NVIDIA is gearing up to unleash a powerhouse in the gaming world with its upcoming GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card, set to lead the pack in the GeForce RTX 50 “Blackwell” lineup. This anticipated marvel promises significant performance advances over its predecessor, the RTX 4090, with a particularly notable increase in die size, utilizing TSMC’s sophisticated 5nm process node.
Industry insider MEGAsizeGPU has revealed that the NVIDIA GB202 GPU powering the RTX 5090 will boast an impressive die size of 744 mm², marking a 22% increase over the RTX 4090’s AD102 GPU, which had a 609 mm² die size. Additionally, the packaging area sees a dramatic 57% uptick, now measuring 4095 mm² compared to the previous 2601 mm².
While a larger die size does not necessarily translate to higher power consumption or thermal output, it’s interesting to note that this size increase remains smaller than the Turing TU102 chip from the first-generation RTX 20 cards. This evolution reflects NVIDIA’s ongoing efforts to optimize die sizes and integrate more efficient architectures with each process node enhancement.
Delving into specs, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is set to feature the PG144/145-SKU30 PCB design, integrating the cutting-edge GB202-300-A1 GPU core. This card will operate with 170 streaming multiprocessors (SMs) out of a potential 192, housing an impressive 21,760 cores—a slight reduction compared to the total potential, but still a robust configuration.
On the memory front, the RTX 5090 doesn’t hold back, packing a hefty 32 GB of GDDR7 VRAM, distributed over a 512-bit interface. This setup will achieve 28 Gbps speeds, allowing for up to 1792 GB/s of bandwidth. Enhanced memory compression techniques and a larger L3 cache will further amplify this bandwidth, ensuring the card stays ahead in performance.
Despite the card’s impressive capabilities, its 600W total board power (TBP) rating should not be conflated with real-world or gaming power consumption, which tends to be considerably lower. Speculations suggest the Founders Edition model could sport a sleek 2-slot cooler design.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is on track to make its grand debut at CES 2025, and it will be fascinating to uncover more about this flagship model as the date draws nearer.
With such cutting-edge technology in the pipeline, which NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 GPU are you most excited about?
