAM. As a reminder, the graphics card as is currently only sports 16GB of memory. Increasing the buffer size would afford Nvidia’s pixel pusher more breathing room to run higher resolution textures, ray traced effects, and better handle AI workloads.
Since its discovery, MSI has removed the listing. It’s unclear whether this was an unintentional leak or simply human error but I don’t expect to see the company provide comment either way anytime soon. Currently, GeForce RTX 50 Series models use 2GB GDDR7 modules but Samsung unveiled 3GB alternatives in 2024. As such, it’s entirely possible that Nvidia could swap in these newer chips without any changes to the PCB layout. These are the same chips RTX Pro 6000 cards use, which house up to 96GB of VRAM.
Though many argue that this memory capacity should have been part of the original design, if at some point Nvidia decides to release a Super or Ti version of the RTX 5080, these could plausibly pack more VRAM to distance themselves from the original. Since the RTX 5090 plays in a whole different league thanks to its much larger GPU and 32GB of memory, these Super/Ti have all the space to slot in.
It’s important to note that board partners cannot modify GPU silicon, including memory capacity. So, if a 24GB GeForce RTX 5080 is in the works, then you can expect other brands to offer the same.
