Last month, PG152 board designs were linked to NVIDIA's rumored lineup of upcoming GeForce RTX 5060 Ti, RTX 5060, and RTX 5050 "Blackwell" GPUs. Despite the emergence of fairly legitimate looking "incomplete" technical information, claimed "128-bit memory bus" spec points (for all lower end cards) did not sit well with a portion of the PC gaming hardware community. In theory, Team Green could roll out truly next-generation budget offerings with 192-bit buses, rather than repeat some of its GeForce RTX 4060 "Ada Lovelace" series homework. Two weeks ago, a GeForce RTX 5060 Ti-specific "full specification" leak reiterated the design's (alleged) 128-bit wide GDDR7 memory interface.

Earlier today, VideoCardz unearthed another example—sourced from shipping manifests—of NVIDIA outfitting PG152 boards with a 128-bit memory bus. The "PG152 SKU 25" and "PG152 SKU 10" identifiers seem to confirm the existence of GeForce RTX 5060 and GeForce RTX 5060 Ti graphics cards (respectively)—the latter design is reportedly due for launch next week. The "wallet friendly" end of Team Green's "Blackwell" GPU spectrum is expected to utilize GDDR7 memory; thus elevating new-gen options above preceding hardware. An advantageous generational leap grants bandwidths of 448.0 GB/s, rather than 288.0 GB/s.

A past weekend leak has presented five unannounced custom GeForce RTX 5060 Ti graphics card models, courtesy of a momomo_us discovery. ASUS seems to be readying day one options in TUF Gaming and PRIME guises, configured with pools of 16 GB and 8 GB VRAM. NVIDIA and involved board partners are expected to launch new lower end "Blackwell" GPU products next week. Industry whispers suggest that Team Green will lift its GeForce RTX 5060 Ti review embargo on April 15.

Alleged benchmark results were highlighted last weekend, preceded by speculative price points—suggesting an imminent arrival. momomo_us did not disclose the origin of the mystery ASUS GeForce RTX 5060 Ti model identifiers, but VideoCardz has found various TUF Gaming and PRIME listings on retail and distributor web presences. Their short investigative piece envisions the eventual arrival of GB206 GPU-based budget-friendly DUAL and premium tier ROG Strix cards.

Super Micro Computer, Inc. (SMCI), a Total IT Solution Provider for AI/ML, HPC, Cloud, Storage, and 5G/Edge, has announced first-to-market industry leading performance on several MLPerf Inference v5.0 benchmarks, using the 8-GPU. The 4U liquid-cooled and 10U air-cooled systems achieved the best performance in select benchmarks. Supermicro demonstrated more than 3 times the tokens per second (Token/s) generation for Llama2-70B and Llama3.1-405B benchmarks compared to H200 8-GPU systems. "Supermicro remains a leader in the AI industry, as evidenced by the first new benchmarks released by MLCommons in 2025," said Charles Liang, president and CEO of Supermicro. "Our building block architecture enables us to be first-to-market with a diverse range of systems optimized for various workloads. We continue to collaborate closely with NVIDIA to fine-tune our systems and secure a leadership position in AI workloads." Learn more about the new MLPerf v5.0 Inference benchmarks here.

Supermicro is the only system vendor publishing record MLPerf inference performance (on select benchmarks) for both the air-cooled and liquid-cooled NVIDIA HGX B200 8-GPU systems. Both air-cooled and liquid-cooled systems were operational before the MLCommons benchmark start date. Supermicro engineers optimized the systems and software to showcase the impressive performance. Within the operating margin, the Supermicro air-cooled B200 system exhibited the same level of performance as the liquid-cooled B200 system. Supermicro has been delivering these systems to customers while we conducted the benchmarks. MLCommons emphasizes that all results be reproducible, that the products are available and that the results can be audited by other MLCommons members. Supermicro engineers optimized the systems and software, as allowed by the MLCommons rules.

NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce RTX 5060 Ti performance segment graphics card appeared in alleged Furmark online database entries. These reference the card by its device ID, 10DE-2D04. There are three instances of the card in the database, one of which sees the benchmark being run in a remote desktop session, where the card scores 5634 points or 93 FPS on average, but with its core boosting only up to 1238 MHz. The second, more plausible result sees the card score 10242 points or an average of 170 FPS, with its core going up to 2656 MHz. Both these tests are run at 1080p. The third result sees the GPU score 4411 points or 73 FPS, but at 4K Ultra HD resolution—again, plausible given its score with 2656 MHz maximum boost. The second result has Furmark read the card's maximum TDP to be 180 W.

The GeForce RTX 5060 Ti debuts the new "GB206" GPU, which probably has 36 or 40 SM. The RTX 5060 Ti is configured with 36 SM for 4,608 CUDA cores, 144 Tensor cores, 36 RT cores, 144 TMUs, and an unknown number of ROPs (probably 64). The GPU has a 128-bit wide GDDR7 memory interface, and comes with 16 GB and 8 GB memory variants. We gather from these Furmark screenshots that the GPU boosts over 2600 MHz, and it's possible that the memory ticks at 28 Gbps, yielding 448 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The 180 W TDP shown in one of these screenshots means that some if not all custom-design RTX 5060 Ti cards could feature 8-pin PCIe power connectors (150 W from the connector, plus 75 W from the slot). All rumors point to a mid-April launch of the RTX 5060 Ti.

NVIDIA late last week committed NVIDIA PhysX SDK and NVIDIA Flow as open-source software under the BSD-3 license. This includes the GPU source code—the specific way PhysX leverages CUDA and GPU compute acceleration, and should make it easier for game developers to understand and implement PhysX, including its various interactive 3D effects such as rigid body dynamics, fluid simulation, and deformable objects. More importantly, a deeper understanding of PhysX makes it possible for modders to develop fallbacks for their older 32-bit game titles that use PhysX to work with newer generations of GPUs, such as the RTX 50-series "Blackwell." It should come especially handy when NVIDIA is trying to push Remix—its first-party initiative to refurbish older games with modern graphics and higher resolution visual assets.

Quantum Machines (QM), a leading provider of advanced quantum control solutions, today announced its intention to work with NVIDIA at its newly established NVIDIA Accelerated Quantum Research Center (NVAQC), unveiled at the GTC global AI conference. The Boston-based center aims to advance quantum computing research with accelerated computing, including integrating quantum processors with AI- supercomputing to overcome significant challenges in the quantum computing space. As quantum computing rapidly evolves, the integration of quantum processors with powerful AI supercomputers becomes increasingly essential. These accelerated quantum supercomputers are pivotal for advancing quantum error correction, device control, and algorithm development.

Quantum Machines joins other quantum computing pioneers, including Quantinuum and QuEra, along with academic partners from Harvard and MIT, in working with NVIDIA at the NVAQC to develop pioneering research. Quantum Machines will work with NVIDIA to integrate its NVIDIA GB200 Grace Blackwell Superchips with QM's advanced quantum control technologies, including the OPX1000. This integration will facilitate rapid, high-bandwidth communication between quantum processors and classical supercomputers. QM and NVIDIA thereby lay the essential foundations for quantum error correction and robust quantum algorithm execution. By reducing latency and enhancing processing efficiency, QM and NVIDIA solutions will significantly accelerate practical applications of quantum computing.

TechPowerUp's W1zzard did not honor the ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition graphics card model with any awards—as disclosed in his late January evaluation, a major negative point was highlighted: "no additional power limit increases allowed." The premium-tier ASUS offering managed to top TPU's "Maximum Overclock Comparison" GeForce RTX 5080-class table; comfortably leading the pack with an out-of-the-box (default) 400 W power setting. Reviewers and well-heeled owners—of this $1500+ special quad-fan package—have lamented the apparent lack of extra headroom. Sitting in fifth place was GIGABYTE's RTX 5080 GAMING OC SKU; a card that can support up to 450 W. As reported by VideoCardz earlier today, ASUS has taken onboard aforementioned feedback.

Resultant under-the-hood tinkerings were implemented mid-way through last month. The "ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 16 GB GDDR7 OC Edition" support page has welcomed a new downloadable file—authored on March 14—this BIOS update is advertised as being capable of: "increasing the (model's) maximum TGP to 450 W." Additional bragging rights will be granted with this patch; owners can boast about their expensive bits of kit being further enhanced—NVIDIA's reference specification TGP/TDP is 360 W. Thumbs up go to Team ASUS once again—mid-February Astral series updates tweaked noise profiles; not too long after an absorption of launch day criticism.

Within the past few days, Best Buy updated its product inventory with brand-new CyberPowerPC GamerMaster desktop SKUs, featuring NVIDIA's unannounced GeForce RTX 5060 8 GB graphics card. Earlier today, the ever watchful momomo_us spotted NDA-busting listings on the North American retail chain's webstore. Similar information turned up weeks ago, albeit from a French vendor. At the time of writing, CyberPowerPC's "GMA2600BSTV2" and "GMA2600BST" models are no longer visible/accessible on BestBuy.com.

Thankfully, VideoCardz's investigative article contains preserved screengrabs—their fresh news piece also extends to coverage of Newegg's premature listing of upcoming GeForce RTX 5060 Ti and RTX 5060-based STORMCRAFT pre-built SIRIUS desktop gaming systems. The online publication has deduced a possible $299 price point for Team Green's lower end GB206 GPU-driven, given fresh rumors of GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB and RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB being tagged with speculative guide figures: $499 and $399 (respectively). A guesstimated verdict was reached following their analysis of (now removed) CyberPowerPC and STORMCRAFT product pages, with a comprehensive comparison of leaked system integrator price tags vs. speculative GeForce RTX 5060 Ti guide digits.

NVIDIA's unannounced GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB and 8 GB models are reportedly due for an official unveiling mid-way through this month; previous reports have suggested an April 16 retail launch. First leaked late last year, the existence of lower end "Blackwell" GPUs was "semi-officially" confirmed by system integrator specification sheets—two days ago, reportage pointed out another example. Inevitably, alleged launch pricing information has come to light as we close in on release time—courtesy of Board Channels; an inside track den of some repute. The "Expert No. 1" account has alluded to fresh Team Green rumors; they reckon that the company's incoming new model pricing will be "relatively aggressive."

Supply chain whispers indicate that NVIDIA will repeat its (previous-gen) MSRP guide policies, due to the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti cards offering "estimated similar performance" to GeForce RTX 4060 Ti options. Speculative guide price points of $499 and $399 are anticipated—according to industry moles—for the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB and RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB SKUs (respectively). Expert No. 1 has tracked recent GeForce RTX 4060 Ti price cuts; intimating the clearing out of old-gen stock. Team Green's GeForce RTX 5060 design is reportedly a more distant prospect—slated for arrival next month—so supply chain leakers have not yet picked up on pre-release MSRP info.

I_Leak_VN, a Vietnamese PC hardware influencer/leaker, reckons that the region's first GeForce RTX 5090 GPU-based "AI/mining/scalper" rig has just emerged. Earlier today, their social media post provided an informative look at a local shop's "Training AI: X7 RTX 5090 32G" build. Apparently, the retail outlet has assembled this monstrous setup for an important customer. A Nguyễn Công PC employee sent personal thanks to GIGABYTE Vietnam; for the supply of seven GeForce RTX 5090 GAMING OC graphics cards. As showcased in uploaded photos (see below), these highly-prized units were placed neatly in a row—as part of an airy open plan system. After inspecting the store's heavily watermarked shots, Western media outlets have (visually) compared the "Training AI: X7" rig to crypto mining builds of a certain vintage.

Tom's Hardware spotted multiple Super Flower Leadex 2000 W PSUs—providing sufficient juice to a system that: "can easily be valued at over $30,000, considering these GPUs go for $3500-$4000 on a good day." Wccftech's report extended coverage to Nguyễn Công PC's other AI offerings; mainly "more traditional" PC builds that utilize dual MSI GeForce RTX 5090 card setups—a "dual rig" likely costs ~$10,000. The shop's selection of gaming-grade hardware is not too surprising, given the performance prowess of NVIDIA's GB202-300-A1 GPU variant. Naturally, Team Green's cutting-edge enterprise hardware unlocks the full potential of "Blackwell" GPU designs—but the company can charge sky-high prices for this level of equipment. Going back to early 2024, Tiny Corp. started to make noise about its "tinybox" AI platform—consisting of multiple XFX Speedster MERC310 RX 7900 XTX cards, rather than AMD's freshly launched Instinct MI300X accelerator.

Cooler Master (CM) showcased custom GeForce RTX 50-series graphics card designs at CES 2025, but advertised these compelling parts as included in high-end pre-built gaming rigs. Months later, finalized CM GeForce RTX 5080 stock has just rolled out in China—as demonstrated by 51972's blog post on Bilibili. A generous selection of uploaded photos were accompanied by the content creator's observations when tinkering with his sample unit's modular air cooling solution: "someone commented on the post this morning and suggested replacing it with a MasterFan or Mobius. I tried it too. I thought it could only support 12025 (slim) fans. When I disassembled it, I found that Cooler Master's designers/engineers had reserved screw limit holes at different heights."

Their description continued as follows: "I tried it and found that the (Phanteks) T30 could really be installed, but the thickness of the whole card reached a terrifying 9 cm. Outrageous." Cooler Master's innovative enclosure—when configured with the thickest third-party options—manages to "outgrow" nearby competition. 51972 compared CM's plucky new entrant to an ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5080 card; a very familiar premium-tier quad-slotter—albeit with a relatively "svelte" 7.6 cm profile. MSI's upper crust GeForce RTX 5080 SUPRIM cards arrived earlier this year, sporting the same shroud height dimension as equivalent Astral SKUs.

NVIDIA and its laptop manufacturing partners managed to squeeze out higher end models at the start of the week (March 31); qualifying just in time as a Q1 2025 launch. As predicted by PC gaming hardware watchdogs, conditions on day one—for the general public—were far from perfect. Media and influencer outlets received pre-launch evaluation units—Monday's embargo lift did not open up floodgates to a massive number of published/uploaded reviews. Independent benchmarking of Team Green's flagship—GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile—produced somewhat underwhelming results. To summarize, several outlets—including Notebookcheck—observed NVIDIA's topmost laptop-oriented GPU trailing way behind its desktop equivalent in lab tests. Notebookcheck commented on these findings: "laptop gamers will want to keep their expectations in check as the mobile GeForce RTX 5090 can be 50 percent slower than the desktop counterpart as shown by our benchmarks. The enormous gap between the mobile RTX 5090 and desktop RTX 5090 and the somewhat disappointing leap over the outgoing mobile RTX 4080 can be mostly attributed to TGP."

The German online publication was more impressed with NVIDIA's sub-flagship model—two Ryzen 9 9955HX-powered Schenker XMG Neo 16 test units—sporting almost identical specifications—were pitched against each other, a resultant mini-review of benched figures was made available earlier today. Notebookcheck's Allen Ngo provided some context: "3DMark benchmarks...show that the (Schenker Neo's) GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile unit is roughly 10 to 15 percent slower than its pricier sibling. This deficit translates fairly well when running actual games like Baldur's Gate 3, Final Fantasy XV, Alan Wake 2, or Assassin's Creed Shadows. As usual, the deficit is widest when running at 4K resolutions on demanding games and smallest when running at lower resolutions where graphics become less GPU bound. A notable observation is that the performance gap between the mobile RTX 5080 and mobile RTX 5090 would remain the same, whether or not DLSS is enabled. When running Assassin's Creed Shadows with DLSS on, for example, the mobile RTX 5090 would maintain its 15 percent lead over the mobile RTX 5080. The relatively small performance drop between the two enthusiast GPUs means it may be worth configuring laptops with the RTX 5080 instead of the RTX 5090 to save on hundreds of dollars or for better performance-per-dollar." As demonstrated by Bestware.com's system configurator, the XMG NEO 16 (A25) SKU with a GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile GPU demands a €855 (~$928 USD) upcharge over an RTX 5080-based build.

NVIDIA has not formally announced the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti GPU, but its existence was leaked months ago via usual insider channels. Despite whispers of a launch happening mid-way through this month, Team Green did not host a rumored special preview event back in March. Premature listings of lower end "Blackwell" GPU-powered pre-built gaming systems have popped up online; Lenovo is the latest company to join in one the fun. Their "Legion Tower 5i Gen 10" pre-build is advertised as "coming soon," and configurable with GeForce RTX 5070, RTX 5060 Ti and RTX 5060 discrete graphics solutions. Curiously, Lenovo is prepping this model with an "Intel ARL-HX customized HM870" microATX motherboard—implying that the Core Ultra 9 APU (285HX or 275HX) will be soldered on.

Lenovo's NDA-busting product page does not go into as much (GPU-related) detail as HP New Zealand's webstore and Best Buy Canada's listings. Last week, reports focused on a new-generation OMEN 16L compact pre-built series—providing further evidence of GeForce RTX 5060 Ti graphics cards being readied with 16 GB and 8 GB pools of VRAM. Interestingly, TechPowerUp's GPU curator has scrubbed the alleged GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB model's page from the site's database. VideoCardz has trained its expert eye on the Legion Tower 5i Gen 10 model's spec sheet and promotional imagery—their investigation put a spotlight on Lenovo's pre-rendered mock-up of a dual-fan card design that sports a single 8-pin power connector. In the recent past, AIB insiders have alluded to several custom models being configured with this older standard. VideoCardz noted that the forthcoming Legion pre-build is listed with "limited DisplayPort 1.4 support." This could be a pre-release mistake (based on placeholder material), or an indication of NVIDIA's cheaper GeForce RTX 50-series options arriving without DisplayPort 2.1 capabilities.

Adobe recently announced support for 4:2:2 video color formats with Premiere Pro and Adobe Media Encoder, and NVIDIA today announced that its GeForce RTX 50-series GPUs and RTX Pro Blackwell series GPUs will receive support and optimization for them. The 9th Gen NVENC and 6th Gen NVDEC video accelerators on Blackwell GPUs, as well as its display engine, come with support for 4:2:2 color formats, which help greatly reduce file-size in comparison to 4:4:4 formats, while also offering superior color depth compared to 4:2:0. 10 bits per cell 4:2:2 retains more color information compared to 4:2:0 with 8 bits per cell. For video professionals, this also offers superior chroma keying ("green screen" background replacements). GeForce RTX 50-series GPUs when paired with Windows 11, come hardware acceleration for H.264 and HEVC 10-bit 4:2:2 formats.

EMTEK has released a new custom GeForce RTX 5070 graphics card in South Korea; fresh retail/e-tail listings have popped up online via the Danawa price comparison engine. Similar circumstances were observed around mid-February for the launch of the brand's GeForce RTX 5080 MIRACLE WHITE D7 16 GB SKU. EMTEK's GB205 "Blackwell" GPU-based offering sports a slightly smaller shroud design; its larger siblings are 2.5-slotters. As noted by VideoCardz, the GeForce RTX 5070 MIRACLE WHITE D7 12 GB model's 329 mm-long triple-fan cooling solution tempers a less potent key component.

EMTEK's brand-new card conforms to NVIDIA's reference specifications, so a relatively slim heatsink seems appropriate for this deployment. A dual BIOS switcher grants access to "Cooling" and "Silent 0-db" modes. Another nearby physical switch can enable/disable the MIRACLE WHITE D7's integrated "Auto ARGB" system. EMTEK's pricier pale-toned offerings—in GeForce RTX 5080 and RTX 5070 Ti guises—feature intriguing USB-C connected Windows 11-controlled lighting schemes. The cheapest price for a RTX 5070 MIRACLE WHITE D7 card is 1,030,000 won (~$700 USD) according to Danawa SK aggregation. EMTEK products are only available in South Korea, therefore attract very little Western press coverage. Interestingly, the company also acts as a regional distributor of various PALIT GeForce and Sapphire Radeon graphics cards.

NVIDIA and its laptop/notebook manufacturing partners have just about managed a very last minute launch of GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile, RTX 5080 Mobile, RTX 5070 Ti Mobile GPU-powered devices at retail. According to the latest reports, yesterday's—March 31—small trickle out of high-end portable "Blackwell" hardware qualified as a launch within the first quarter of 2025. Due to Team Green's GeForce RTX 50 series being affected by ROPs anomalies—across desktop and mobile platforms—involved firms anticipated deliveries being delayed into April. As stated early last month, unnamed industry sources divulged details about official instructions: "manufacturers (must) inspect already-produced notebooks with new mobile GeForce RTX 5000 graphics chips." Going further back in time, supply chain moles predicted that the entire product stack—starting at the top with GeForce RTX 5090 M, going down to RTX 5070 M—would be subject to postponements.

PC gaming hardware watchdogs noticed a very limited supply of GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile-based laptops on "day one," at least in North America. VideoCardz spent some time combing through Newegg listings, after hearing about the Q1 launch via official social media announcements. The likes of ASUS, GIGABYTE, HP, Lenovo, MSI and Razer opened up direct pre-orders on February 25, but yesterday's embargo lift seemed to extend to general retails outlets. VideoCardz noted that the cheapest—at $4299—GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop options were already sold out. MSI's North American store lists an "out of stock" Titan 18 HX Dragon Edition Norse Myth 18-inch model with an eye-watering price tag of $6199.99. Additionally, the publication pointed out the best GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop starting price: $2499.99. GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Laptops start at $1899.99 on Newegg, but RTX 5070 Mobile-based options seemed to be absent. The online retailer's stock notification system predicts late April or early May replenishments of higher-end stock.

NVIDIA's stellar quality control with the $2,000 GeForce RTX 5090 saw quite a few customers end up with cards that had fewer ROPs than they should—168 as opposed to its original spec of 176. The 8 fewer ROPs results in a roughly 5% drop in performance. When you're ponying up over two grand, this is the last thing you want. But what if we told you there are cards out there were more ROPs than they should have? We have with us an ASUS ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 LC graphics card that we detected 192 ROPs on. That's right, the card has all the 192 ROPs active that are present in the "GB202" silicon, or two ROP partitions (16 ROPs) more than it should have. We received our ROG Astral RTX 5090 LC sample just a few weeks ago, and haven't had time to thoroughly test it yet, because we're in the middle of a full retest with new games and new drivers.

The ASUS ROG Astral LC is a factory overclocked card, with ASUS giving the card a generous OC to benefit from the liquid cooling solution (2580 MHz boost vs. 2407 MHz reference or +7.1%). To account for that, we tried our best to clock the card back down to reference specs, which is presented as the orange bar. This still isn't the same card as the RTX 5090 Founders Edition, because the superior cooling solution and power limits mean that the GPU enjoys better boost frequency residency, but this is as close as we can get to simulating reference spec. We ran the card through a battery of game tests, which show an average of 8% performance gains over the RTX 5090 Founders Edition.

ZOTAC GAMING has quietly added two more models to its SOLID GeForce RTX 50-series product range. Looking back into TechPowerUp's news archive, the Hong Kong-based manufacturer's latter half of March calendar has already introduced four brand-new SKUs, with adjusted dimensions. Two weeks ago, industry watchdogs spotted a low-key rollout of "slimmer profile" SOLID CORE GeForce RTX 5080 and RTX 5070 Ti options. As discovered earlier today by VideoCardz, ZOTAC has expanded its "no frills" range—again, without the issuing of an accompaniment press release. Starting with the most confusing aspect, their report highlighted the two-slot thick "GeForce RTX 5070 Ti SOLID SFF" model. The company's "SOLID CORE" cards were recently introduced with 2.5-slot thick shrouds, but attached I/O brackets still occupied three spaces. The original "SOLID" equivalents turned up at launch with substantial 3.5-slot thick cooling solutions.

Throughout early 2025, NVIDIA and certain board partners projected plenty of ballyhoo regarding multiple GeForce RTX 50-series custom options conforming to official "SFF-Ready" standards. ZOTAC seems to be heading in that direction with its "slimmer" new product strategy. Their freshly-added GeForce RTX 5070 Ti SOLID SFF SKU is advertised as an "NVIDIA SFF-Ready GeForce Enthusiast Card," and (thankfully) features a two-slot I/O bracket. A specification sheet lists this model's height as 41.6 mm—sporting a noticeable reduction in one dimension, when compared to SOLID CORE (56 mm) and SOLID (68 mm) equivalent dimensions. When looking at ZOTAC's brand-new GeForce RTX 5070 Ti SOLID CORE OC White Edition product page, we can see that it is simply a pale redecoration of the standard SKU. The manufacturer has seemingly missed another opportunity to bung in a matching white PCB design.

Coinciding with the launch of GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 "Blackwell" graphics cards earlier in the year, Original Price House and MSI initiated a compelling promotional competition for Taiwanese PC hardware enthusiasts. As covered on TechPowerUp at the end of last week, eager collectors of signature "Lucky Dragon" figurines were seeking the completion of whole "Blind Box Of Lucky" sets. A qualifying quantity—of nine individual/unique designs—would grant access to a "free" MSI GeForce RTX 5080 VANGUARD SOC graphics card; supplied by Original Price House (a regional shop). The promo's original terms proudly proclaimed that "there is no limit to the exchange for a complete set." In a follow-up report, HKEPC Hardware put a spotlight on the campaign's apparent premature end.

The Hong Kong-based news PC news outlet provided evidence of the event organizers "modification of the rules"—advancing claim/collection deadlines from the (original) May 31, 2025 end date to March 31, 2025. Extra international attention has reportedly "ruined" MSI and Original Price House's local campaign. HKEPC commented on the circumstances: "it is understood that (the shop) originally estimated that the number of Lucky Dragon dolls that can be found in Taiwan is/was limited, but it obviously underestimated the power of the community. Many people bought dolls from all over the world at high prices to participate in the event, resulting in the store being 'overwhelmed with sales'." Last week's report suggested that five completed sets of Lucky Dragon figurines had happily been exchanged for premium-tier MSI GeForce RTX 5080 VANGUARD SOC models. Within the last couple of days, another six "winners" have turned up with qualifying collections of cute toys. According to HKEPC's latest coverage: "this number (of claimants) is already double the original expectation. Therefore, according to the instructions of the manufacturer (MSI), Original Price House has decided to advance the exchange deadline to March 31."

According to ComputerBase, NVIDIA now requires laptop makers to clearly share full graphics power details for its upcoming GeForce RTX 50 Series "Blackwell" GPUs. This aims to fix long-standing issues with hidden performance limits that have led to unexpected differences between laptops with the same GPU model. In the past, many laptop makers did not provide complete information about total graphics power (TGP). This often meant that some lower-powered models performed better than higher-end ones because the power limits were unclear. Under the new guidelines, manufacturers must list important details such as base TGP, Dynamic Boost limits, and clock speeds on their product pages. NVIDIA said, "We work with laptop manufacturers to ensure they list graphics power on their product websites."

Companies like ASUS, MSI, and XMG have already started to show full specifications for models such as the ROG Scar 18 and Titan 18 HX. While most companies are following the rules, some remain unchanged. For example, Razer's Blade 16 (2025) initially left out the base TGP from its main specifications, hiding it in the product description. This can confuse buyers, as thinner laptop designs might use lower-powered GPUs even in high-end models. The fix for this issue is simple, and listing TGP and TDP values will ensure that gamers who plan on getting a laptop with a new RTX 50 series Blackwell GPU will choose their desired TDP for performance and power on the go aspects.

ASUS and MSI's price hiking of GeForce RTX 50-series graphics cards is already a well explored subject matter (news-wise), but GPU market watchdogs have spent time investigating circumstances further down from the perch of NVIDIA's most visible board partner players. Citing evidence presented on the official Team Green subreddit, VideoCardz has levelled criticism in ZOTAC's direction. Apparently, the brand's North American store has—quite recently—jacked up asking prices for its custom GeForce RTX 5090 designs. The Hong Kong-based manufacturer only offers a choice of two models via its US webstore: SOLID OC and AMP Extreme INFINITY. At the time of writing, ZOTAC's webshop is undergoing "construction work"—fortunately, screenshots and crucial points of info were preserved by Redditors and media outlets. The flagship AMP Extreme INFINITY SKU has hit an unprecedented $2999.99 price point, although not reaching the heights of ASUS Astral ($3359.99!). A mid-March Wayback Machine save state reveals a previous RTX 5090 AMP Extreme INFINITY listing at $2599.99, but its initial launch price was $2499.99. Naturally, a flagship design—comprised of a robust cooling solution, fancy features/accessories and ARGB lighting—demands a premium upcharge, but ZOTAC's top-tier SKU is priced $1001 above Team Green's $1999 MSRP baseline.

ZOTAC's GeForce RTX 5090 SOLID (non-OC) SKU was supposed to act as the "barebones" baseline MSRP-conformant model, but price watchers noted that ZOTAC USA had removed this entry from the official webstore. Tom's Hardware reckons that the last recorded cost of ownership was $2199.99. ZOTAC's next best option is the brand's factory-overclocked variant—GeForce RTX 5090 SOLID OC—now adjusted up to $2699.99. Launch pricing was somewhere just above $2200, but that figure has changed over time. It was $2369.99, prior to this week—according to a Wayback Machine archived state. As reported last month, ZOTAC rolled out a "Priority Access Campaign" via Discord—this anti-scalping strategy received praise upon initiation, but VideoCardz's watchful eye has kept track of very few successful transactions. According to their latest investigative piece, a "top secret" ZOTAC Discord group was formed—this separate elite member-focused channel offers even "easier access" to coveted cutting-edge gaming graphics card.

To Western audiences, ZOTAC's X-Gaming graphics card product line is not a well known quantity—a search of TechPowerUp's news archive produces one result (from 2021). As reported by VideoCardz, X-Gaming models are only available to buy in China. Roughly two months ago, the Hong Kong-headquartered manufacturer teased four new designs based on NVIDIA's emerging GeForce RTX 50-series "Blackwell" GPUs. As mentioned during our very recent coverage of ZOTAC's GeForce RTX 5080 Apocalypse OC model, the brand introduced familiar SOLID and AMP Extreme INFINITY families. A 2025 refresh of the company's "youthful" X-Gaming series was advertised as a subversion of: "the coldness of traditional graphics card industrial design through high-saturation contrasting color splicing, modular geometric segmentation and other techniques."

Since its beginnings, X-Gaming's core design concept is described as "breaking the dimensional wall between hardware and fashion." ZOTAC's local branch has just released brand-new X-Gaming GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5070 SKUs, in factory-overclocked and standard/reference configurations. VideoCardz believes that the GeForce RTX 5080 X-Gaming OC model launched—in China—earlier in the year. So far, all of the launched variants share the same visual theme—ZOTAC cites "inspiration" from a famous source: "the GeForce RTX 50 X-Gaming series graphics cards have a white base and large areas of contrasting colors. The front pattern design is inspired by the well-known artist Mr. Doodle (aka Sam Cox), whose iconic intensive linearism style is accurately restored on the X-Gaming: the front of the graphics card is covered with hundreds of lines, and the seemingly disordered graffiti combination creates a vibrant visual effect. Through a special printing process, the front pattern presents a unique visual effect under different light angles, further increasing the texture and layering of the card's appearance." Regional ZOTAC enthusiasts expected the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti option to borrow its "larger" sibling's robust cooling solution, but the GB203 GPU-based model makes do with a thinner shroud profile—also present on the GeForce RTX 5070 (non-Ti) X-Gaming SKU.

So far, AX Gaming has mainly released triple-fan cooled custom GeForce RTX 50-series graphics cards under their "Rebel" product line. For example, TechPowerUp's GPU database lists a GeForce RTX 5070 X3W SKU—promo images showcase fairly straightforward white shroud and backplate designs; somewhat belying the family's namesake. Earlier today, VideoCardz put a spotlight on an extravagantly-decorated sibling—the X2W. TechPowerUp's news archive seems to lack in AX Gaming content, but a forumite correctly informed others about this sub-brand existing under the umbrella of Inno3D. The Singaporean AIB launched its AX Gaming off-shoot a few years ago; with its main market focus being China.

The freshly revealed AX Gaming Rebel GeForce RTX 5070 X2W 12 GB model sports a very busy shroud design; thus effortlessly distinguishing itself from nearby plain triple-fan products. Mayan civilization-inspired graffiti graphics are spreads across the card's front face. This funky aesthetic is also present on the model's retail packaging. Interestingly, the two cooling fans are adorned with a hand graphic; clutching a modern gamepad. Disappointingly, the manufacturer has not applied this loud patterning onto the X2W's backplate—we are looking at a mostly white landscape adorned with some sort of Rebel series emblem and "GeForce RTX" text. AX Gaming's specification sheet indicates that their X2W SKU sticks to NVIDIA's reference specifications. The manufacturer's "Punk 4.0" cooling system consists of two fans, paired with a heatsink that features five heatpipes. VideoCardz reckons that the housed PCB also exists within Inno3D's RTX 5070 TWIN X2 cards.

HP New Zealand's own webstore and Best Buy Canada have both listed OMEN 16L pre-built compact gaming PC systems with GeForce RTX 5060 Ti graphics cards. At this stage in time, NVIDIA's lower end "Blackwell" gaming GPUs are no longer big secrets—"full specifications" leaked out last week, and industry watchdogs recently predicted an April 16 launch day. As per usual, momomo_us sniffed out HP NZ's accidental publication of NDA-busting material—at the time of writing, the company's Kiwi branch has scrubbed these offending items from their webshop. Judging from preserved screenshots, both models were specced with GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB graphics cards.

Best Buy Canada's listing is still active, and advertises HP's upcoming white OMEN 16L variant as: "powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 8700F processor and 16 GB DDR5 RAM, it ensures smooth gaming and multitasking. NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5060 Ti graphics card with dedicated memory enhances immersion with seamless visuals...(the) GeForce RTX 5060 Ti graphics card with 16 GB GDDR7 dedicated memory ensures fluid visuals." Cost of ownership is listed as $1799.99 CAD (~$1263 USD), with a May 16 release—potentially placeholder information. Insiders reckon that Team Green's GeForce RTX 5060 (non-Ti) launch is delayed to mid-May. Roughly two weeks ago, a GeForce RTX 5060-based Acer pre-built gaming PC turned up online.

Tom's Hardware just published an intensive data collection of online prices of the latest GPUs from AMD and NVIDIA, suggesting that real-world prices are nowhere near MSRP. With an investigation into the 30-day eBay average price based on listings, the data shows that a lot of GPU SKUs are retailing for well-above-average price premiums. The data tracker also looked for the best-priced listing of a specific SKU. For instance, NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5070 is seen retailing at around $700—a 27% increase over its official MSRP of $550—while the RTX 5080 pushes these premiums even further by selling at over 50% above its suggested price. The flagship RTX 5090 tops the chart with a staggering $4,222 on secondary markets compared to its $2,000 MSRP, an increase of roughly 111%.

In contrast, earlier models like the RTX 4060 and RTX 4060 Ti show relatively minor inflation, with increases of only about 3% and 5%, respectively, according to recent eBay averages. Still, selling years-old GPUs at MSRP today proves that there is demand. On the AMD side, the Radeon RX 9070 series is no less dramatic. The base RX 9070, with a $550 MSRP, averages around $817 in real-world sales—a nearly 48% premium—while its high-end sibling, the RX 9070 XT, jumps to approximately $1,001 from a $600 MSRP, marking an increase of roughly 66%. Early figures even suggest that first-week sales for the RX 9070 series were ten times higher than those of previous AMD models, justifying the price surge. AMD is working on addressing this supply, which should improve in April, and NVIDIA is working with AIB partners, too, to deliver more Blackwell GPUs.