Post-Computex 2025, another hint about NVIDIA's next rung of current-gen mobile graphics cards has emerged online. Mid-week, harukaze5719 shared an intriguing screenshot of PCI IDs, accompanied by a brief message: "2d80-2dff = GB207." Most of the captured information is common knowledge, but an unreleased model was present. The "GeForce RTX 5050 Max-Q/Mobile" entry will likely translate into real life laptop/notebook form by mid-summer.

harukaze5719's leaked list seems to confirm the future deployment of a "GB207M" GPU die—likely the smallest and least potent iteration of Team Green's "Blackwell" gaming line. According to fresh reportage, a desktop sibling is supposedly being lined up for launch in July. A late April theory suggested AMD's preparing of RDNA 4 mobile "Radeon RX 9000M" GPUs; the least powerful options—reportedly based on a Navi 44 die—could compete with NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5060 Laptop design. Rival timelines are unclear, but manufacturing partners (Lenovo, LG, MSI, Razer etc.) seem to be prepping a plethora of Team Green-based portable gaming devices.

Mid-way through last month, Tencent's President—Martin Lau—confirmed that this company had stockpiled a huge quantity of NVIDIA H20 AI GPUs, prior to new trade restrictions coming into effect. According to earlier reports, China's largest tech firms have collectively spent $16 billion on hardware acquisitions in Q1'25. Team Green engineers are likely engaged in the creation of "nerfed" enterprise-grade chip designs—potentially ready for deployment later on in 2025. Huawei leadership is likely keen to take advantage of this situation, although it will be difficult to compete with the sheer volume of accumulated H20 units. The Shenzhen, Guangdong-based giant's Ascend AI accelerator family is considered to be a valid alternative to equivalent "sanction-conformant" NVIDIA products.

The controversial 910C model and a successor seem to be worthy candidates; as demonstrated by preliminary performance data, but fresh industry murmurs suggest teething problems. The Information has picked up inside track chatter from unnamed moles at ByteDance and Alibaba. During test runs, staffers noted the overheating of Huawei Ascend 910C trial samples. Additionally, they highlighted limitations within the Huawei Compute Architecture for Neural Networks (CANN) software platform. NVIDIA's extremely mature CUDA ecosystem holds a significant advantage here. Several of China's prime AI players—including DeepSeek—are reportedly pursuing in-house AI chip development projects; therefore positioning themselves as competing with Huawei, in a future scenario.

AX Gaming—an offshoot of the better known Inno3D parent company—has introduced a brand-new X3W MAX product range. Due to recently updated trade restrictions, this Chinese NVIDIA board partner (and others) can no longer source top-flight "Blackwell" GPUs. Until the emergence of a nerfed GeForce RTX 5090D design, AX Gaming's latest lineup hits a ceiling with the GeForce RTX 5080 X3W MAX 16 GB SKU. Currently, TPU's GPU database lists an almost all-white non-MAX model—sporting an identical shroud design, and a similar-ish backplate. The MAX's unique selling point (USP) is a hidden power connection system, coupled with an unusual L-shaped custom power cord. Earlier today, Gigabyte introduced a flagship Stealth ICE model that seemingly takes a couple of cues from Sapphire's latest Nitro+ setup. AX Gaming has readied less potent GeForce RTX 5070 Ti X3W Max 16 GB and GeForce RTX 5070 X3W Max 12 GB options. It is possible that dual-fan (X2W) MAX relatives could appear at a later date; housing Team Green's GeForce RTX 5060 Ti and RTX 5060 GPUs.

Around mid-April, an unusual custom GeForce RTX 5090D design received international news coverage. Under normal circumstances, NVIDIA's board partners have not equipped modern gaming graphics cards with blower-style cooling solutions—typically, this type of treatment is reserved for workstation-grade products (operating at lower TDPs). Team Green's GB202 "Blackwell" GPU is in high demand, due to its AI-crunching prowess—even in slightly nerfed form. Smaller Chinese AI firms and well-heeled hobbyists seemed to be snapping up sanction-adjusted flagship gaming GPUs that are/were coupled with very unofficial blower-type coolers. A month and a half later, Olrak29 has placed a spotlight on a curious batch of bootleg-esque "RTX 5090 32G D7 Turbo" models. As implied by this identifier, these offerings seem to leverage the unpasteurized GeForce RTX 5090 (non-D) GPU.

Photo evidence was scraped from Goofish; a second-hand trading platform owned and operated by Alibaba. As of last month, industry whispers suggested another downgrade of the Chinese market-exclusive GeForce RTX 5090D design—following the complete cutoff of GB202 die shipments into the region. Given current global tensions and export restrictions, NVIDIA and Leadtek's Blackwell PRO W card series faces an uncertain future in China. The Goofish photo uploads indicate an impressive volume of unbranded "RTX 5090 32G D7 Turbo" stock. Stacks of boxes in the background are labelled with "NVIDIA RTX 4090 24G AIB BLOWER" or "NVIDIA RTX 4070 12G AIB BLOWER" stickers—perhaps as diversion tactics. According to VideoCardz and Tom's Hardware, Team Green is not expected to play detective—the North American corporation will probably not provide in-depth comments about elaborate "GPU smuggling" channels.

GALAX's modular "Boomstar" series of GeForce RTX 50-series cards are not well known in the West, but a little bit of global coverage trickled out last month. The Chinese manufacturer often releases regional exclusives, and its latest LUNA (white) and NOX (black) options are prime examples. Lucky owners can attach/detach Boomstar shrouds and cooling fans via a convenient and fully magnetic system. According to their latest teaser/promo material, GALAX seems to be preparing another modular part. A snazzy mirror finish backplate design has turned up online—as pointed out by VideoCardz. So far, published renders show only white examples sporting reflective back surfaces. Current LUNA and NOX SKUs cover GeForce RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti, and RTX 5070 GPU tiers. Unfortunately, NVIDIA's slightly nerfed flagship "Blackwell" chip is no longer available in China—another GeForce RTX 5090D downgrade is pending. Up until recently, GALAX was promoting an impressive Hall of Fame record-breaking lineup. Looking at the other end of Team Green's "Blackwell" gaming GPU spectrum, a GeForce RTX 5060 Ti Boomstar model seems to be in the pipeline.

NVIDIA's oft-leaked GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile 8 GB GPU did not make a debut appearance at last week's Computex trade show. Given the very recent launch of GeForce RTX 5060 8 GB laptops, truly cost-conscious buyers will need to wait patiently for the next wave of even cheaper portable "Blackwell" hardware. Mid-way through the month, a British e-tailer inadvertently published pre-launch prices. Lenovo's least expensive option—utilizing a GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile card—sported a (likely placeholder) tag of £1149.97 (inc. VAT). So far, a lot of pre-release information has been sourced from official websites or webstores.

Yesterday, VideoCardz shared another NDA-buster—courtesy of Acer's "Predator and Nitro Gaming Laptop GPU Power Specifications page." At the time of writing, offending items are no longer present within this list. Prior to removal, three configurable Nitro AI laptop models (16, 16S, and 18) were visible with GeForce RTX 5050 specifications (alongside RTX 5060, 5070 and 5070 Ti options). Only clock speed and TGP data points were logged by the notorious investigator (see below). Currently, TechPowerUp's GPU database entry contains speculative information—a "GB207" GPU identifier was unearthed a while ago, but some insiders reckon that Team Green's GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile design will be based on "GB206" silicon. Additionally, debates continue to rage over the selection of GDDR7 or GDDR6 VRAM. So far, all launched tiers of NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 50-series have emerged with GDDR7 memory modules.

Inno3D is exhibiting many already released graphics card products at their Computex 2025 booth, but TechPowerUp's day zero visit focused on an intriguing wall-mounted demo unit. Earlier today, NVIDIA announced the official launch of its affordable GeForce RTX 5060 8 GB desktop and laptop designs. Prior to full-on introduction, media outlets have expressed dissatisfaction regarding Team Green's "Blackwell" GPU entry-mainstream review conditions. Currently, many professional reviewers are "on-site" in Taiwan. At this rate, the publication of in-depth evaluations will occur following the conclusion of this week's extremely important trade event.

The Inno3D GeForce RTX 5060 TWIN X2 OC White SKU reuses a familiar dual-fan setup; as featured on readily available GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB options (black/silver or white/silver). Interestingly, the manufacturer also extends this dual-slot thick design into triple-fan territories (for RTX 5060 Ti and above). The TechPowerUp GPU database does not allude to any Inno3D GeForce RTX 5060 (non-Ti) models being outfitted with a third fan. As discussed in a mid-April PR piece, Inno3D engineers have drummed up a custom PCB layout. Despite the implementation of a very shallow overclock, the TWIN X2 cooling solution is not expected to struggle—when tasked with the tempering of Team Green's GB206 GPU die.

Around mid-February, South Korean sources alleged that NVIDIA was in the process of developing an innovative new memory form factor. The System on Chip Advanced Memory Module (SOCAMM) design is reportedly a collaborative effort. Team Green's usual set of memory partners—SK Hynix, Samsung, and Micron—were mentioned in early 2025 news articles. Just over a month later, official press material revealed a key forthcoming deployment—Micron stated: "(our) SOCAMM (product), a modular LPDDR5X memory solution, was developed in collaboration with NVIDIA to support the NVIDIA GB300 Grace Blackwell Ultra Superchip. In a (rumored) blow to all involved parties, ZDNet Korea posits that Team Green has postponed the commercialization of their "next-generation low-power DRAM module" IP. According to industry moles, the SOCAMM standard will not debut with this generation of enterprise-focused "Grace-Blackwell" chips. Instead, fresher theories indicate a postponement into next-gen territories—possibly rescheduled to arrive alongside the firm's "Rubin" GPU architecture.

NVIDIA has reportedly sent out notices to major memory partners—(alleged) May 14 updates were received by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix (in South Korea) and Micron (USA). As a result, SOCAMM supply timelines are (apparently) adjusted. A newer "Cordelia" board design—acting as a substrate for GB300 chips, and compatible with SOCAMM—was in the picture. The latest whispers suggest a return to an existing "Bianca" board configuration, that supports current-gen LPDDR memory modules. ZDNet believes that company engineers have run into several obstacles: "Blackwell chips have been continuously experiencing difficulties in securing design and packaging yields. In fact, the 'Cordelia' board is known to have reliability issues, such as data loss, and SOCAMM has reliability issues, such as heat dissipation characteristics." NVIDIA briefly previewed its futuristic "Rubin Ultra" AI GPU design during GTC 2025—on-stage, a "second half of 2027" release window was teased.

In advance of and coinciding with today's launch of ID Software's DOOM: The Dark Ages, an impressive number of partner companies have revealed licensed hardware and accessories. Surprisingly, NVIDIA has joined in on the fun—with a fan favorite franchise-themed flagship Founders Edition (FE) card. This lone contribution is only available through an online competition; as outlined by the firm's GeForce social media account. This afternoon's announcement stated: "Stand and Fight for a chance to win. We're giving away a DOOM: The Dark Ages custom wrapped NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 (FE) to celebrate its official release with native ray tracing, NVIDIA DLSS 4 + Reflex." Hopeful entrants are tasked with contributing "thumbs ups," and writing in with comments.

Team Green's ($1999 MSRP) extremely special DOOM-themed card is decorated with highly expensive custom livery. According to official estimates, this level of custom wrapping adds about $600 to the flagship "Blackwell" card's base price. Despite this giveaway being open to worldwide participants, (small print) terms and conditions seem to excluded. As reported by Wccftech, these territories include: "Australia, the Province of Quebec, and a few more. The Middle East region and some Asian countries are also" shut out. Paying customers can consider alternative "step down" options from ASUS and (maybe Asia-only) COLORFUL. The Republic of Gamers (ROG) Astral RTX 5080 DOOM OC Edition is limited to a devilishly low number of units: 666. The Bethesda webshop is running short with available stock, but they offer all manner of extra bundled-in digital and physical tchotchkes (on top of a $1999.99 baseline).

NVIDIA's unannounced GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile graphics card has emerged in almost finalized form. According to fresh reports, Laptops Direct UK listed Lenovo's "Legion 5 15IRX10" 15.1-inch (£1349.97) and "LOQ 15IRX10" 15.6-inch gaming (£1149.97) laptop models; the "83LY000AUK" and "83JE000CUK" SKUs (respectively) seem to be equipped with Team Green's truly entry-level "Blackwell" GPU. Both product descriptions hype up the GeForce RTX 5050 8 GB GPU as offering "high-level graphics performance" and being capable of taking "your visuals to new heights." Officially, this "cheapest" mobile model is supposed to be a secret—going back to late last year, leaks revealed the entire laptop-oriented GeForce RTX 50-series product stack.

Unfortunately, the latest NDA-busting disclosure coincides with similar news regarding desktop relatives. Both lines of GeForce RTX 5060 cards are due for launch next week; expertly timed with Computex 2025 events. Given NVIDIA's apparent stealthy approach, VideoCardz posits that GeForce RTX 5050 Desktop and Mobile products could be introduced in a low-key manner. So far, the firm's manufacturing partners have inadvertently let slip very basic information. The Laptops Direct leak did not include overly-detailed specifications, but momomo_us stumbled upon another unnamed example—suggesting the selection of GDDR7 VRAM. Mid-March whispers seemed to link the GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile model's destiny to this advanced memory standard.

The Hardware Unboxed team has unleashed some of its sarcastic Aussie wit; in response to an alleged manipulation of GeForce RTX 5060 (non-Ti) review day conditions. In an online dig—directed at Team Green leadership—the Australian media outlet's social media account parodied NVIDIA new product decision-making: "we're not hiding the RTX 5060, we're very proud of it and gamers will love it. Also, we're going to launch the RTX 5060 on May 19th during Computex, and although reviewers have cards right now, we won't be releasing the driver until they go on sale." Mid-way through April, Hardware Unboxed's Tim Schiesser voiced his displeasure regarding a complete lack of GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB evaluation samples—only 16 GB variants were sent out to testers. Curious professional reviewers opted into buying these cheaper variants (out of pocket), including TechPowerUp's W1zzard. Our head honcho's reckoning—of a custom Gainward effort—pointed out far too many compromises.

In a follow-up post, Hardware Unboxed's social media rep took a more measured approach with their disapproval of "controlled conditions." Clarifying the "context" of their earlier rant, they explained: "NVIDIA are trying to hide the RTX 5060, just as they did the RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB. The strategy here is to release it the week of Computex when most of the tech media are in Taiwan attending the show. They're also blocking reviewers from accessing the driver early to evaluate the RTX 5060 and provide reviews at the time of release. So as it stands I have multiple RTX 5060 samples, and I won't be able to review any of them until about a week after they go on sale." VideoCardz, and other critics/watchers believe that a rumored "rushed" development of GeForce RTX 5060-series cards (Ti and non-Ti) resulted in an uninspiring repeat rollout of 8 GB and 16 GB VRAM configurations—albeit upgraded to GDDR7 standards.

Around late April, MediaTek confirmed that their CEO—Dr. Rick Tsai—will be delivering a big keynote speech—on May 20—at this month's Computex 2025 trade show. The company's preamble focuses on their "driving of AI innovation—from edge to cloud," but industry moles propose a surprise new product introduction during proceedings. MediaTek and NVIDIA have collaborated on a number of projects; the most visible being automative solutions. Late last year, intriguing Arm-based rumors emerged online—with Team Green allegedly working on a first time attempt at breaking into the high-end CPU consumer market segment; perhaps with the leveraging of "Blackwell" GPU architecture. MediaTek was reportedly placed in the equation, due to expertise accumulated from their devising of modern Dimensity "big core" mobile processor designs. At the start of 2025, data miners presented evidence of Lenovo seeking new engineering talent. Their job description mentioned a mysterious NVIDIA "N1x" SoC.

Further conjecture painted a fanciful picture of forthcoming "high-end N1x and mid-tier N1 (non-X)" models—with potential flagship devices launching later on this year. According to ComputerBase.de, an unannounced "GB10" PC chip could be the result of NVIDIA and MediaTek's rumored "AI PC" joint venture. Yesterday's news article divulged: "currently (this) product (can be) found in NVIDIA DGX Spark (platforms), and similarly equipped partner solutions. The systems, available starting at $3000, are aimed at AI developers who can test LLMs locally before moving them to the data center. The chip combines a 'Blackwell' GPU with a 'Grace' Arm CPU (in order) to create an SoC with 128 GB LPDDR5X, and a 1 TB or 4 TB SSD. The 'GB10' offers a GPU with one petaflop of FP4 performance (with sparsity)." ComputerBase reckons that the integrated graphics solution makes use of familiar properties—namely "5th-generation Tensor Cores and 4th-generation RT Cores"—from GeForce RTX 50-series graphics cards. When discussing the design's "Grace CPU" setup, the publication's report outlined a total provision of: "20 Arm cores, including 10 Cortex-X925 and 10 Cortex-A725. The whole thing sits on a board measuring around 150 × 150 mm—for comparison: the classic NUC board format is 104 × 101 mm."

Just over two weeks ago, NVIDIA officially outlined a vague May launch window for GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile 8 GB dGPU-based partner-produced laptops/notebooks—"starting at $1099." Industry watchdogs reckon that a comprehensive product reveal will happen at Computex 2025. Team Green's mid-April PR article mentioned that models "are coming from every major OEM"—an included promotional image showcased devices built by Acer, ASUS, Dell, GIGABYTE, HP, Lenovo, MSI, and Razer. The ever watchful Olrak29 has unearthed two unannounced COLORFUL devices; listings have appeared within the Geekbench Browser database. A next-gen "P15 Pro" entry—published on April 20—posted an OpenCL score of 109431 (in Geekbench 6.4).

This leak lists a Intel Core i9-13900HX "Raptor Lake" CPU and an "NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Laptop GPU." A more modern specced "iGame M15 Origo"—powered by Team Blue's Core Ultra 9 285HX "Arrow Lake" APU—option was also put through the Geekbench 6.4 wringer; this sample produced an OpenCL score of 102564 (on April 27). As observed by VideoCardz, the lower end "Blackwell" GPU beats its "Ada Lovelace" predecessor—GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile—by roughly 18% in overall OpenCL Geekbench gauntlets. Naturally, Vulkan-based scores would be better indicators of gaming performance. Early evaluators recorded maximum GPU clocks—of 2025 MHz and 2212 MHz (respectively)—on their GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile subjects.

Mere months after the launch of GeForce RTX 5080 16 GB and RTX 5070 12 GB graphics cards, industry rumors are already swirling about a potential "SUPER" semi-successor. Sections of NVIDIA's previous-gen "Ada Lovelace" GeForce RTX 40-series family received mid-generation refresh treatment around early 2024. It is not clear whether it will take a year+ for the speculated arrival of upgraded "Blackwell" desktop gaming solutions, but members of the Chiphell forum have been openly discussing alleged "in-progress" GeForce RTX 5080 SUPER 24 GB and RTX 5070 SUPER 18 GB card designs. Past weekend theorizations were highlighted by ITHome and VideoCardz—in particular, one Chiphell participant posited the two follow-ups will not be deployed with noticeably "faster" performance.

Larger pools of onboard GDDR7 VRAM could pave the way for improvements in AI productivity, although greater capacities could lead to beneficial conditions in gaming scenarios—e.g. extra provisions for large textures and complex assets. The speculated GeForce RTX 5080 SUPER card could borrow aspects from Team Green's GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile 24 GB model; namely the latter's usage of 3 GB GDDR7 memory modules. Press interpretations—of fresh Chiphell leaks—point to company engineers enabling existing PCB designs with 8×3 GB (24 GB) and 6×3 GB (18 GB) parts; thus preventing a major overhaul of board layouts. Global PC gaming hardware communities have often expressed a dislike of NVIDIA's repeated deployment of 8 GB and 12 GB capacity products. A theoretical GeForce RTX 5070 SUPER 18 GB option could receive a warmer welcome. Very early speculation proposes an introduction—of SUPER "Blackwell" models—just before or during CES 2026.

An alleged partial close-up capture of the Nintendo Switch 2's chipset has leaked out; courtesy of Kurnal (@Kurnalsalts). This fresh leak is being hyped up as putting an end to all online debate regarding the upcoming hybrid console's technological underpinnings. Despite late 2024/early 2025 reports pointing to a custom NVIDIA "T239" SoC design, certain voices continued to produce conjecture about a more "cutting edge" solution. Surprisingly, Team Green's PR department did issue a statement about the Switch 2 being powered by: "a custom processor featuring an NVIDIA GPU with dedicated RT Cores and Tensor Cores for stunning visuals and AI-driven enhancements."

As expected, Nintendo staffers remained guarded during recent press junkets—in-depth tech talk was deferred in NVIDIA's general direction. Kurnal's sharing of a speculative "T239" partial die shot does not provide any major new revelations or insights—as discussed on the Nintendo Switch 2 Subreddit, tech enthusiasts continue to rely on specification details from the big hack of NVIDIA repositories (three years ago). Newer speculation has focused on Nintendo's choice of foundry—Digital Foundry's Richard Leadbetter continues to express his personal belief that Nintendo has selected a Samsung 8 nm DUV foundry node. In opposition, certain critics have persisted with a 5 nm EUV node process theory.

AI is rapidly reshaping what's possible on a PC—whether for real-time image generation or voice-controlled workflows. As AI capabilities grow, so does their complexity. Tapping into the power of AI can entail navigating a maze of system settings, software and hardware configurations. Enabling users to explore how on-device AI can simplify and enhance the PC experience, Project G-Assist—an AI assistant that helps tune, control and optimize GeForce RTX systems—is now available as an experimental feature in the NVIDIA app. Developers can try out AI-powered voice and text commands for tasks like monitoring performance, adjusting settings and interacting with supporting peripherals. Users can even summon other AIs powered by GeForce RTX AI PCs.

And it doesn't stop there. For those looking to expand Project G-Assist capabilities in creative ways, the AI supports custom plug-ins. With the new ChatGPT-based G-Assist Plug-In Builder, developers and enthusiasts can create and customize G-Assist's functionality, adding new commands, connecting external tools and building AI workflows tailored to specific needs. With the plug-in builder, users can generate properly formatted code with AI, then integrate the code into G-Assist—enabling quick, AI-assisted functionality that responds to text and voice commands.

Mid-way through April, we heard about sanctions affecting shipments of NVIDIA's H20 AI chips into China. Despite (rumored) best efforts made by Jensen Huang and colleagues, the US government has banned the export of Team Green's formerly sanction-conformant design. Similarly, NVIDIA prepared a slightly less potent GPU for gaming applications—exclusively for the Chinese market. Despite sporting a restricted GB202 "Blackwell" GPU die, the GeForce RTX 5090D 32 GB is still a monstrous prospect. According to Chinese PC hardware news sources, Team Green representatives have sent alerts to "all" of its Chinese add-in-card partners (AICs)—early warning signs have indicated a possible cut-off of GB202 GPUs in the near future. A member of the Chiphell forum disclosed some insider knowledge and dismissed unfounded speculation about RTX 5090D cards being replaced by "full fat" RTX 5090 options.

sthuasheng commented on Team Green's alleged bulletin—distributed at some point last week: "the notice only said that the supply of RTX 5090D was suspended, ...this did not mean any sales or transportation ban; it urged everyone not to make any speculations or judgments unless there was an official notice issued at a later date. After this notice was issued, each AIC began to notify agents to suspend sales, because the inventory of 5090D has always been very small, so it is necessary to keep these stocks to observe the subsequent situation and deal with the subsequent after-sales. At the same time, we might as well speculate that each AIC and dealer may also have the intention to stockpile 5090D units and then sell them at an elevated price." BenchLife.info decided to reach out to industry moles, following an absorption of various Chiphell whispers.

NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB graphics card design received little fanfare when review embargoes lifted mid-way through the working week. Reportedly by official instruction, involved board partners sent out 16 GB samples to evaluators. Multiple Western outlets are currently attempting to source GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB cards—on their own dime—including TechPowerUp. As mentioned in his conclusive rundown of PALIT's GeForce RTX 5060 Ti Infinity 3 16 GB model, W1zzard commented on this situation: "personally, I'm very interested in my results for the RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB, which I'm trying to buy now." The ever reliable harukaze5719 has already stumbled upon one such review. Yesterday, Carbon-based Technology Research Institute (CBTRI) uploaded their findings onto the Chinese bilibili video platform.

Two ASUS options were compared to each other: an 8 GB Hatsune Miku Special Edition card, and a better known property: PRIME RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB. In most situations the two variants perform similarly. A clear difference was demonstrated when CBTRI's lab test moved into a DLSS 4 with Multi-Frame Generation (MFG) phase. Both harukaze5719 and Tom's Hardware noted a significant gulf—the latter's report observed: "in Cyberpunk 2077, for example, the RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB inexplicably performed worse than the RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB at native 1440p resolution. While enabling MFG helped improve performance, pushing it to 4x delivered underwhelming results, with the 16 GB version providing 22% higher performance than the 8 GB card." Rumors have swirled about the late arrival of GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB cards at retail; potentially a week after the launch of 16 GB siblings. As evidenced by early results, potential buyers should consider paying a little extra ($50) for a larger pool of VRAM. Team Green's introductory material outlined starter price tags of $429 (16 GB) and $379 (8 GB).

As expected, NVIDIA lifted its GeForce RTX 5060 Ti graphics card review embargo earlier today (April 16)—TechPowerUp's audience can check out W1zzard's opening day evaluations of six board partner models here. Just ahead of publishing its own verdict, Hardware Unboxed uploaded a video that leveled mild criticism in the direction of Team Green decision makers. VideoCardz swiftly picked up on the Australian PC hardware media outlet's accusations—in summary, only GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB models were made available to reviewers and influencers. Hardware Unboxed's Tim Schiesser elaborated on circumstances: "while the launch is claimed to be the same day for the two variants, NVIDIA is only sampling the 16 GB card for reviews, so that is what will be covered on launch day. But it goes beyond that because we've been told that AIBs will not be supplying the 8 GB card for reviews and, in fact, cannot supply the 8 GB card for reviews. Despite NVIDIA giving us permission to source 8 GB models for day one reviews, board partners told us they were unable to send us a graphics card in some cases because they weren't ready, but in other cases because NVIDIA had explicitly prevented them from doing so."

Day old press material adverted a simultaneous launch of both variants, but the ($379 MSRP) cheaper option seems to be delayed. An official source disclosed news about this release date anomaly to Schiesser and colleagues: "NVIDIA told us the 8 GB card is coming slightly later, perhaps a week or so after the 16 GB card ($429 MSRP), which would make it launch on a different day. But despite this, they both have the same launch day. Hard to know what's going on there." Additionally, Hardware Unboxed and other news outlets detected mixed messages during Team Green press liaisons—earlier messages focused on 16 GB and 8 GB getting equal billing around launch time. According to follow-up reports, a recent Q&A session indicated the sudden prioritization of GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB models. As of yesterday evening, VideoCardz detected media talk regarding a surprising lifting of NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5060 (non-Ti) review embargo. They outlined curious conditions: "GeForce RTX 5060 is supposed to launch in May, (but) will have its review embargo lifted on April 16; the same day as the RTX 5060 Ti. Yes, that means the RTX 5060 won't have official review coverage, and basically, whoever can source the card before launch will not even break the embargo by sharing the results." As covered by TechPowerup's news team, yesterday's Team Green PR blurb was headlined by the "game changing" GeForce RTX 5060 8 GB card and its $299 starting price tag.

Earlier today, NVIDIA's public relations department published their "GeForce RTX 5060 Desktop Family" introductory article. Curiously, the company's brand-new GeForce RTX 5060 Ti graphics cards do not headline Team Green's "dedicated" PR release—instead, the general "game changing" GeForce RTX 5060 series is advertised with a starting price point of $299. Clarification arrives several paragraphs deep into the blurb—as explained with some "PR" magic: "starting April 16th, we're bringing DLSS 4 and Blackwell's suite of innovations to every gamer with the launch of the GeForce RTX 5060 desktop family, beginning with the release of the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti. And in May, the GeForce RTX 5060 arrives, with prices starting at $299." Very specific cost of ownership digits leaked last week; indicating a refreshing reduction over earlier (disappointing) predictions.

Team Green's publicity team has confirmed starting MSRPs of $429 for 16 GB models, and $379 for 8 GB variants. These official numbers are buried three-quarters of the way into NVIDIA's PR document. Older evidence pointed to a possible repeat of lower end GeForce RTX 40-series guide prices—as it turns out, the GeForce RTX 5060 card's $299 "cost of entry" aligns with its predecessor's launch figure. Based on leaked pre-built PC listings, industry watchdogs deduced the $299 MSRP earlier on in the month. Additionally, Team Green's PR material teased the upcoming launch of related mobile hardware: "the same features, innovations and advantages of the GeForce RTX 5060 desktop family are coming to laptops this May, when GeForce RTX 5060 laptops arrive on shop shelves, starting at $1099." Real life scenario prices are expected to remain "sky-high," even for rumored cheaper devices—equipped with GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile GPUs.

GALAX did not expedite the development of a flagship GeForce RTX 5090D custom design; as evidenced by the absence of a top-flight Hall of Fame (HOF) option during launch week. "Cheaper" options—in the form of General and 1-Click models—were made available to the Chinese public on January 30. GALAX's fanciest new-gen "Blackwell" HOF model debuted with less potent hardware onboard: GeForce RTX 5080 OC LAB Plus-X Edition. Throughout early 2025, GALAX seeded early samples—of HOF GeForce RTX 5090D hardware—with tenured extreme overclocking organizations. Last month, almost finalized board designs became record breakers—achieved via liquid nitrogen cooled methodologies. Earlier prototypes sported a single 16-pin power connector, but newer Extreme Overclock (XOC) iterations were distributed with a second power delivery channel.

Yesterday, GALAX's social media channel teased the imminent launch of their air-cooled retail variant: "5090D HOF XOC Edition (Limited). Seems like it will be on China market soon…" Up until very recently, overclocking champions have shared photos of bare GALAX GeForce 5090D HOF cards—industry watchdogs reckoned that company engineers were still realizing a next-gen cooling solution. The Chinese manufacturer's promo material advertises the (presumably) very expensive forthcoming SKU as an option "only for better performance." Product renders showcase a familiar (optional) crown-adorned shroud, but it is not clear whether GALAX has revised its backplate design for this generation's XOC flagship.

Mid-way through last week, a list of supposed MSI GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB custom graphic card model names appeared online. Days later, VideoCardz followed up with visual confirmation—covering unannounced INSPIRE and GAMING SKUs. MSI's full lineup of brand-new offerings is expected to be unveiled this week, but the online publication has managed to source pre-launch promo shots from an undisclosed outlet. Previews of retail packaging are absent, but the uploaded images of isolated hardware products look legitimate.

As leaked last week, the board partner's—likely entry level—GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16G INSPIRE 2X OC model has turned up with a new dual-fan design. TechPowerUp inspected MSI's freshly debuted INSPIRE 3X cards at CES 2025. The manufacturer has gradually populated its custom GeForce RTX 50-series product stack with triple-fan options—the most recent being their GeForce RTX 5070 SKU. The smallest INSPIRE card design seems to feature a single 8-pin power connector—prior to last week, VideoCardz had heard rumors from AIB industry moles about this curious provision. By best guesstimation, the INSPIRE 2X design seems to be 2.3-slots thick. As expected, MSI has outfitted this model with three DisplayPorts (1.2b) and one HDMI (2.1b) port.

ZOTAC started teasing a refresh of its Apocalypse product line earlier in the year. Two months later, fairly concrete details of the (still) upcoming GeForce RTX 5080 16 GB variant emerged via the NVIDIA board partner's Weibo blog. Unfortunately, ZOTAC's ultra premium 3.5-slot thick/ARGB-lit behemoth design is expected to remain exclusive to the Chinese PC hardware market. Western hardcore gaming enthusiasts are best served by the manufacturer's alternative flagship triple-slotter: GeForce RTX 5080 AMP Extreme INFINITY ULTRA. ZOTAC's mainland China and Hong Kong offices have declared the arrival of brand-new Apocalypse SKUs at retail; utilizing NVIDIA's "Blackwell" GeForce RTX 5080 and RTX 5070 Ti GPUs.

Yesterday's Weibo bulletin commenced with: "when mecha aesthetics collide with technology, and gaming passion merges with extreme performance, the ZOTAC GeForce RTX 50 Apocalypse series graphics cards are born! After (our) continuous R&D, improvement, testing and adjustment—today, newly upgraded flagship graphics cards are officially launched!" The brand has advertised the return of an apparently much-missed product line mascot: "Apocalypse Princess is back with a new look, starting a game/AI exploration journey with you." Promotional imagery and box art feature a prominent illustration of ZOTAC's flagship series heroine—this "mecha artwork" demonstrates a serious sci-fi aesthetic, albeit with a cute female protagonist leading the way. A rival AIB specializes in this type of "marketing"—Yeston's similar-ish presentation language concentrates on enchanting fantasy characters.

Get ready to explore the Deep South. South of Midnight, the action-adventure game from Compulsion Games, launches today on GeForce NOW. Following last week's launch of Advanced Access in the cloud, GeForce NOW members can now pick up where they left off or dive into the adventure for the first time. It leads six games available in the cloud this week. Plus, catch the newest update from Epic Games' Fortnite and miHoYo's Honkai: Star Rail v3.2, just in time to celebrate the game's second anniversary.

Unleash the Magic
South of Midnight, a captivating third-person action-adventure game, is set against the backdrop of a Gothic fantasy version of the American Deep South. Step into the shoes of Hazel, a young woman who embarks on a journey to find her missing mother and discovers her unique abilities as a Weaver—a magical individual who can mend broken bonds and spirits. Throughout her quest, Hazel encounters intriguing mythical creatures inspired by Southern folklore, explores surreal landscapes and unravels deep family secrets.

GIGABYTE has registered an (overall) impressive number of unannounced AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti custom models in South Korea. The early April filings were spotted by harukaze5719—evidence of this "official" leak was posted to social media this afternoon. The South Korean Radio Agency (RRA) registrations indicate an imminent arrival of cheaper offerings from the opposing teams—possibly within proximity of each other, time-wise. GIGABYTE's collection of forthcoming GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB SKUs includes AERO, AORUS ELITE, EAGLE, GAMING, and WINDFORCE options.

By comparison, their Radeon RX 9060 XT portfolio is looking thoroughly threadbare—with the registration of two RDNA 4 GAMING OC cards; sporting 16 GB and 8 GB VRAM configurations. As reported late last month, ASUS seems to have three budget-friendly Radeon product lines—DUAL, PRIME and TUF—in the pipeline. It is possible that another set of cards are in line for processing at the RRA. So far, GIGABYTE's custom GeForce RTX 5060 Ti SKU filings are all 16 GB variants. 8 GB cards could be stuck in a queue. NVIDIA's board partners are expected to launch the first wave of GB206 "Blackwell" GPU-based desktop gaming solutions next week; "adjusted" speculative price points were leaked a day or two ago.