Some new rumors regarding the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 “Blackwell” GPU have surfaced such as a brand new PCB & a 512-bit GDDR7 memory interface.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 “Blackwell” GPU Rumors Point Out To Brand New PCB Design, Making Use of 512-bit GDDR7 Memory Interface
Update: Kopite7kimi has some new information regarding the 3-layer PCB design. He states that the FE models feature a main PCB along with an IO Rigid Board and then feature a third board that houses the PCIe connection though it shouldn’t necessarily be regarded as a separate PCB.
https://x.com/kopite7kimi/status/1793673705329148265
The rumor comes from Chiphell Forum member, Panzerlied, who has been active in the scene in talking about the different aspects of NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 50 “Blackwell” GPUs. The member has previously mentioned the Blackwell GPU SKUs under the GB2** family and also the performance for the upcoming flagship compared to the RTX 4090.
The memory layout is very dense.
45 5
2
FE uses three PCBs to leave space for double-sided blowing.
The 30 and 40 dovetails are single-sided blowing, you know what I mean.
Because the bit width is increased, the PCB cannot hold the memory lying down, and the staggered layout like PG651 is not used, so the full blowing method of PG137 is not inherited.Chiphell Forums (Machine Translated)
So starting with the details, the rumor states that NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 5090 GPU will feature a very dense memory layout. In fact, it will be the densest design we have seen in several years as most modern-day high-end graphics cards have resorted to 384-bit memory interfaces at the max. Meanwhile, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is expected to go one step ahead and relive the glory days of the 512-bit era.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 GPU has been said to feature a 512-bit memory interface on several occasions and has been verified by other reliable leakers and it looks like we have the first layout pointed out within this rumor. There are going to be a total of 16 DRAM modules featured on the RTX 5090 PCB. All of these modules will be based on the GDDR7 standard and we know that initial dies will stick to 28 Gbps speeds. The GPU will have four memory modules on the top, five each on the sides, and two at the bottom. This new configuration will require a brand-new PCB design that will be capable of hosting the increased memory layout.
In that regard, NVIDIA is said to coming up with a brand new PCB solution. It is mentioned that the GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition card is going to make use of three separate PCB designs. It’s not known whether that refers to three individual PCBs within a single card or three unique designs of which only one should be finalized. The cooling solution will feature a dual-fan system to vent out the heat generated by the GPU and the memory. There is also talk about dual-sided memory and as of right now, we can expect up to 32 GB of memory with workstation variants going up to 64 GB.
We went out and asked some of our friends in the industry about what this means and we were presented with some possible design configurations which could end up being the PCB and cooling solution for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 GPU:
GeForce RTX 5090 PCB / Cooler Configuration #1:
GeForce RTX 5090 PCB / Cooler Configuration #2:
GeForce RTX 5090 PCB / Cooler Configuration #3:
Now we should remember that NVIDIA is known for making several prototypes and custom PCBs during its initial verification and testing phase for new GPUs. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 GPU prototype is one such cooler which gave us a first look at an extremely unique PCB and cooling design that never made its way to the market so it is entirely plausible that the NVIDIA RTX 5090 GPU mentioned here could be one of those prototypes rather than a final retail unit.
NVIDIA has also experimented with new PCB designs and its V-shaped solutions are the most different-looking PCBs on the market which are exclusive to the Founders Edition variants. NVIDIA is also suggested to have been testing new cooling solutions for its GeForce RTX 50 “Blackwell” line of graphics cards but it will definitely be interesting to see these prototypes in action & even more so if these designs do finally end up making their way in the final retail graphics cards. As of right now, we are expecting the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 to launch in Q4 2024.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 “Blackwell” GPU Lineup (Preliminary) Specs:
| Graphics Card | GPU | SMs / Cores | Memory Configuration | TDP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GeForce RTX 5090? | GB202 | 192 / TBD | 512-bit (GDDR7) | 450W? |
| GeForce RTX 5090? | GB202 | 192 / TBD | 384-bit (GDDR7) | 400W? |
| GeForce RTX 5080? | GB203 | 96 / TBD | 256-bit (GDDR7) | 320W? |
| GeForce RTX 5070? | GB205 | TBD | 192-bit (GDDR7) | 225W? |
| GeForce RTX 5060 Ti? | GB206 | TBD | 128-bit (GDDR6?) | 160W? |
| GeForce RTX 5060 | GB207 | TBD | 128-bit (GDDR6?) | 120W? |