Nvidia RTX 5090 and 5080 GPUs are once again rumored for CES – but the suggestion that the RTX 5080 could be positioned as a ‘pro’ GPU could worry PC gamers
- More rumors swirling behind a CES 2025 launch for RTX 5090 and 5080
- However, Nvidia might pitch both GPUs to the ‘professional’ market
- That could indicate that the RTX 5090 and 5080 will become seriously pricey
It’s looking increasingly likely that Nvidia’s RTX 5090 and 5080 graphics cards will indeed be unveiled at CES 2025, as previous rumors have indicated – and we’ve unfortunately heard even more worrying hints about pricing.
Much of the weekend’s latest Blackwell next-gen speculation comes from Moore’s Law is Dead (MLID), and the information here should obviously be viewed with some skepticism.
MLID’s latest YouTube video contains word from two sources at Nvidia’s retail partners who both claim the RTX 5090 and 5080 unveiling will take place at CES 2025.
The first source MLID has learned from notes that their company is currently talking to Nvidia about the initial shipment numbers of these graphics cards, and that the on-sale date of the RTX 5090 and 5080 is a matter of weeks after the unveiling – so probably late January.
Moreover, VideoCardz noticed that there was a leak on X, MegaSizeGPUhas released details of the GB202 chip (the GPU in the RTX 5090), which will likely be 20% larger than the AD102 in the RTX 4090.
Furthermore, a second leaker on X, Hongxing2020has shared an alleged image of the PCIe 5.0 interface for the Blackwell flagship, and these spills are likely from sample 5090 cards that shipped – underscoring that the next generation of GPU is imminent.
Back to MLID’s video (which you can watch below), and interestingly the second source cited also mentions that the RTX 5070 will be unveiled in January – possibly teased at CES 2025, and get a proper announcement later in the month, by the sound of things.
That third Blackwell GPU will go on sale shortly after January, MLID says, so we can reasonably guess it will be in February (and this isn’t the first time the RTX 5070 has been rumored to hit the market in the near future will come).
This second source also mentions prices, and the more positive news here is that on the topic of the RTX 5090, it looks like this GPU will be priced at the lower end of the range that was previously leaked.
If you remember, the rumored range in the US was $1,999 to $2,499 (and commensurate with that elsewhere, as always), so it looks like Nvidia is now thinking about two thousand dollars. Of course, that’s still 25% more expensive than the RTX 4090’s MSRP, and therefore a big increase, so that’s not good news – and a more somber message follows.
In fact, a statement Nvidia provided about talking to customers notes that retailers should tell potential buyers that anything above the RTX 5070 Ti is “really for professionals” – so that’s basically a hint that the RTX 5080 could be pricey too are. Why exactly? Let’s go into that in more detail next.
Analysis: GeForce is for gaming – right?
What Nvidia appears to be doing here – take all this with a lot of spice, and this bit of speculation even more so – is preparing retailers for the reality that the top Blackwell models, the RTX 5090 and 5080, are going to be seriously expensive.
So when PC gamers come into the store and see the price tags on those GPUs, the staff is ready to basically justify those asking prices based on the fact that these are really professional-use graphics cards. In other words, gamers don’t need that much horsepower and should look at the RTX 5070 (or its variants) or even lower (eventually, when the range is filled out).
You could certainly argue that this is already true for the RTX 4090, but it looks like Nvidia is moving up a gear in this regard, including the RTX 5080 in that ‘pro’ segment – possibly due to a hefty price tag of perhaps $1,200 in the US, or perhaps even more, towards $1,400, MLID has theorized in the past.
However, if this is true, it feels a bit strange to have not just the flagship, but also the top two tiers of the GeForce range of Blackwell GPUs as models aimed at ‘professionals’ – remember this is a gaming brand. However, we’re really getting ahead of ourselves here, and we’ll have to see if this pricing actually comes to fruition.
On that note, we should note that we’ve heard more positive predictions in the past that there wouldn’t be a “significant” increase in price for the RTX 5090 – which we’d read as perhaps more like a $200 increase – but MLID is a whole lot . doubling his previous prediction here.
Whatever happens with pricing – and Nvidia may still be assessing the online reaction to these leaks at this point – it seems that, given the weight of the rumors, the RTX 5090 and 5080 are likely imminent (and we would very good to see Blackwell laptop GPUs at CES 2025, too).