A developer who goes by Panchovix has released three tools that let NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50, RTX 40, and RTX 30-series owners run a modified VBIOS without writing anything to the card's flash chip. The first is a VBIOS editor for Windows and Linux that can change power limits, voltage ceilings, current (OCP) limits, fan channels, and the core and memory offset ranges. Edited images keep NVIDIA's original signature, which no longer matches, so they can't be flashed with nvflash. Patched tools did break NVIDIA's BIOS signature lock for crossflashing back in 2023, but this approach skips flashing altogether. On Windows, the loader stores the edited image in the GPU's driver registry key, where the driver picks it up as an override every time the device starts, and it only needs a quick GPU restart. The Linux loader instead patches NVIDIA's open kernel modules so the GSP firmware starts with the custom image, with Fedora 43 being the only distro tested on real hardware so far.

The screenshots show how this works in practice. On what appears to be an RTX 5090 Founders Edition ROM, the board power ceiling went from 600 W to 700 W and the NVVDD and MSVDD voltage ceilings from 1,110 mV to 1,150 mV. An RTX 4090 ROM had its power ceiling raised from 666 W to 750 W and its core offset range doubled to +2,000 MHz, and nvidia-smi later confirmed that card's power limit going from 550 W to 671 W. Apparently, an RTX 5090 reached 800 W, an RTX 5080 went from 360 W to 500 W, and an RTX 5060 Ti from 185 W to 300 W in the developer's own testing. Laptop RTX 40 GPUs can't be edited yet, and memory timings can't be changed since the card reads them directly from the flash chip.

A developer going by MAAN has demonstrated NVIDIA DLSS 5 Neural Rendering running inside a web browser using WebGPU, and according to their post on X, it works on macOS too. A live demo is up now, and MAAN says people can try it with their own models as well. This is odd because NVIDIA doesn't officially support DLSS through WebGL or WebGPU at all. DLSS normally runs through NVIDIA's NGX interface or the Streamline SDK, which sits between a game and DirectX or Vulkan and needs motion vectors, depth data, and the rendered frame handed over directly. None of that maps cleanly onto a browser's pipeline, so it's not clear which approach the developer has used to get it running on a web browser.

The developer hasn't shared technical details either, but they have confirmed that the source code will be shared on GitHub soon. Performance is another question mark. VideoCardz says loading the Neural Rendering model alone took a second or two on an RTX 4090, and running on Apple Silicon apparently works but isn't fast. That probably rules out real-time gaming for now, though the concept could still be useful for 3D model previews, where a slower response time matters less. It's an early proof of concept more than anything, but getting DLSS 5 working outside NVIDIA's own supported paths entirely is still a neat trick.

With the ongoing issues seemingly related to the now-ubiquitous 12V-2×6 connectors melting from high power draw—seemingly made worse by power spikes caused by NVIDIA's DLSS 5—it seems prudent to find ways to reduce GPU power draw as much as possible, and one Redditor has conducted testing to prove it's possible to do so without affecting DLSS 5 performance.

In their testing, u/om_the_best found that undervolting an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 managed to reduce power draw by as much as 47 W while maintaining the same FPS and image quality using DLSS 5. According to the modder, the undervolt "can allow you to use DLSS 5 while keeping power consumption roughly the same as when running without DLSS 5 and without an undervolt."

NVIDIA has confirmed that DLSS 5 will officially launch on September 3 alongside NBA 2K27, and it will remain exclusive to GeForce RTX 50-series GPUs. When asked directly at a Gamescom technical briefing whether older cards would ever receive support, NVIDIA gave a flat answer: "It's RTX 50-series only." The model runs on Blackwell's fifth-generation Tensor cores, and there's no fallback path for RTX 40-series or anything older. That confirmation lines up with what modders had already found by digging through the leaked DLSS 5 DLL that surfaced through an early NBA 2K27 build last week, which contained executable code gated specifically to Blackwell hardware.

According to NVIDIA, DLSS 5 is its largest and most complex model to date, and the priority has been optimizing it specifically for RTX 50 hardware rather than stretching it across older Tensor core generations. However, that didn't stop modders from finding workarounds for RTX 40-series, 30-series, and even 20-series GPUs. After the DLSS 5 DLL leaked through an early NBA 2K27 build, a modder patched around the CUDA binaries and got Neural Rendering running on an RTX 4090, with performance dropping by roughly 36 to 39 percent in Control. That's still a significant hit, but nowhere near the collapse seen on RTX 30-series cards, which lack native FP8 support and saw frame rates fall off a cliff in the same tests. Given that the RTX 40-series already has native FP8 acceleration built in, official support for it seems like it could've been on the table, even as a lower-tier experience

The NVIDIA 12v-2×6 GPU power cable meltdown debacle seems to be something of a cat-and-mouse game, in which GPU board partners and PSU manufacturers keep trying to find workarounds and new safeguards against the GPU cables that have now claimed many a gaming GPU. ASUS's latest GPU Tweak III V2.1.8.0 update adds yet another feature to help save GPUs from potential temperature-induced premature failure.

The GPU Tweak III update adds support for auto-shutdown on GPU models with Power Detector+, which will shut down a system when "persistently high current is detected." ASUS has not shared what the exact parameters are for high current or how long the high current must be sustained before it triggers. Being limited to Power Detector+ GPUs means that auto-shutdown is limited to the ASUS ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090, ROG Astral LC GeForce RTX 5090, ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080, and ROG Matrix GeForce RTX 4090 GPUs.

Even though the 12vHPWR connector problem was ostensibly somewhat corrected by the introduction of the 12v-2x6 revision to the standard, meltdowns of both connectors have continued, with the latest documented case coming by way of an X post by streamer @jessickyeah. The GPU in question was an MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming Trio, and in the video, you can see the top-most right wire in the GPU power cable smoking and bubbling. The meltdown happened mid-game, and the excess heat generated by the unbalanced load seems to begin affecting the connector on the GPU as well. The outcome of the event was never made public, but it's safe to assume the GPU would have eventually been taken out of commission if the PC had not been turned off.

Judging by previous posts on the streamer's account, the RTX 4090 seems to have been in use since at least March 2025, confirming once again that just because a card-cable combo have been working just fine for extended periods, that doesn't mean that a meltdown isn't possible. Currently, NVIDIA's recommendation to avoid potential issues is to avoid third-party extension cables and ensure that GPU power cables are properly seated. Some cable, GPU, and PSU brands have started addressing the issues with the connector by adding indicators to ensure proper cable insertion or by actively monitoring the cable itself for abnormal power balance.

A Russian technician and modder known as VIK-on has posted a hands-on video showing how Chinese workshops are converting GeForce RTX 4090 gaming cards into AI-focused accelerators by doubling their memory. Using an MSI RTX 4090 Suprim as a donor, VIK-on removed the AD102 GPU package and the card's 12 2 GB GDDR6X chips, then placed those parts onto a custom clamshell PCB that accepts memory on both sides. The builders pair the board with a blower-style cooler, designed for multi-GPU racks, and load modified firmware so that the system recognizes the larger capacity. The method mixes factory-level board work with careful firmware changes and advanced soldering. You can purchase a brand-new custom PCB that includes clamshell memory support and has most passive components pre-installed. You can see it in the third picture below, the upper PCB is the newly bought one, the bottom one is the original. However, the GPU and memory must be reflowed or hand-soldered, which requires expensive tools and expertise.

Firmware mods, some of which trace back to techniques used for salvaging cards with faulty memory channels, are adapted to enable the GPU to accept the new layout. Shops often harvest GDDR6X chips from defective cards or purchase modules at a low cost, which reduces expenses, but the conversion process is still not trivial. Published price notes indicate that the clamshell kit costs roughly $140 in China, and the total cost of the parts for a DIY upgrade is near $430 before shipping.
Converting large numbers of consumer cards for AI reduces the supply for gamers, and stripped or modified boards can resurface on the second-hand market, surprising buyers. Additionally, modified cards may not meet reliability standards or all warranty rules. They can even malfunction under sustained workloads. Therefore, it is better to skip going after a customized GPU to save yourself the hassle of compatibility issues; however, the point that it can be done remains.

Autonomous Inc., a company dedicated to design and engineer the future of work into the hands of innovators, today announced Brainy, a revolutionary workstation designed to accelerate deep learning and machine learning workflows. Brainy delivers unprecedented AI performance directly to the desktop, empowering researchers, developers, and AI startups to push the boundaries of artificial intelligence.

"Brainy is more than just a machine; it's a partner in innovation," stated Brody Slade, Autonomous' Product Manager. "We're putting petaflop-level AI power within reach, eliminating the bottlenecks and costs associated with cloud-based solutions and truly changing the way AI development is done. It empowers you to not just think—but to think with your machine."

Overclocking expert Roman "Der8auer" Hartung has managed to get his hands on a prototype of the NVIDIA TITAN ADA, a flagship design that never saw the light of day. Despite its absence from store shelves, the TITAN ADA prototype reveals a blend of workstation-level ambition and cutting-edge gaming power. Enthusiasts have long whispered about a true TITAN successor in the "Ada Lovelace" lineup, and now we finally have concrete evidence of what that card could have delivered. Inside this beast sits a fully enabled AD102 GPU, boasting all 144 streaming multiprocessors and delivering 18,432 CUDA cores, about 12 percent more than the retail RTX 4090. NVIDIA equipped the card with a staggering 48 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus to match this raw compute potential, twice the capacity of any other consumer Ada GPU. The prototype uses a large quad-slot, flow-through cooler in the classic beige TITAN color to keep everything cool.

Unlike conventional layouts, the TITAN ADA's PCB is split into three sections: a rotated main board flanked by a separate daughterboard for the PCIe interface. This unusual arrangement precedes the vertical board designs that would later appear on Founders Edition cards in the RTX 50 Series. Dual 16-pin power connectors suggest NVIDIA originally aimed for a total board power well above 600 watts, yet Der8auer's tests topped out near 450 watts, likely due to the prototype's early vBIOS and older driver builds. Benchmark results confirm the card's full AD102 configuration. In synthetic graphics tests, it ran roughly 15 percent ahead of the RTX 4090, and in real-world gaming scenarios, popular titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Remnant 2 saw performance uplifts ranging from 10 to 22 percent. These figures place the TITAN ADA comfortably between the 4090 and the new RTX 5090 in both speed and efficiency.

Igor's Lab has run independent testing and thermal analysis of NVIDIA's latest GeForce RTX 50-series graphics cards, including the add-in card partner design RTX 5080, 5070 Ti, and 5060 Ti, which are now attracting attention for surprising thermal "hotspots" on the back of their PCBs. These hotspots are just the areas on PCB that get hot under load, and not the "Hot Spot" sensor NVIDIA removed with RTX 50 series. Infrared tests have shown temperatures climbing above 100°C in the power delivery region, even though the GPU die stays below 80°C. This isn't a problem with the silicon but with concentrated heating in clusters of thin copper planes and via arrays. Card makers like Palit, PNY, and MSI have all seen the same issue since they closely follow NVIDIA's reference PCB layout and use similar cooler mounting. A big part of the trouble comes down to how PCB designers and cooler engineers work separately.

NVIDIA's Thermal Design Guide gives AIC partners detailed power-loss budgets, listing worst-case dissipation for the GPU, memory, NVVDD and FBVDDQ rails, inductors, MOSFETs, and other components, and it recommends ideal thermal interface materials and mounting pressures. The guide assumes that even heat is spreading and that there is perfect airflow in a wind tunnel, but actual consumer PCs don't match those conditions. Multi-layer PCBs force high currents through 35 to 70 µm copper layers, which join at tight via clusters under the VRMs. Without dedicated thermal bridges or reinforced vias, these areas become bottlenecks where heat builds up, and the standard backplate plus heat-pipe layout can't pull it away fast enough.

The "standard" ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5090 OC Edition is already a really an "astronomically expensive" prospect (if you can find available stock); launch MSRP was $2800, but retailers pushed that figure beyond the $3000 mark. An even fancier golden variant exists—as a reminder; news outlets picked up on the existence of a "Dhahab" model early last month. This luxuriously decorated collector piece was likely introduced as a regional exclusive, for MENA (Middle-East and North Africa). This week, ASUS managed to sneak one gold encrusted sample out to San Francisco, California.

Ernest Cheng—Director of Marketing at the firm's North American branch—shared a photo (via LinkedIn) of the very unique ROG Astral RTX 5090 Dhahab OC Edition model; freshly scribbled on by Jensen Huang during GTC 2025. The ASUS exec commented on this blessing: "graphics card is one of a kind when it's been anointed. But it says a lot more when it's a Golden ROG RTX 5090 Astral." Press outlets reckon that this extremely special item will be auctioned off for charity; the presence of Team Green CEO's autograph and slogan ("RTX ON!") will boost its value severalfold. A Jensen Huang-signed ROG MATRIX RTX 4090 PLATINUM card attracted a top bid of $16,000; Der8auer (aka Roman Hartung) was officially congratulated as the winner back in late 2023.

Update 18:02 UTC: ASUS has confirmed that it will be supporting a local charity: "we are extremely honored to have this special edition ROG Astral RTX 5090 Dhahab OC graphics card, signed by NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang. This card will be officially auctioned to support relief efforts for the California wildfires in Los Angeles."

Just when you thought you'd seen everything, a Taobao seller has unleashed what might be the most over-engineered power connector solution yet: a 16-pin 12VHPWR power adapter complete with its own cooling fan and real-time monitoring display. Yes, you read that right—we're now actively cooling power connectors. The $30 adapter appears as manufacturers continue struggling with melting cable problems on NVIDIA's RTX 4090 series, despite the company's claims of resolving the issue. The adapter includes an LCD screen showing real-time temperature and power consumption readings, while its 180-degree design prevents sharp cable bends that are often blamed for connection problems. However, unlike more comprehensive solutions proposed by engineering experts, it doesn't address the fundamental issue of uneven power distribution across the connector's 12 power wires.

The adapter works with RTX 4090, 4080, and 4070 graphics cards. Still, it shouldn't be used with newer RTX 50 series cards, as the sales listing doesn't mention any GeForce RTX 50 series compatibility, and the latest "Blackwell" GPU design uses an updated 12V-2x6 power connector, which still appears riddled with issues. While adding a fan to a power connector may seem excessive, an intriguing possibility is that we may soon find water-cooler power connectors for the newer 12V-2x6, so users can prevent their $2000 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 GPUs from melting their power connectors. Irony aside, power delivery safety is a growing concern, and no clear resolution exists. NVIDIA has reassured users in the past that these problems are now solved, but the issues are piling up as more users get ahold of their RTX 5090 GPUs.

Recent engineering prototype leaks reveal NVIDIA's power delivery design for its RTX 5090 flagship GPU featured a jaw-dropping quad 12V-2x6 connector configuration. The prototype board, while not publicly photographed, is significantly different from the final version we have today. The quad-connector design serves multiple purposes beyond raw power delivery. Each 12V-2x6 connector, capable of delivering up to 600 W individually, creates a theoretical power ceiling far beyond reasonable requirements. More likely, the implementation allows for separate voltage rails and enhanced power stability, crucial for the card's reported 575 W TDP - a 125 W increase from the RTX 4090's specifications. This overengineered piece follows NVIDIA's historical engineering practices, where early prototypes typically feature expanded power delivery systems that are later optimized for production.

The timing of this leak happens just in time with ongoing discussions about 12V-2x6 connector reliability, particularly following documented failures. While the quad-connector design may seem excessive, it distributes power load more evenly across multiple connection points, potentially addressing thermal concentration issues that plagued single-connector implementations. Board partners like ASUS have already implemented sophisticated current monitoring solutions in their custom designs, using shunt resistors to detect overcurrent conditions across individual pins. Established hardware leaker, Panzerlied confirmed the prototype's existence on Chinese forums, alongside images of other engineering samples featuring similar power delivery experiments across multiple GPU generations.

NVIDIA's high-TDP flagship GPU, the GeForce RTX 5090, appears to cause additional headaches for users, not including the high power bill. According to a Reddit user, we now have the first documented case of a melted power connector on NVIDIA's flagship GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition, reigniting concerns over high-wattage GPU safety from the last generation. While playing Battlefield 5, Reddit user ivan6953 detected a burning odor and immediately shut down their system, only to discover severe damage to both the RTX 5090's 12V-2×6 connector and their ASUS ROG Loki SFX-L PSU. The user had employed a Moddiy 12VHPWR cable, marketed as ATX 3.0/PCIe 5.0-compliant and rated for RTX 5090's 600 watts of power. Despite claims of secure installation—audible clicks at both ends—the cable melted at 500-520 W load, charring connectors on the GPU and PSU.

Notably, the same cable had powered an RTX 4090 FE for two years without issue. NVIDIA's RTX 5090 FE ships with a redesigned adapter featuring a longer, more flexible cable and an angled connector to reduce strain in compact builds. NVIDIA asserts that no incidents have occurred with its bundled adapter, emphasizing compliance with the updated 12V-2×6 standard, which shortens sensing pins to prevent power flow if connections loosen. Hence, an older connector can not provide 100% secure usage despite the user thinking that the sensing pins are touching properly.

Late last month, NVIDIA claimed that 16-pin power connector issues were a thing of the past. The controversial 12VHPWR connection standard has fueled many online debates—prompting investigations from several prominent press outlets. Following NVIDIA's latest "safety" declaration—likely by coincidence—PCM Hong Kong reported another melting incident, affecting two cables and a power supply unit. The publication's hardware reviewer was recently engaged in the "full-load" testing of GeForce RTX 5090D and RTX 5080 graphics cards. Last week's evaluation session was interrupted by notable test system instabilities—upon downing tools, the PCM staffer discovered that their 1200 W PSU had given up the ghost. Additionally, two 16-pin cables had melted at both ends—initial detective work pointed to a GeForce RTX 4090 sample card being the main culprit.

VideoCardz and UNIKO's Hardware kept close tabs on PCM's next steps—online interactions, over the past weekend, spurred a re-evaluation of circumstances. According to PCM's latest update, they noticed burn marks on the GeForce RTX 4090 test unit—the two GeForce RTX-50-series cards did not exhibit any physical damage. Post-analysis, the reviewer now suspects that an SSD failure could be the root cause. They were happy to report that all involved RTX cards have survived, and that their test platform has been re-equipped with 12V-2x6 cables. An amended VideoCardz article proposes that everything came down to a simple human error.

AMD today put out detailed guides on how to get DeepSeek R1 distilled reasoning models to run on Radeon RX graphics cards and Ryzen AI processors. The guide confirms that the new Ryzen AI Max "Strix Halo" processors come in hardwired to LPCAMM2 memory configurations of 32 GB, 64 GB, and 128 GB, and there won't be a 16 GB memory option for notebook manufacturers to cheap out with. The guide goes on to explain that "Strix Halo" will be able to locally accelerate DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama with 70 billion parameters on the 64 GB and 128 GB memory configurations of "Strix Halo" powered notebooks, while the 32 GB model should be able to run DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B. Ryzen AI "Strix Point" mobile processors should be capable of running DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-14B and DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama-14B on their RDNA 3.5 iGPUs and NPUs. Meanwhile, older generation processors based on "Phoenix Point" and "Hawk Point" chips should be capable of DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama-14B. The company recommends running all of the above distills in Q4 K M quantization.

Switching gears to the discrete graphics cards, and AMD is only recommending its Radeon RX 7000 series for now, since the RDNA 3 graphics architecture introduces AI accelerators. The flagship Radeon RX 7900 XTX is recommended for DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B distill, while all SKUs with 12 GB to 20 GB of memory—that's RX 7600 XT, RX 7700 XT, RX 7800 XT, RX 7900 GRE, and RX 7900 XT, are recommended till DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-14B. The mainstream RX 7600 with its 8 GB memory is only recommended till DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama-8B. You will need LM Studio 0.3.8 or later and Radeon Software Adrenalin 25.1.1 beta or later drivers. AMD put out first party LMStudio 0.3.8 tokens/second performance numbers for the RX 7900 XTX, comparing it with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER and the RTX 4090.

A set of newly leaked benchmarks has revealed the performance capabilities of NVIDIA's upcoming RTX 5080 GPU. Scheduled to launch alongside the RTX 5090 on January 30, the GPU was spotted on Geekbench under OpenCL and Vulkan benchmark tests—and based on the performance, it might not make it among the best graphics cards. The tested device was an MSI-branded RTX 5080 labeled as model MS-7E62. This setup had AMD's Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor, which many consider one of the best CPUs for gaming. It also included an MSI MPG 850 Edge TI Wi-Fi motherboard and 32 GB of DDR5-6000 memory.

The benchmark results show that the RTX 5080 scored 261,836 points in Vulkan and 256,138 points in OpenCL tests. Compared to the RTX 4080, its previous version, the RTX 5080 has a 22% boost in Vulkan performance and a small 6.7% gain in OpenCL. Reddit user TruthPhoenixV found that on the Blender Open Data platform, the GPU got a median score of 9,063.77. This score is 9.4% higher than the RTX 4080 and 8.2% better than the RTX 4080 Super. Even with these improvements, the RTX 5080 might not outperform the current-gen top-tier RTX 4090. In the past, NVIDIA's 80-class GPUs have beaten the 90-class GPUs from the previous generation, but these early numbers suggest this trend might not continue for the RTX 5080.

NVIDIA's upcoming RTX 5090 and 5080 graphics cards are maintaining similar L1 cache architectures as their predecessors while introducing marginal improvements to L2 cache capacity, according to recent specifications reported by HardwareLuxx. The flagship RTX 5090 maintains the same 128 KB L1 cache per SM as the RTX 4090 but achieves a higher total L1 cache of 21.7 MB thanks to its increased SM count of 170. This represents a notable improvement over the RTX 4090's 16.3 MB total L1 cache, which features 128 SMs. In terms of L2 cache, the RTX 5090 sees a 33.3% increase over its predecessor, boasting 96 MB compared to the RTX 4090's 72 MB, with SM count going up by 32.8%, so there is a slight difference.

However, this improvement is relatively modest compared to the previous generation's leap, where the RTX 4090 featured twelve times more L2 cache than the RTX 3090. The RTX 5080 shows more conservative improvements, with its L1 cache capacity only marginally exceeding its predecessor by 1 MB (10.7 MB vs 9.7 MB). Its L2 cache maintains parity at 64 MB, matching the RTX 4080 and 4080 Super. To compensate for these incremental cache improvements, NVIDIA is implementing faster GDDR7 memory across the RTX 50 series. Most models will feature 28 Gbps modules, with the RTX 5080 receiving special treatment with 30 Gbps memory. Additionally, some models are getting wider memory buses, with the RTX 5090 featuring a 512-bit bus and the RTX 5070 Ti upgrading to a 256-bit interface.

NVIDIA is focused on forward momentum—Jensen & Co. pounded the showroom floor at last week's CES trade with their next-gen "Blackwell" GPUs in hand. Team Green's GeForce RTX 50-series was one of the headline acts, but the preceding RTX 40 "Ada Lovelace" family made occasional appearances. Hardware enthusiasts were not expecting the re-emergence of an older unreleased model at CES 2025, but a YouTuber discovered the supposed RTX 4090 "TITAN" prototype's cooling solution frame. TechPowerUp's reported on this rare beast last month, and Gamers Nexus obtained an example for analysis (view their video feature below).

Industry experts believe that an unnamed contract manufacturer was tasked with producing the TITAN's quad-slot cooling solution—informed sources say that it was designed to temper the full-force of Team Green's unlocked AD102 GPU. This contract company reportedly displayed various NVIDIA-related component parts in Las Vegas last week. RTX 40-era Founders Edition font was evident on the TITAN's frame—a VideoCardz news piece highlights the component's silver/magnesium color scheme. This presents further proof of inclusion within that Founders Edition generation.

What we've all been waiting for, might just have appeared and what we're talking about is of course the pricing of NVIDIA's upcoming graphics cards. @wxnod has posted a single screenshot on X/Twitter of what could be the MSRP of the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 in China. The MSRP of the RTX 4080 was 9,499 RMB and the RTX 5080 appears to be not that much higher, at 9,999 RMB, but this still equates to about US$1,370, although do note that there's 13 percent sales tax/VAT in China.

Now as for the RTX 5090, things won't be as rosy. The RTX 4090 had an MSRP of 12,999 RMB in China and the RTX 5090 comes in at an insane 18,999 RMB or US$2,600. That's a price hike of a not insignificant 46 percent over the RTX 4090 and this might make it the most expensive consumer graphics card ever released. We'd suggest taking these prices with a helping of NaCl just to be on the safe side. The cards are expected to be available some time in January according to the screenshot.

Update 15:34 UTC: A second picture was posted in the same thread on X/Twitter that shows the expected launch months of the lower-tier RTX 5000-series cards as well and it appears to be taken from a video.

More than 600 games and applications feature RTX technologies, and each week new games integrating NVIDIA DLSS, NVIDIA Reflex and advanced ray-traced effects are released or announced, delivering the definitive PC experience for GeForce RTX players. This week, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Marvel Rivals launch with DLSS 3, Path of Exile 2 enters Early Access with day-one support for DLSS Super Resolution, and the Delta Force PC Global Open Beta kicks-off, also with day-one DLSS Super Resolution support. On December 9th, Forza Motorsport's next update introduces support for immersive Ray-Traced Global Illumination lighting. And in the near future, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2's next update introduces support for DLSS 3 Frame Generation.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Launching With DLSS 3 & Ray Tracing
Uncover one of history's greatest mysteries in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on December 6th with the game's Digital Premium Edition Advanced Access launch, followed by its general release on December 9th. Step into the shoes of Indiana Jones and embark on a single-player, narrative-driven journey that spans the globe during the height of the legendary archaeologist's career. From the hallowed halls of the Vatican and the sunken temples of Sukhothai to the pyramids of Egypt and the snowy peaks of the Himalayas.

A recently discarded NVIDIA graphics card prototype has emerged from an unexpected source—a dumpster. Reported by VideoCardz citing an anonymous tipster from Reddit, the new GPU is identified as an experimental RTX 4090 variant, and has very unique design features and engineering choices. The recovered prototype shares core specifications with the retail RTX 4090 Founders Edition, featuring identical PG147 SKU 330 board architecture and power specifications of 450 W typical draw with a 600 W peak capacity. However, technicalities reveal some differences, particularly in its BIOS version (95.02.01.22.01) and operating frequencies, with a 2115 MHz base clock and 2355 MHz boost clock running approximately 5% lower than the regular Founders Editions model.

Most intriguingly, the prototype implements an interesting triple-fan cooling solution, distinguished by a concealed middle fan integrated within the heatsink structure. This design element aligns with previous industry speculation about NVIDIA's development of an 900 W-capable Founders Edition card. However, the discovered unit maintains standard RTX 4090 branding without any "Ti" or "TITAN" designations, which we previously associated the massive heatsink with. Further analysis suggests the prototype's distinctive three-section PCB layout was likely developed to accommodate additional processing cores and memory components, pointing to NVIDIA's exploration of more powerful variants that ultimately never reached production.

TinyGrad, the company behind the popular TinyBox system, is aiming to commoditize the PetaFLOP. Its latest powerhouse, the TinyBox Pro, is on display on X. This high-performance system boasts an impressive 1.36 PetaFLOPS of FP16 computing power and is based on commercial GPU. The TinyBox Pro configuration features eight NVIDIA RTX 4090 GPUs, surpassing its predecessors with a combined GPU RAM of 192 GB and a memory bandwidth of 8,064 GB/s. This substantial upgrade is complemented by dual AMD Genoa processors and 384 GB of system RAM, delivering a memory bandwidth of 921.6 GB/s. What sets the TinyBox Pro apart is its enterprise-grade architecture. The system utilizes four 2000 W power supplies requiring 200 V+ input, housed in a 4U form factor that spans 31 inches in depth. Despite its compact size, weighing 88 pounds, the unit comes equipped with Supermicro rails for seamless rack integration.

Connectivity options are equally impressive, featuring two open PCIe 5.0 x16 slots that provide extensive expansion capabilities. Storage is managed through a 1 TB boot drive, though this might seem conservative compared to some competitors' offerings. The system runs on Ubuntu 22.04 and is noted for its superior driver quality (compared to commercial AMD GPUs), addressing a common pain point in high-performance computing on commercial hardware. On social media, TinyGrad was very vocal about its fight with the AMD Radeon GPU drivers. However, potential buyers should be prepared for significant noise levels during operation, a trade-off for the remarkable computing power packed into the 4U chassis. With a pre-order price tag of $40,000, the TinyBox Pro positions itself as a serious contender in the professional AI computing market, where regular GPU boxes can cost 100s of thousands of US Dollars. This pricing reflects its enterprise-grade specifications and positions it as an accessible alternative to larger, more expensive computing clusters.

MSI unveils its new lineup of AI gaming desktops, following the introduction of Intel's Arrow Lake-S desktop processors. The lineup features two advanced models: the MPG Infinite X3 AI and the MEG Vision X. These desktops harness the power of Intel Core Ultra processors (Series 2) with built-in Neural Processing Units (NPUs), coupled with NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics cards. This powerful combination delivers enhanced performance in both AI-accelerated gaming and complex processing tasks, aiming to optimize the gaming experiences.

These new desktops are equipped with up to Intel Core Ultra 9 processor 285K, boasting 8 P-Cores, 16 E-Cores, and an integrated 13 trillion operations per second (TOPS) NPU. When paired with up to a GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card, the systems achieve an impressive total of over 1300 TOPS, enabling them to handle advanced AI tasks effortlessly while enhancing gaming performance and AI-generated content (AIGC) efficiency. The integrated NPU significantly enhances processing capabilities, particularly for AI-related tasks. In applications like DIGIME software, it boosts AI inference efficiency while simultaneously reducing GPU load. This optimization not only improves performance in specific applications but also benefits overall AI computation across various tasks.

Thanks to the renowned NVIDIA hardware leaker kopite7Kimi on X, we are getting information about the final versions of NVIDIA's first upcoming wave of GeForce RTX 50 series "Blackwell" graphics cards. The two leaked GPUs are the GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080, which now feature a more significant gap between xx80 and xx90 SKUs. For starters, we have the highest-end GeForce RTX 5090. NVIDIA has decided to use the GB202-300-A1 die and enabled 21,760 FP32 CUDA cores on this top-end model. Accompanying the massive 170 SM GPU configuration, the RTX 5090 has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, with each GDDR7 die running at 28 Gbps. This translates to 1,568 GB/s memory bandwidth. All of this is confined to a 600 W TGP.

When it comes to the GeForce RTX 5080, NVIDIA has decided to further separate its xx80 and xx90 SKUs. The RTX 5080 has 10,752 FP32 CUDA cores paired with 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus. With GDDR7 running at 28 Gbps, the memory bandwidth is also halved at 784 GB/s. This SKU uses a GB203-400-A1 die, which is designed to run within a 400 W TGP power envelope. For reference, the RTX 4090 has 68% more CUDA cores than the RTX 4080. The rumored RTX 5090 has around 102% more CUDA cores than the rumored RTX 5080, which means that NVIDIA is separating its top SKUs even more. We are curious to see at what price point NVIDIA places its upcoming GPUs so that we can compare generational updates and the difference between xx80 and xx90 models and their widened gaps.