Nvidia’s RTX 5080 could be the first 50 series GPU to hit shelves
Updated: Jan 2, 2025 10:26 am
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On January 1st, an X post was spotted from the Hong Kong media outlet HKEPC, suggesting that the RTX 5080 will be released on January 21st. This comes just 14 days after Nvidia’s CES keynote on January 7th. However, the referring post on X has since been deleted.
We’re obtaining this information through VideoCardz, a very reputable source of information in the PC hand hardware industry, so we do not doubt that the post was (at the very least) real. The RTX 5080 should be the second fastest GPU of the base 50 series cards (excluding Ti’s, supers, and any other mixture of the two).
What to expect from the RTX 5080?
The RTX 5080 promises to deliver a significant performance boost over its predecessor, the RTX 4080, from the Ada Lovelace generation. However, it does not offer a memory capacity increase, so if you’re running your 16GB card into the ground regarding VRAM capacity, you might not be too happy with the RTX 5080. Nvidia has upgraded the memory standard to GDDR7, making memory lightning-fast. Here’s a quick look at its rumoured specs:
- GPU Core: GB203-300-A1
- CUDA Cores: 10,752
- VRAM: 16 GB of GDDR7 memory
- Memory Speed: 30-32 Gbps (faster than the RTX 5090’s rumoured speed, GDDR7)
- Memory Bandwidth: 960 GB/s (34% higher than the RTX 4080)
- Memory Bus Width: 256-bit
The card is also expected to have a higher Total Board Power, with an estimated increase of 80W over the RTX 4080. This performance boost will likely come at a higher cost, though pricing details are still under wraps. Having said that, AMD is also rumoured to be looking to launch its new GPUs in late January, so there’s a lot to look forward to.
RTX 5080, when will the GPU hit shelves?
Just because the GPU is slated to release on January 21st, it doesn’t mean that’s when you can get your hands on it. There have been a few examples in the past of paper launches or the hardware selling out almost instantaneously. We only have to look at the recent launch of the B580 as an example of that.
The 5080 will likely be announced during the keynote presentation (along with other members of the 50 series) and get a little showcase of the specs and maybe a couple of benchmarks to whet the appetite. We’ll hopefully get a solid release date. However, if the 5080 is the only GPU to release on that date, expect it to sell out incredibly fast.