Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 rumours are in full swing now that the 40 Super series is behind us. New whispers suggest we could see as much as a 70% performance uplift from RTX 4090. We won’t even have a long wait before finding out, as Blackwell architecture will reportedly launch in late 2024.
According to Tom at Moore’s Law is Dead, the flagship graphics card will lead the charge as a paper launch. This means RTX 5090 will be in shorter supply until the following year. Come early 2025, the full Blackwell lineup should join the new series, including an RTX 5080. Compared to the current generation, Tom says that “it could be 60 or 70% faster” than the current best graphics card.
These performance figures relate back to the GPU’s die. You might’ve heard of the binning process before, which is where the brand separates its manufactured chips based on performance. Nvidia usually reserves its maxed-out packages for the professional market, especially with the brand’s AI dominance. Consumer 90-class cards are instead cut-down versions, meaning some features or cores are tuned differently or switched off.
“They’re not going to put the full die on the 5090, because the full die is too valuable in other markets,” says Dan, co-host of Moore’s Law is Dead. “It’s going to be cut down however much they need to so they can have a decent amount of products binned into the 5090 category. It’s more a question of what they can get away with more than what it needs to be.”
RTX 3090 featured a small drop from its full potential, giving it industry-leading performance at the time. Meanwhile, RTX 4090 was comparatively disappointing because Nvidia cut it down a little too much. RTX 5090 should sit somewhere in between the predecessors of the past two generations, with a notable performance leap that doesn’t render its AI alternatives.
We don’t expect AMD to rival the release with a new Radeon card, prompting concerns about cost. While there’s no word on Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 prices just yet, it leaves Team Green untethered to charge what it wishes. Moore’s Law is Dead even hypothesises that they could even stick the top-end GPU between $2,000 and $2,500. For context, RTX 4090 had a $1,599 MSRP when it launched in October 2022.
All in all, these rumours corroborate previous mutterings around performance. Moore’s Law is Dead has a fairly good track record with insider information. Still, it’s early enough in the production process for things to change. Until we know more, grab another grain from the saltshaker.
