NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5080 16 GB GPU will be the first Blackwell gaming card to hit shelves in January followed by the RTX 5090 flagship.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 "Blackwell" Gaming Lineup Kicks Off In January 2025, RTX 5080 16 GB First To Hit Retail Followed By RTX 5090
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 "Blackwell" Gaming GPU launch is soon going to be upon us. With the debut primed for CES 2025, the green team is geared to kickstart its next-gen GPU journey with high-end products starting in January.
During the CES 2025 unveil, NVIDIA's CEO, Jensen Huang, will present the enthusiast-grade and high-end options such as the GeForce RTX 5090 and GeForce RTX 5080 along with the RTX 5070 series products. While the unveiling will include both desktop and laptop GPUs, we have received some information regarding the actual retail launch.
Starting first in January 2025, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 GPU with 16 GB GDDR7 memory and blazing fast speeds of up to 32 Gbps will be available soon after CES, in the middle of January, aiming directly for the performance crown positioning. It is rather interesting to see the 80-class GPU as the first to debut on retail shelves, as last time, it was the 90-class GPU that was sold first.
This strategy could be due to the immense popularity that the RTX 4090 received versus the RTX 4080. The RTX 4090 was not only launched in retail first, but its enormous performance uplift versus the last generation made it a phenomenal solution for high-end gamers who were waiting to upgrade their rigs. The RTX 4080 mostly took a backseat due to its lower value proposition, which was somewhat fixed with the "SUPER" release a year later. Gamers will try to gobble up any next-gen GPU that offers them an upgrade path over existing offerings, but that doesn't mean the RTX 5090 will be launching much later.
In fact, for enthusiasts, the wait time for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 will be just a few weeks apart from the RTX 5080. It is said that both the RTX 5090 and the RTX 5090D are eyeing a debut by the end of January or mid-February. The RTX 5090 will once again offer a gargantuan upgrade over the existing 90-class offerings and set a new benchmark for high-end PC gaming.
AMD & Intel, on the other hand, will be aiming at the mainstream segment so the performance they manage to offer will not surpass current-gen enthusiast offerings, but in some cases, aspects such as ray-tracing and value will be able to entice gamers. Intel has already proven that with its Arc B580 GPU, which has taken the market by surprise and is currently a hot seller in the $250 US segment. It will be a heated battle for NVIDIA and AMD against Intel's Arc B580 solution since their mainstream offerings are still months away, allowing Intel to capture a decent chunk of the market share which currently stands at 0%.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 will be available in both Founders Edition and partner variants, which have started seeing first listings on the internet. The same case will be true for the RTX 5090 GPU when it hits retail, so stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 GPU Specs (Official):
| Graphics Card Name | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPU Name | Blackwell GB202-300 | Blackwell GB203-400 | Blackwell GB203-300 | Blackwell GB205-300 | Blackwell GB206-300 | Blackwell GB206-250 | Blackwell GB207-300 |
| GPU SMs | 170 | 84 | 70 | 48 | 36 | 30 | 20 |
| GPU Cores | 21760 | 10752 | 8960 | 6144 | 4608 | 3840 | 2560 |
| Clock Speeds | 2017 MHz (Base) 2407 MHz (Boost) | 2295 MHz (Base) 2617 MHz (Boost) | 2295 MHz (Base) 2452 MHz (Boost) | 2325 MHz (Base) 2512 MHz (Boost) | 2407 MHz (Base) 2572 MHz (Boost) | 2280 MHz (Base) 2497 MHz (Boost) | 2317 MHz (Base) 2572 MHz (Boost) |
| Memory Capacity | 32 GB GDDR7 | 16 GB GDDR7 | 16 GB GDDR7 | 12 GB GDDR7 | 8-16 GB GDDR7 | 8 GB GDDR7 | 8 GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Bus | 512-bit | 256-bit | 256-bit | 192-bit | 128-bit | 128-bit | 128-bit |
| Memory Speed | 28 Gbps | 30 Gbps | 28 Gbps | 28 Gbps | 28 Gbps | 28 Gbps | 20 Gbps |
| Bandwidth | 1792 GB/s | 960 GB/s | 896 GB/s | 672 GB/s | 448 GB/s | 448 GB/s | 320 GB/s |
| Power Interface | 1 12V-2x6 (16-Pin) | 1 12V-2x6 (16-Pin) | 1 12V-2x6 (16-Pin) | 1 12V-2x6 (16-Pin) | 16-Pin or 8-Pin | 8-Pin | 8-Pin |
| Launch | 30th Jan, 2025 | 30th Jan, 2025 | 20th Feb, 2025 | 4th March, 2025 | 16th April, 2025 | 19th April, 2025 | 1st July, 2025 |
| TBP | 575W | 360W | 300W | 250W | 180W | 145W | 130W |
| Price (MSRP) | $1999 | $999 | $749 | $549 | $379-$429 | $299 | $249 |
About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.
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