Nvidia’s RTX 5080 could be the first next-gen Blackwell graphics card out of the gate later this year – and stock of the GPU may be plentiful when it arrives.
Those are the latest whispers from YouTube leaker Moore’s Law is Dead (MLID), who claims that a decision has been made at Nvidia to launch the RTX 5080 as soon as possible – ahead of the RTX 5090 which was originally planned to be the first Blackwell offering (as the RTX 4090 was with Lovelace).
However, if this happens – sprinkle that salt liberally – then the RTX 5080 won’t be arriving until later in the year as the first next-gen GPU, maybe not until Q4. MLID observes that graphics card makers haven’t yet been given the lowdown at all on the RTX 5080, so that means it can’t be looking at a launch all that soon (meaning Q3 is seeming less likely as a result).
Here’s the thing though – if the RTX 5080 isn’t here until Q4, say October or even November, that doesn’t leave much breathing room to squeeze out the RTX 5090 in 2024.
All of which is to say, as MLID further notes, this potential timeframe rejigging at Nvidia may be about the RTX 5090 being delayed, rather than the RTX 5080 being pushed up the Blackwell launch schedule.
Good news for consumers
This is all good news for the consumer, though, as the RTX 5080 is the more interesting possible candidate for our list of the best graphics cards – it’ll be way more affordable than the flagship, of course. In fact, part (or indeed much) of the reason for Nvidia prioritizing the RTX 5080 may be because Team Green will be able to supply this as a GPU for China (with a spec that gets under the graphics card import ban).
MLID also tells us the RTX 5080 might have decent volume in terms of production in Q4, too, so that’s a further positive piece of chatter from the grapevine here. If a lot of that stock isn’t shipped to China, mind you, as MLID certainly sees supplying that country with fresh high-end GPUs as a key part of Nvidia’s strategy here. (Naturally, the RTX 5090 will be a way too powerful proposition for the Chinese market, given the RTX 4090 already is, of course).
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The takeaway then is we could see the RTX 5080 in early Q4 perhaps, with solid stock levels (providing not too much production volume is allocated to China).
This is a turnaround from a previous rumor which cast some doubt on the RTX 5080 appearing in 2024 at all, and also MLID sounded unsure that there’d be much stock around if the GPU did come out this year. In fact, there’s been broader theorizing about an initial ‘paper’ (low volume) launch for Nvidia’s next-gen graphics cards, although we shouldn’t get carried away with any of these rumors – the current crop included.