• Nvidia might have a brand new spin on its RTX 5090 graphics card
• That is rumored to be a brand new model of the RTX 5090 D for China
• A leaker says it will pack a ‘shock’, however the fact could possibly be extra mundane

Nvidia is rumored to be planning a brand new variant on its Blackwell flagship graphics card, probably an RTX 5090 DD mannequin – and it might include a ‘shock’ based on one leaker.

Tom’s {Hardware} flagged up two separate mentions of this potential GPU (add seasoning with all this) on X, the primary of which got here from MEGAsizeGPU, who talked about the RTX 5090 DD and the way will probably be for China solely.

So, the speculation is that it is a follow-up to the RTX 5090 D (single D, not double D) for China, a distinct spin on the usual Blackwell flagship which was produced for that nation to get round US export rules.

Besides the goalposts on these restrictions have been moved, and now rule out the RTX 5090 D itself as too highly effective (for AI utilization) to be shipped to China. It seems to be like the concept now could be to additional reduce down the graphics card to once more make it possible to provide to Asia, and name it the RTX 5090 DD.

The purported cut-down specs had been provided by one other common on the GPU leaking scene on X, Kopite7kimi, as you’ll be able to see beneath.

The important thing modifications are a barely lower-tier GPU chip (GB202-240, relatively than GB202-250 as seen within the unique 5090 D), and the video RAM has been dropped to 24GB with a narrower 384-bit reminiscence bus.

Which means a 25% hit on the reminiscence bandwidth in comparison with the RTX 5090 D, however the core depend and TDP stay the identical (the latter is attention-grabbing, and I will return to why shortly).

Tom’s {Hardware} takes it as learn that these two rumors are absolutely aligned – and they’re from what we will see spec-wise – however word that Kopite7kimi has a query mark heading up their put up on X, which begins: ‘RTX 5090 DD?’

Nevertheless, that is doubtless referring to questioning the identify, and whether or not it will actually be known as the RTX 5090 DD, relatively than doubting whether or not that is truly a brand new spin on a China-only graphics card. Though we must always by no means take something as a right from the rumor mill, and possibly the latter could possibly be the case.

At any charge, probably the most intriguing bit right here is Kopite7kimi’s point out of a “shock” from Nvidia with this GPU.

Evaluation: Let the guessing video games start

In the case of the identify, sure, making it ‘DD’ sounds relatively implausible, however bear in mind – that is the corporate that introduced you the RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous graphics playing cards (and equally clunky bouts of unimaginativeness up to now apart from).

As talked about, the shock is what we actually need to find out about, and Kopite7kimi would not elaborate on what that is perhaps with any sort of a imprecise trace, even. So, we’re left to guess on that rating.

Tom’s {Hardware} theorizes that the shock could possibly be additional cut-backs to the AI powers of the graphics card delivered by way of the firmware, and that sounds totally doable. However equally it sounds totally boring, and the way in which the leaker teases that “there is a shock” feels prefer it’s phrased to stoke a bit of pleasure right here. A minor chop to AI capabilities hardly qualifies in that respect, however what else might Nvidia probably have up its sleeve right here?

For me, this hints that Nvidia is planning a transfer like chopping the value of the RTX 5090 DD. Or maybe, most excitingly, providing it exterior of China, too? Yeah, okay, that appears unlikely (though as famous, with that query mark, it could possibly be that Kopite7kimi is not absolutely certain that is the talked about Chinese language variant). Maybe extra realistically, we could possibly be a good previous bump in clock speeds (therefore the TDP staying the identical, with the spec being reduce down in some key areas).

Hopefully, we’ll discover out quickly sufficient what Nvidia is perhaps as much as right here, if something, as this might all develop into a lot smoke from the rumor mill (or plans from Workforce Inexperienced that by no means come to fruition).

• AMD seems to be prefer it’s shedding the GPU warfare based mostly on new Steam survey, with Nvidia’s RTX 5060 Ti proving itself to be in style already
• Rumored Nvidia RTX 5080 Tremendous specs disappoint some players, however I don’t suppose there’s something to fret about with this GPU
• AMD could possibly be engaged on a quicker RX 9070 Excessive graphics card