Monday, January 6th 2025
NVIDIA Blackwell GeForce RTX 50 Series Opens New World of AI Computer Graphics
NVIDIA today unveiled the most advanced consumer GPUs for gamers, creators and developers—the GeForce RTX 50 Series Desktop and Laptop GPUs. Powered by the NVIDIA Blackwell architecture, fifth-generation Tensor Cores and fourth-generation RT Cores, the GeForce RTX 50 Series delivers breakthroughs in AI-driven rendering, including neural shaders, digital human technologies, geometry and lighting.
"Blackwell, the engine of AI, has arrived for PC gamers, developers and creatives," said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. "Fusing AI-driven neural rendering and ray tracing, Blackwell is the most significant computer graphics innovation since we introduced programmable shading 25 years ago." The GeForce RTX 5090 GPU—the fastest GeForce RTX GPU to date—features 92 billion transistors, providing over 3,352 trillion AI operations per second (TOPS) of computing power. Blackwell architecture innovations and DLSS 4 mean the GeForce RTX 5090 GPU outperforms the GeForce RTX 4090 GPU by up to 2x.
GeForce Blackwell comes to laptops with all the features of desktop models, bringing a considerable upgrade to portable computing, including extraordinary graphics capabilities and remarkable efficiency. The Blackwell generation of NVIDIA Max-Q technology extends battery life by up to 40%, and includes thin and light laptops that maintain their sleek design without sacrificing power or performance.
NVIDIA DLSS 4 Boosts Performance by Up to 8x
DLSS 4 debuts Multi Frame Generation to boost frame rates by using AI to generate up to three frames per rendered frame. It works in unison with the suite of DLSS technologies to increase performance by up to 8x over traditional rendering, while maintaining responsiveness with NVIDIA Reflex technology.
DLSS 4 also introduces the graphics industry's first real-time application of the transformer model architecture. Transformer-based DLSS Ray Reconstruction and Super Resolution models use 2x more parameters and 4x more compute to provide greater stability, reduced ghosting, higher details and enhanced anti-aliasing in game scenes. DLSS 4 will be supported on GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs in over 75 games and applications the day of launch.
NVIDIA Reflex 2 introduces Frame Warp, an innovative technique to reduce latency in games by updating a rendered frame based on the latest mouse input just before it is sent to the display. Reflex 2 can reduce latency by up to 75%. This gives gamers a competitive edge in multiplayer games and makes single-player titles more responsive.
Blackwell Brings AI to Shaders
Twenty-five years ago, NVIDIA introduced GeForce 3 and programmable shaders, which set the stage for two decades of graphics innovation, from pixel shading to compute shading to real-time ray tracing. Alongside GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs, NVIDIA is introducing RTX Neural Shaders, which brings small AI networks into programmable shaders, unlocking film-quality materials, lighting and more in real-time games.
Rendering game characters is one of the most challenging tasks in real-time graphics, as people are prone to notice the smallest errors or artifacts in digital humans. RTX Neural Faces takes a simple rasterized face and 3D pose data as input, and uses generative AI to render a temporally stable, high-quality digital face in real time.
RTX Neural Faces is complemented by new RTX technologies for ray-traced hair and skin. Along with the new RTX Mega Geometry, which enables up to 100x more ray-traced triangles in a scene, these advancements are poised to deliver a massive leap in realism for game characters and environments.
The power of neural rendering, DLSS 4 and the new DLSS transformer model is showcased on GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs with Zorah, a groundbreaking new technology demo from NVIDIA.
Autonomous Game Characters
GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs bring industry-leading AI TOPS to power autonomous game characters in parallel with game rendering.
NVIDIA is introducing a suite of new NVIDIA ACE technologies that enable game characters to perceive, plan and act like human players. ACE-powered autonomous characters are being integrated into KRAFTON's PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS and InZOI, the publisher's upcoming life simulation game, as well as Wemade Next's MIR5.
In PUBG, companions powered by NVIDIA ACE plan and execute strategic actions, dynamically working with human players to ensure survival. InZOI features Smart Zoi characters that autonomously adjust behaviors based on life goals and in-game events. In MIR5, large language model (LLM)-driven raid bosses adapt tactics based on player behavior, creating more dynamic, challenging encounters.
AI Foundation Models for RTX AI PCs
Showcasing how RTX enthusiasts and developers can use NVIDIA NIM microservices to build AI agents and assistants, NVIDIA will release a pipeline of NIM microservices and AI Blueprints for RTX AI PCs from top model developers such as Black Forest Labs, Meta, Mistral and Stability AI.
Use cases span LLMs, vision language models, image generation, speech, embedding models for retrieval-augmented generation, PDF extraction and computer vision. The NIM microservices include all the necessary components for running AI on PCs and are optimized for deployment across all NVIDIA GPUs.
To demonstrate how enthusiasts and developers can use NIM to build AI agents and assistants, NVIDIA today previewed Project R2X, a vision-enabled PC avatar that can put information at a user's fingertips, assist with desktop apps and video conference calls, read and summarize documents, and more.
AI-Powered Tools for Creators
The GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs supercharge creative workflows. RTX 50 Series GPUs are the first consumer GPUs to support FP4 precision, boosting AI image generation performance for models such as FLUX by 2x and enabling generative AI models to run locally in a smaller memory footprint, compared with previous-generation hardware.
The NVIDIA Broadcast app gains two AI-powered beta features for livestreamers: Studio Voice, which upgrades microphone audio, and Virtual Key Light, which relights faces for polished streams. Streamlabs is introducing the Intelligent Streaming Assistant, powered by NVIDIA ACE and Inworld AI, which acts as a cohost, producer and technical assistant to enhance livestreams.
Availability
For desktop users, the GeForce RTX 5090 GPU with 3,352 AI TOPS and the GeForce RTX 5080 GPU with 1,801 AI TOPS will be available on Jan. 30 at $1,999 and $999, respectively.
The GeForce RTX 5070 Ti GPU with 1,406 AI TOPS and GeForce RTX 5070 GPU with 988 AI TOPS will be available starting in February at $749 and $549, respectively.
The NVIDIA Founders Editions of the GeForce RTX 5090, RTX 5080 and RTX 5070 GPUs will be available directly from NVIDIA and select retailers worldwide.
"Blackwell, the engine of AI, has arrived for PC gamers, developers and creatives," said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. "Fusing AI-driven neural rendering and ray tracing, Blackwell is the most significant computer graphics innovation since we introduced programmable shading 25 years ago." The GeForce RTX 5090 GPU—the fastest GeForce RTX GPU to date—features 92 billion transistors, providing over 3,352 trillion AI operations per second (TOPS) of computing power. Blackwell architecture innovations and DLSS 4 mean the GeForce RTX 5090 GPU outperforms the GeForce RTX 4090 GPU by up to 2x.
NVIDIA DLSS 4 Boosts Performance by Up to 8x
DLSS 4 debuts Multi Frame Generation to boost frame rates by using AI to generate up to three frames per rendered frame. It works in unison with the suite of DLSS technologies to increase performance by up to 8x over traditional rendering, while maintaining responsiveness with NVIDIA Reflex technology.
DLSS 4 also introduces the graphics industry's first real-time application of the transformer model architecture. Transformer-based DLSS Ray Reconstruction and Super Resolution models use 2x more parameters and 4x more compute to provide greater stability, reduced ghosting, higher details and enhanced anti-aliasing in game scenes. DLSS 4 will be supported on GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs in over 75 games and applications the day of launch.
NVIDIA Reflex 2 introduces Frame Warp, an innovative technique to reduce latency in games by updating a rendered frame based on the latest mouse input just before it is sent to the display. Reflex 2 can reduce latency by up to 75%. This gives gamers a competitive edge in multiplayer games and makes single-player titles more responsive.
Blackwell Brings AI to Shaders
Twenty-five years ago, NVIDIA introduced GeForce 3 and programmable shaders, which set the stage for two decades of graphics innovation, from pixel shading to compute shading to real-time ray tracing. Alongside GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs, NVIDIA is introducing RTX Neural Shaders, which brings small AI networks into programmable shaders, unlocking film-quality materials, lighting and more in real-time games.
Rendering game characters is one of the most challenging tasks in real-time graphics, as people are prone to notice the smallest errors or artifacts in digital humans. RTX Neural Faces takes a simple rasterized face and 3D pose data as input, and uses generative AI to render a temporally stable, high-quality digital face in real time.
RTX Neural Faces is complemented by new RTX technologies for ray-traced hair and skin. Along with the new RTX Mega Geometry, which enables up to 100x more ray-traced triangles in a scene, these advancements are poised to deliver a massive leap in realism for game characters and environments.
The power of neural rendering, DLSS 4 and the new DLSS transformer model is showcased on GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs with Zorah, a groundbreaking new technology demo from NVIDIA.
Autonomous Game Characters
GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs bring industry-leading AI TOPS to power autonomous game characters in parallel with game rendering.
NVIDIA is introducing a suite of new NVIDIA ACE technologies that enable game characters to perceive, plan and act like human players. ACE-powered autonomous characters are being integrated into KRAFTON's PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS and InZOI, the publisher's upcoming life simulation game, as well as Wemade Next's MIR5.
In PUBG, companions powered by NVIDIA ACE plan and execute strategic actions, dynamically working with human players to ensure survival. InZOI features Smart Zoi characters that autonomously adjust behaviors based on life goals and in-game events. In MIR5, large language model (LLM)-driven raid bosses adapt tactics based on player behavior, creating more dynamic, challenging encounters.
AI Foundation Models for RTX AI PCs
Showcasing how RTX enthusiasts and developers can use NVIDIA NIM microservices to build AI agents and assistants, NVIDIA will release a pipeline of NIM microservices and AI Blueprints for RTX AI PCs from top model developers such as Black Forest Labs, Meta, Mistral and Stability AI.
Use cases span LLMs, vision language models, image generation, speech, embedding models for retrieval-augmented generation, PDF extraction and computer vision. The NIM microservices include all the necessary components for running AI on PCs and are optimized for deployment across all NVIDIA GPUs.
To demonstrate how enthusiasts and developers can use NIM to build AI agents and assistants, NVIDIA today previewed Project R2X, a vision-enabled PC avatar that can put information at a user's fingertips, assist with desktop apps and video conference calls, read and summarize documents, and more.
AI-Powered Tools for Creators
The GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs supercharge creative workflows. RTX 50 Series GPUs are the first consumer GPUs to support FP4 precision, boosting AI image generation performance for models such as FLUX by 2x and enabling generative AI models to run locally in a smaller memory footprint, compared with previous-generation hardware.
The NVIDIA Broadcast app gains two AI-powered beta features for livestreamers: Studio Voice, which upgrades microphone audio, and Virtual Key Light, which relights faces for polished streams. Streamlabs is introducing the Intelligent Streaming Assistant, powered by NVIDIA ACE and Inworld AI, which acts as a cohost, producer and technical assistant to enhance livestreams.
Availability
For desktop users, the GeForce RTX 5090 GPU with 3,352 AI TOPS and the GeForce RTX 5080 GPU with 1,801 AI TOPS will be available on Jan. 30 at $1,999 and $999, respectively.
The GeForce RTX 5070 Ti GPU with 1,406 AI TOPS and GeForce RTX 5070 GPU with 988 AI TOPS will be available starting in February at $749 and $549, respectively.
The NVIDIA Founders Editions of the GeForce RTX 5090, RTX 5080 and RTX 5070 GPUs will be available directly from NVIDIA and select retailers worldwide.
39 Comments on NVIDIA Blackwell GeForce RTX 50 Series Opens New World of AI Computer Graphics
It's been a given for all of these that the majority of them even the Gigabytes and ASUS are not going to gaming. They are going to CUDA as they were designed for. And for those of us doing it we don't have an issue even paying inflated prices.
Maybe stick to AMD and don't buy CUDA products?
Everyone else I do rigs for that's gaming gets xx80 or below. More often than not its usually mid range cards like xx60/70 and AMD counter parts.
I stick by the idea that the xx90 really aren't here for gamers.
And with the 5080 separated by a much higher margin of $1000 from the 5090 and still handicapped by a pathetic 16GB (a mere 4GB more than my ancient 10 year old Titan X Maxwell that didn't have even a quarter of the VRAM-hogging AI gimmicks running and which cost considerably less), this entire generation seems like a huge "meh" for anything besides running local LLMs. I'll reserve my judgement until the reviews are out -- but from what I've seen so far, the only redeeming feature is their return to dual slot flagship cards (from the 3-4 slot behemoths we've had for the past several generations).
5090 with 128gb hbm4
Nvidia flat out fucking said what the Titans were for. It did not stop Linus and other youtube influcencers from gaming on them and convicing idiot gamers to buy them. It did not stop systems integrators from putting them in gaming machines and selling them as "SLI on a single GPU!!! in ITX form factor!!!!!!!!!!". It did not stop gamers from buying Titan Volta a series that never released as a normal GTX from buying it and posting e-peen benchmarks on forums.
Given all this the issue isn't the naming. The issue isn't the marketing. The issue isn't nvidia. The issue is PC gamers themselves. But that's the one group of people, the gamers, that will never ever assume even remote responsibility for the situation that was created. It's the most spoiled fucking brats of the group. It's even worse than Leather Jacket himself! And until they admit that. Until they change their actions. The situation will remain what it is.
Money talks and bullshit walks and I'm old enough to have seen it all. But to the young spoiled morons crowd PC gamers have killed off pro standards before... and then never gotten them again. The best example is NVME drives. u.2 and AICs slaughtered, and still do, m.2 drives. They also cost real money. There's even m.2 specs that aren't out for gamer boards. Gamers didn't want them and they went the fuck away on gaming boards. Now of course that means gamers don't get those products, but the result is the result. The way to stop this is don't buy the damn 5090s and let them go away completely and be relegated to higher prices and the workstation markets and they will cease to exist for gaming and you will never to worry about them again!
When Titan hit the selling point was NOT gaming. It was a bunch of HPC shit it enabled on the cheap. It was Youtube that sold it to gamers and nvidia responded when they realized idiots and their money... and here we are. The Titan naming did squat.
To me it was always simple: the high-end stopped at x80. Anything above was and still is a "let's see how much money you will throw at a GPU" thing.
Right now we only have an announcement of graphics cards for $550, $750, $1000, $2000, with no clear date of the rest of the range. And based on previous generation, not really much focus there. So PC Glorious Master Race starts above the price of gaming console, PlayStation 5, and that’s just for the GPU, far from the whole system?
And sure, Nvidia focuses a lot of their marketing on how x90 cards are made for actual work. But at the same time they waste no breath to clearly show it as the top of the line of Gaming range, call it “a beast”, exaggerate on how much faster it is from the rest of the range…
And by cutting the x80 range more and more, we’re now at roughly 50% down from RTX 5090, we even get into ridiculous situations like with RTX 4080 and 4090, where reviewers concluded that RTX 4080 was a bad value compared to previous generation, for 50% more cash you got less than 50% improvement, but the value got better if you stretched your spending from $1200 to $1600?
What will be the conclusion this time, if RTX 5080 really barely outpaces RTX 4080 in raster, but RTX 5090 offers a clear upgrade, being the only card in lineup with more than 50% performance increase compared to previous generation? “Don’t bother with the lower end?”
Nvidia knows how to play their game.