Nvidia took centre stage at CES 2025, unveiling its highly anticipated RTX Blackwell GPU series during its keynote on Monday.
The flagship RTX 5090 stands out as a technological marvel, promising groundbreaking advancements in gaming, AI rendering, and creative workflows.
With a price tag of $2,000, the RTX 5090 redefines performance benchmarks, delivering unprecedented computational power and efficiency.
RTX 5090
The RTX 5090 emerges as Nvidia’s most advanced GPU to date, boasting:
- 92 Billion Transistors: Doubling computational capacity over its predecessor.
- 4,000 AT TOPS: Optimized for next-gen AI-driven tasks.
- 380 Ray-Tracing TFLOPS: Enhancing hyper-realistic visuals.
- 1.8 TB/s Bandwidth: Facilitating seamless data transfer.
During live CES demos, Nvidia showcased the GPU’s real-time capabilities, such as processing complex textures and ray-tracing effects.
Benchmarks revealed a performance boost of up to 2x compared to the RTX 4090 in various applications.
Expanded Blackwell Product Line
While the RTX 5090 takes the spotlight, Nvidia has expanded its Blackwell series to cater to diverse audiences:
- RTX 8050: $999
- RTX 5070 Ti: $749
- RTX 5070: $549
For budget-conscious gamers and creators, laptops featuring the RTX 5070 are set to launch at prices below the RTX 5090 GPU alone, ensuring accessibility without compromising performance.
Blackwell Architecture
The RTX 5090 introduces Nvidia’s new Blackwell architecture, emphasizing a dual focus on AI and graphics:
- Enhanced SM Count: A 33% increase in Streaming Multiprocessors.
- Advanced RT and Tensor Cores: Doubling ray-triangle intersection rates and optimizing AI-driven workloads.
- Improved Shader Execution Reordering: Doubling efficiency for smoother gameplay.
This architecture bridges gaming and AI, offering unparalleled efficiency and scalability across both domains.
Revolutionary Memory System
The RTX 5090 features a revamped memory system, including:
- GDDR7 Technology on a 512-bit Bus: Delivering 1,792 GB/s bandwidth, an 80% improvement over the RTX 4090.
- 32GB VRAM: A record for consumer GPUs, enabling 4K gaming and AI-intensive tasks.
This innovation ensures that the RTX 5090 remains future-proof for demanding workloads.
DLSS 4
Nvidia’s DLSS 4 technology introduces transformative features:
- Multi-Frame Rendering: Generating three frames for every rendered frame, significantly boosting frame rates.
- Enhanced Upscaling: Achieving 40% faster frame generation with reduced VRAM usage.
- Transformer Models: Ensuring improved temporal stability and motion clarity.
DLSS 4-supported titles, including Cyberpunk 2077 and Alan Wake 2, promise cinematic visuals that push gaming realism to new heights.
Laptop Integration and Launch Timelines
RTX Blackwell GPUs are set to debut in laptops starting March 2025, with:
- RTX 5090, 5080, and 5070 Ti Laptops: Launching in March.
- RTX 5070 Laptops: Available from April.
Top-tier laptops featuring the RTX 5090 will start at under $3,000, with major brands like ASUS, Lenovo, MSI, and Razer offering premium options.
Ecosystem Expansion
The RTX 5090 cements Nvidia’s dominance in the ultra-premium GPU segment, with performance nearly doubling that of the RTX 5080.
Meanwhile, mid-tier models like the RTX 5070 Ti provide incremental upgrades, though critics argue they offer limited value relative to their price.
Nvidia also confirmed that 75 games and applications will support DLSS 4 at launch, ensuring immediate ecosystem integration and broader adoption of its innovations.
Power and Design Innovations
Despite a 575W power requirement, Nvidia’s RTX 5090 Founders Edition card maintains a two-slot design with efficient cooling solutions.
This engineering achievement ensures compatibility with high-performance setups without compromising on form factor.
Supply Chain
In response to ongoing supply chain challenges, Nvidia has emphasized scalable manufacturing to meet global demand. ‘
CEO Jensen Huang underscored the company’s commitment to delivering innovation at scale while maintaining production efficiency.
AI-Driven GPUs
The RTX 5090 signals a paradigm shift in GPU technology, blending unparalleled graphics performance with AI-driven advancements.
Nvidia’s commitment to integrating AI into its GPUs reflects a broader industry trend, as Huang aptly summarized: “We used GeForce to enable AI, and now AI is revolutionizing GeForce.”
