Rumor: RTX 5070 laptop GPU spotted with 50% more VRAM - has NVIDIA forgotten about the RAM crisis?

MSI appears to have leaked a new configuration of NVIDIA's RTX 5070 laptop GPU, and it's not the first time we've caught a glimpse of this rumored variant that beefs up the VRAM considerably.

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VideoCardz noticed the leak in a press release from MSI which introduces new Raider and Crosshair gaming laptops.

In the spec of the MSI Crosshair 16 Max HX (E2WGXK), under the graphics category there's a mention of the RTX 5070 with 12GB (as opposed to the 8GB loadout that the notebook GPU currently runs with).

Of course, this could be a mistake in the spec table, but equally, it might be MSI jumping the gun and publishing info before NVIDIA has officially given the go-ahead to let the cat out of the GPU bag with this variant of the RTX 5070.

Only time will tell, but there are a couple of factors here which indicate that maybe this really is a new spin on the laptop graphics card. Firstly, the mistake is now out there on the web, and still hasn't been corrected.

And secondly, there have been other leaks around an RTX 5070 with 12GB of video RAM for gaming laptops. As VideoCardz points out, both ASUS and Lenovo have spilled info on this theoretical GPU, so it seems more likely to be happening than not on this basis.

That said, it remains a rumor, and there's also the RAM crisis to bear in mind here. Given the scarcity of memory currently, is it likely NVIDIA is going to be pushing for graphics card configurations that load up on more VRAM?

That seems counterintuitive, but we don't know the full picture here, of course. Even if MSI hasn't made a mistake with the spec listing, the Crosshair laptop in question may have limited regional availability.