NVIDIA's Blackwell GPUs could be 30%-40% faster than Lovelace - but RTX 5090 may hit 60% uplift

NVIDIA's Blackwell graphics cards should be a considerable step forward, or that's the latest nugget from the GPU grapevine - and we've had some theoretical pricing sketched out, too.

As Moore's Law is Dead (MLID) outlines in a new video, NVIDIA will be beefing up its GeForce range considerably with these next-gen graphics cards.

What will end up as the RTX 5000 series of GPUs, most likely, should be around a 30% to 60% performance uplift throughout the range compared to Lovelace.

The biggest gain will again come from the flagship GPU, as was the case with Lovelace, and the RTX 5090 could be around 50% to 60% faster than the RTX 4090.

Then further down the range, we are likely to see 30% to 40% gains for Blackwell graphics cards over their respective predecessors, MLID contends.

Add plenty of salt with all this, and especially the next part where MLID discusses pricing, as the leaker is clearly theorizing in this part of the video. (After all, let's face it - RTX 5000 is still a good way out, and NVIDIA itself likely has no remotely firm plans for price tags yet).

Blackwell pricing

The pricing guesswork runs that NVIDIA is likely to push up the asking price for the flagship more than any of the other next-gen GPUs. That tracks, as the RTX 5090 carries the biggest (50% plus) uplift, and those kind of enthusiast buyers are not likely to balk at a hefty asking price, such as the $1,800 MLID suggests (up from $1,600 with the 4090).

Then down the line we're more likely to see NVIDIA stick more with current pricing, and MLID theorizes about an RTX 5080 pitched at $1,200, which is the same MSRP that the (failed) RTX 4080 launched at.

Will PC gamers accept having that price thrown back at them, after the RTX 4080 Super dropped the MSRP to $999? Well, this RTX 5080 could be some 20% faster than the RTX 4090, MLID reminds us, so that could prove persuasive.

MLID also sketches out the rest of the range as an RTX 5070 Ti at $800 (equalling the RTX 4090's performance) and an RTX 5070 in line with the frame rates the RTX 4080 Super can provide, costing $600. Take all this with heavy seasoning as mentioned.

MLID anticipates the launch of the RTX 5090 perhaps in November 2024, but reckons that NVIDIA could well wait until 2025 before any other Blackwell GPUs are released.

Graphics cards further down the range, like the RTX 5060, are likely to provide beefier upgrades than their Lovelace counterparts, MLID speculates, which is good to hear - these are the GPUs most consumers are interested in, after all.

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