Let’s dive into the fascinating world of NVIDIA’s upcoming graphics cards. 🎮

NVIDIA Testing RTX 5090 “Blackwell” GPU Coolers with Wattage of up to 600W

NVIDIA is at it again, pushing the boundaries of graphics card performance. According to sources from Benchlife, the company is currently testing and validating heatsinks for its next-gen Blackwell graphics cards, specifically the RTX 5080 and 5090. These GPUs are part of the same family as the highly anticipated RTX 40 “Ada Lovelace” series.

The Heatsink Designs

Four different heatsink designs are being evaluated, ranging from 250W to a whopping 600W. Yes, you read that right—600 watts! But before you get too excited, let’s put things into perspective. Manufacturers often test a wider range of cooling solutions than what’s actually needed for the consumer market. Remember the rumors before the RTX 4090 release? People speculated about 600W+ designs, but none materialized. Even if they existed, they weren’t meant for everyday users.

The same principle applies to Blackwell. While NVIDIA and its partners may test heatsinks capable of handling 600W chips, the final validation will likely focus on lower TBP (Total Board Power) variants—probably less than 500W. Given that the GeForce RTX 4080 Super has a TBP of 320W, it’s reasonable to expect the RTX 5080 to fall within the 250-350W power budget range. A TBP of less than 300W wouldn’t be surprising, although 300-350W seems more plausible, especially since the GPUs are still based on TSMC’s N4 (4nm) process node.

The Specs

The GeForce RTX 5080 will feature the GB203 GPU, which is approximately half the size of the GB202. It’s expected to have around 10,000 shaders paired with 16GB of graphics memory across a 256-bit bus. In terms of performance, the RTX 5080 should deliver higher frame rates than the RTX 4090, especially in ray-traced workloads. Think of it as a step up from the 4080 but not quite as powerful as the 5090.

Launch Timing

According to reliable leaker @kopite7kimi, the RTX 5080 will likely launch ahead of the RTX 5090, possibly this fall. NVIDIA typically holds private events for such launches, so don’t expect any big announcements at Computex. Traditionally, the 80 and 90-class cards arrive together, followed by the 70 and 60-class SKUs.

In summary, NVIDIA’s Blackwell GPUs promise exciting performance improvements, and we can’t wait to see how they stack up against their predecessors. Keep an eye out for official announcements as we approach the launch window!