Chinese hardware enthusiasts and AI researchers are rolling out custom versions of NVIDIA's latest flagship GPU, the GeForce RTX 5090D "Blackwell" variant for China. Originally intended as a special model that complies with US export regulations, the RTX 5090D is proving to be an excellent choice for smaller AI labs. Building on the trend set by specialist firms modifying the RTX 3090 and RTX 4090, these teams have taken the GB202 chip and mounted it on new PCBs with blower‑style coolers better suited to AI server racks than gaming rigs. Instead of large fans and complex heatsinks, each card uses a dual‑slot blower design that pushes hot air straight out the back of the chassis.

The power connector has also been moved to the rear bracket, making it easier to stack cards in clusters without cables getting in the way. Each unit still packs 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and a PCIe 5.0 x16 interface, although the maximum power draw remains unconfirmed. While previous "D" series cards topped out around 450 W, with Blackwell, this figure might approach 575 W, similar to the regular RTX 5090. This blower cooler could be undersized for a near‑600 W TDP, but with undervolting and underclocking, it may operate with stability over long workloads. Given that Chinese AI labs are struggling to acquire enough GPU capacity, some smaller labs and university researchers are possibly far away from getting enough compute resources for their work. So, repackaging these GPUs into workstation bodies is the only choice to get some acceleration in the hands of the masses.

NVIDIA's latest GeForce 576.02 WHQL driver, released on April 16, which brought support for the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti, appears to deliver unexpected performance gains for several "Blackwell" GeForce RTX 50 series GPUS in UL's 3DMark Steel Nomad benchmark. ComputerBase community users with RTX 5070, 5070 Ti, and 5080 GPUs reported three to eight percent score uplifts after upgrading, prompting ComputerBase to verify these claims under controlled conditions. Their independent testing confirms that the RTX 5080 jumps from 8,094 to 8,550 points (a 5.6 percent boost), the RTX 5070 Ti climbs from 6,463 to 6,932 points (7.3 percent), and the RTX 5070 improves from 4,838 to 5,242 points (8.4 percent).

By contrast, the flagship RTX 5090 sees only a marginal lift from 14,032 to 14,117 points, which is well within standard test variance, while the RTX 5060 Ti remains essentially unchanged at roughly 3,530 points, likely because it launched with an up-to-date driver. When evaluating other popular UL benchmarks, namely Speed Way and Time Spy, ComputerBase observed no measurable uplift from driver version 576.02. In fact, some Time Spy runs dipped slightly, underlining that the anomaly appears confined to Steel Nomad's specific workload. It's important to note that synthetic benchmarks do not always translate directly to in-game performance. Historical data from ComputerBase's GPU suite suggests Blackwell cards sometimes outperform their synthetic gains in actual titles, but results vary by engine and title. Besides RTX 5060 Ti support and a strange performance increase, the 576.02 WHQL fixes a host of game‑specific crashes, stutters, aliasing, and stability issues across titles like Fortnite, Overwatch 2, Hellblade II, Control, and more.

MSI unveiled its new lineup of AI gaming desktops featuring NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 Series graphics cards, from the powerful RTX 5090 to the recently released RTX 5060 Ti and RTX 5060. The GeForce RTX 50 Series significantly enhances both gaming and AI task performance in these new systems. Gamers can expect higher frame rates in demanding titles, while content creators will benefit from faster rendering times and improved AI-assisted workflows.

The integration of NVIDIA DLSS 4 technology is a standout feature across the lineup. DLSS 4 delivers significantly faster frame rates and superior image quality for all RTX 50 Series systems, ensuring MSI gaming desktops provide responsive gameplay and immersive visual experiences. These advancements allow the new gaming systems to deliver exceptional performance in the latest titles while handling demanding AI tasks with ease.

Today, NVIDIA made its tech demo Zorah, A New Era of Rendering, available as a free 108 GB download. Built for Unreal Engine 5, Zorah shows off the sheer power of the new Blackwell architecture, led by the GeForce RTX 5090 and its neural rendering capabilities. After debuting the first version at CES 2025 and refining it at GDC, the company has now opened the doors for anyone with a fast connection and enough storage to explore it firsthand. Downloading the project takes about 15 minutes on a Gigabit link, after which you can fire up Unreal Engine 5 (available from the Epic Games Store) and dive straight into the demo. Once it's running, you'll find yourself in a scene built from nearly 500 million triangles, more than 30,000 materials, over 2,000 particle lights, and 1,500 textures. All of that horsepower would grind any GPU to a halt without NVIDIA's suite of neural tricks.

At the core of Zorah's performance are features like DLSS 4 with frame generation, a Transformer‑based AI model, and the full set of RTX Neural Shaders. These small neural networks run right inside the shaders, creating textures, materials, lighting volumes, and even hair detail in real time. Supporting tools such as RTX Texture Filter, Neural Material networks, Neural Texture Compression, Character Rendering, Neural Faces, Neural Hair, and Mega Geometry help round out the package, delivering visuals that look every bit as rich as big‑budget CGI. That level of efficiency shows how neural rendering can boost image quality and interactivity without hogging resources. NVIDIA hopes developers will experiment with these new tools and push game graphics into what the company calls a new era. If you have a modern RTX 5090 rig and a bit of patience, you can see that future for yourself. Click here to start the 108 GB download.

NVIDIA has confirmed that its Verified Priority Access (VPA) program for the GeForce RTX 50 Series remains active following its initial announcement two months ago. The program allows a limited number of US-based GeForce account holders to purchase RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 Founders Edition cards directly from the NVIDIA Marketplace. The VPA scheme was introduced three weeks after the RTX 50 Series launch to address supply shortages and high reseller prices. Initially, two months ago, users with NVIDIA Accounts created on or before January 30, 2025, at 6 AM Pacific Time, could register their interest through an online form. Invitations would have been emailed to qualifying account holders, with the first notifications scheduled for next week.

This pilot program applies only to US GeForce users and is limited to the RTX 5090, RTX 5080, and RTX 5070 Founders Edition cards. The recently released RTX 5070 Ti is not included and must be purchased through AIB partner custom designs. NVIDIA has not disclosed how many priority access slots are available or whether the program will expand internationally. All we know is that an NVIDIA representative on Reddit posted, "VPA for the GeForce RTX 50 series Founders Edition graphics cards has not ended," responding to an alleged VPA program rumor that it has ended. If the US pilot is successful, the company may consider adding more markets and product lines. Eligible users should watch their inboxes for an invitation to buy at the original MSRP.

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.

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 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.

ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) and Team Vitality are delighted to announce the extension of their partnership. As of today, Team Vitality's Counter-Strike 2 and VALORANT teams will also benefit from a full range of ROG laptops, desktops and handheld consoles, providing them with even better hardware on their road toward excellence.

Thanks to this new phase of collaboration, Team Vitality players will benefit from cutting-edge gaming equipment, adapted to the demands of the highest competitive level. These computers will offer unrivalled processing power, ultra-high refresh rates and minimal latency, guaranteeing maximum precision and responsiveness in both training and competition. This partnership with Team Vitality marks a further step in ROG's drive to innovate and offer professional and amateur gamers alike an increasingly immersive and high-performance gaming experience.

While we are used to gamers buying GPUs over their MSRPs just to get the latest and greatest, it appears that there are some limits to that. According to a Redditor, who pictured a Microcenter hardware store in Dallas, Texas, there are full shelves of ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5090 GPUs with AIO liquid cooling. Instead of the usual sold-out reaction, gamers are drawing a line at these $3,719 GPUs, leaving shelves full of GPUs retailing for almost two times their MSRP. Despite being a flagship model with great performance (we tested an air-cooled ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5090 version), all its bells and whistles aren't convincing enough for gamers to justify spending almost $4,000 on a single GPU. It could be the unusual 360 mm radiator that is difficult to accommodate in most cases or the case where gamers have started waiting for more realistically priced GPUs.

Interestingly, the regular air-cooled variants like the ASUS TUF version or the air-cooled Astral OC are nowhere to be found, as these models are priced much lower, with the TUF version carrying a $2,450 and Astral OC air-cooled version carrying a $2,800 MSRP. Of course, while these cards are not being sold at MSRP, they are likely being sold for much less than the Astral LC version, which nears the $4,000 price point. It appears that gamers are stopping the trend of paying astronomical prices over MSRP and are waiting for the supply to improve so prices can come down. In the past period, one tracker of RTX 5090 listings on eBay, averaging data for 30 days, noted that 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%. We hope the supply situation improves and that MSRP prices with slight premiums for high-end designs make a return.

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.

The "standard" ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5090 OC Edition is already a really an "astronomically expensive" prospect (if you can find available stock); launch MSRP was $2800, but retailers pushed that figure beyond the $3000 mark. An even fancier golden variant exists—as a reminder; news outlets picked up on the existence of a "Dhahab" model early last month. This luxuriously decorated collector piece was likely introduced as a regional exclusive, for MENA (Middle-East and North Africa). This week, ASUS managed to sneak one gold encrusted sample out to San Francisco, California.

Ernest Cheng—Director of Marketing at the firm's North American branch—shared a photo (via LinkedIn) of the very unique ROG Astral RTX 5090 Dhahab OC Edition model; freshly scribbled on by Jensen Huang during GTC 2025. The ASUS exec commented on this blessing: "graphics card is one of a kind when it's been anointed. But it says a lot more when it's a Golden ROG RTX 5090 Astral." Press outlets reckon that this extremely special item will be auctioned off for charity; the presence of Team Green CEO's autograph and slogan ("RTX ON!") will boost its value severalfold. A Jensen Huang-signed ROG MATRIX RTX 4090 PLATINUM card attracted a top bid of $16,000; Der8auer (aka Roman Hartung) was officially congratulated as the winner back in late 2023.

Update 18:02 UTC: ASUS has confirmed that it will be supporting a local charity: "we are extremely honored to have this special edition ROG Astral RTX 5090 Dhahab OC graphics card, signed by NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang. This card will be officially auctioned to support relief efforts for the California wildfires in Los Angeles."

Yesterday evening, the NVIDIA AI Developer social media account sent out a red alert regarding a time limited sale of flagship-tier Blackwell gaming hardware: "GeForce RTX 5090s are available at the Gear Store in the park right now at GTC 2025. 90 units are available for the next 30 minutes, with more coming tomorrow. Come say hi!" PC hardware news outlets have picked up on Team Green's latest stock bulletin, with Tom's Hardware disclosing some extra details. Under normal circumstances, NVIDIA's Gear Store Mobile Truck would be selling fairly standard merchandise—e.g. T-shirts, sweaters, hats, etc. According to the latest reports, the company's mobile pop-up store is taking orders for add-in-boards (AIB) GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 models. An information placard advertises old school/launch day guide prices of $1999 and $999 (respectively).

Tom's Hardware noted several caveats: "the graphics cards must be purchased from NVIDIA's van from 7 AM to 12 PM on Thursday or Friday and then picked up at South Hall main entrance the same day. The graphics boards are available to conference pass ($1145 for one day, or $2295 for five days) and exhibit pass holders only; with a limit of one card per person." According to folks on the ground, Team Green and its board partners have stockpiled a thousand of each highly-desirable GPU model at the San Jose Convention Center. The first waves of time-limited batches were made available yesterday (March 19). Demand for flagship and top-end GeForce RTX 50 series cards has far exceeded supply, starting back in late January. Following an absorption of plentiful feedback, NVIDIA revived its "Verified Priority Access" scheme a couple of weeks ago. This anti-scalping initiative was advertised as offering: "a limited number of verified GeForce gamers and creators in the United States the opportunity to purchase one GeForce RTX 5090 or RTX 5080 Founders Edition graphics card from the NVIDIA Marketplace."

Graphics card price watchers have highlighted refreshing downward motion in Europe, apparently affecting three out of the four GeForce RTX 50 series graphics cards. VideoCardz received a couple of email tip-offs from its pan-European audience, prompting the publication of a short investigative piece. NVIDIA's slight adjustment of official pricing for GeForce RTX 5090, RTX 5080, and RTX 5070 models is the result of a strengthened Euro. The US dollar's value has dropped by roughly 3.9 %; according to recent detective work, focusing on German trends. Team Green's "generous" reductions have arrived roughly two weeks after a stabilization of the USD-EUR exchange rate.

Curiously, the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti is an outlier here—NVIDIA did not reduce its German guide price (€879 + VAT) for this upper-mid-range offer. A Founders Edition does not exist at this GPU level, so Team Green has tasked its board partners with the creation of so-called "MSRP conformant" alternatives. One of VideoCardz's tipsters has observed various GeForce RTX 50 series models simply "rotting on shelves," due to potential buyers balking at unreasonable retailer-implemented price hikes. NVIDIA's minor changes (4.3 to 4.6 %) are unlikely to make a noticeable impact across the Euro zone.

Lenovo has listed two custom Legion GPUs designed specifically for its Legion 9000K gaming systems. These models—the RTX 5090D and RTX 5080—are available exclusively in the Chinese market and are not intended for the DIY segment. The "D" designation in the RTX 5090D model signifies that the component adheres to specific regulatory standards required in China, hence Lenovo choosing it for their China-exclusive systems. Both GPUs incorporate a cooling solution that spans four expansion slots and utilizes three fans, complemented by CNC-machined metal shrouds and full backplates. While detailed parameters such as core and memory clock speeds have not been disclosed, the two models differ in their GPU architectures: the RTX 5090D is built around the larger GB202 die, and the RTX 5080 uses the smaller GB203 silicon.

Both cards employ a single 16-pin power connector and are expected to operate at standard factory settings without factory overclocking dialed in yet. But with a massive cooler configuration, it should be an easy thing to do. Regarding computational capability, the RTX 5090D delivers up to 2,375 TOPS, supporting gaming tasks and localized AI processing. These GPUs are integrated within systems powered by Intel's Core Ultra 200K series processors. System configurations start at 22,499 RMB (approximately $3,100) for units featuring the RTX 5080 paired with a Core Ultra 7 265K processor and 32 GB of RAM. In contrast, configurations with the RTX 5090D, Core Ultra 9 285K processor, and 64 GB of RAM are priced at 41,999 RMB (roughly $5,820). Lenovo has also indicated that mid-range RTX 5070 variants are planned for future releases and that final production units may vary slightly from the initial promotional renders of these cards.

"Second wave" ASUS price hikes were documented online over the past weekend; affecting air-cooled premium ROG Astral and mid-tier TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 5090 models. Looking at the company's North American webshop, visitors noticed a freshly adjusted price for the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 32 GB OC Edition—going from a previous level of $3079.99 up to $3359.99. Curiously, the asking price of a liquid-cooled sibling was not adjusted—remaining at a "first wave" point of $3409.99. The "cheapest" model—TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 5090 (non-OC)—experienced a $460 (representing 20%) price hike, bringing total cost of ownership up to $2759.99. As a reminder, NVIDIA's baseline MSRP guideline was $1999—as announced at CES 2025—but ROG Astral and TUF Gaming designs demand a premium or two for fancier feature sets. VideoCardz has fervently explored worrying market trends in the recent past; several of NVIDIA's big board partner players have jacked up asking prices for GeForce RTX 50-series graphics cards. Availability of stock is still a major sore point for potential buyers, who were not able to secure launch day wares. Despite a driving up of costs, the ASUS US webstore has absolutely zero stock of GeForce RTX 5090 SKUs—at the time of writing.

In addition, VideoCardz and other PC hardware media outlets noted price hikes affecting the manufacturer's stable of recently launched AMD Radeon RX 9070 Series TUF Gaming and PRIME models. In the absence of AMD-built (MBA) reference card designs, board partners were tasked with the providing of baseline "MSRP" conformant custom cards. The ASUS PRIME Radeon RX 9070 XT OC and RX 9070 OC Editions were readied as $599 and $549 options (respectively). Weekend sleuthing work put the spotlight on newly adjusted price points of $719.99 and $659.99 (respectively)—representing further cases of plain 20% elevations over baseline. AMD's debut batch of RDNA 4 cards was met with unprecedented demand earlier on in March, but secondary/tertiary stock shipments face unclear market conditions—Team Red GPU enthusiasts have (similarly) voiced their collective displeasure about elevated prices at retail. Mid-way through last week, the PC hardware community heard about ASUS leadership considering a new pricing strategy. The company is reportedly accelerating its manufacturing exodus from China.

MSI's latest high-end gaming laptops, including the Titan 18 HX AI, Raider 18 HX AI, and Vector 16 HX AI, feature Intel Core Ultra 200 HX series CPUs and NVIDIA RTX 50 series GPUs, while Raider A18 HX and Vector A18 HX run on AMD Ryzen 9000 series. With NVIDIA's last major GPU upgrade in over two years, these laptops deliver top-tier performance for ultra-high-resolution gaming. Beyond gaming, MSI's Titan, Raider, Vector, and Stealth series excel in AI applications, particularly Small Language Models (SLM), making them ideal for both gaming and AI-driven tasks.

Next-Gen GPUs: A Breakthrough for AI Applications
NVIDIA's latest RTX 50 series GPUs, built on the cutting-edge Blackwell architecture, introduce 5th-generation Tensor Cores, 4th-generation RT Cores, and Neural Rendering technology for the first time. With expanded memory capacity and GDDR7, these GPUs optimize AI-enhanced neural computations, reducing memory usage while boosting graphics rendering and AI processing efficiency. This results in unmatched performance for both gaming and creative workloads, enabling smoother, more efficient execution of complex tasks.

NVIDIA has published a research paper on DLSS version 4, its AI rendering technology for real-time graphics performance. The system integrates advancements in frame generation, ray reconstruction, and latency reduction. The flagship Multi-Frame Generation feature generates three additional frames for every native frame. The DLSS 4 later on brings the best looking frames to the user quickly to make is seem like a real rendering. At the core of DLSS 4 is a shift from convolutional neural networks to transformer models. These new AI architectures excel at capturing spatial-temporal dependencies, improving ray-traced affect quality by 30-50% according to NVIDIA's benchmarks. The technology processes each AI-generated frame in just 1 ms on RTX 5090 GPUs—significantly faster than the 3.25 ms required by DLSS 3. For competitive gaming, the new Reflex Frame Warp feature reduces input latency by up to 75%, achieving 14 ms in THE FINALS and under 3 ms in VALORANT, according to NVIDIA's own benchmarks.

DLSS 4's implementation leverages Blackwell-specific architecture capabilities, including FP8 tensor cores and fused CUDA kernels. The optimized pipeline incorporates vertical layer fusion and memory optimizations that keep computational overhead manageable despite using transformer models, which are twice as large as previous CNN implementations. This efficiency enables real-time performance even with the substantially more complex AI processing. The unified AI pipeline reduces manual tuning requirements for ray-traced effects, allowing studios to implement advanced path tracing across diverse hardware configurations. The design also addresses gaming challenges like interpolating fast-moving UI elements and particle effects and reducing artifacts in high-motion scenes. NVIDIA's hardware flip metering and Blackwell-induced display engine integration ensure precise frame pacing of newly generated frames for smooth, high-refresh-rate gaming, with accurate imagery.

NVIDIA has finally responded to widespread stability problems affecting its RTX 50 series "Blackwell" GPU lineup with the release of GeForce Hotfix Display Driver 572.75. The emergency update specifically targets two critical issues: black screen crashes plaguing the entire RTX 50 series and performance degradation after system reboots when overclocking RTX 5080/5090 models. This hotfix arrives after weeks of user complaints about system instability, particularly when utilizing DLSS 4 frame generation and other advanced features. The release comes directly through NVIDIA's Customer Care support site rather than standard distribution channels, packed in the hotfix release.

According to NVIDIA's release notes, the driver underwent an "abbreviated QA process" to spread its availability to affected users. While the company acknowledges the complexity of its driver software and has "an army of software engineers" addressing bugs, many early Blackwell buyers have expressed frustration over paying premium prices for hardware hindered by fundamental stability issues. NVIDIA has indicated that these fixes and additional improvements will be incorporated into the next official WHQL-certified driver release, though no specific timeline has been provided. At TechPowerUp, we don't host hotfix drivers, only WHQL versions, so you must go to NVIDIA's website here to download the latest driver.

NVIDIA has prepared a "Blackwell" Titan equivalent—RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell GPU for professional visualization and local AI solutions. Based on the GB202 silicon, the RTX PRO 6000 is the closest solution to the full power of NVIDIA's prosumer-oriented Blackwell SKUs. With 24,064 CUDA cores on board, this configuration is just 512 CUDA cores shy from the complete GB202 24,576-core configuration. This is likely due to the yield defects, meaning that this is perhaps the highest CUDA core count model we will see based on GB202. Additionally, at 24,064 core RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell is carrying 2,340 more cores than the top-end consumer GeForce RTX 5090 with 21,760 CUDA cores. Based on the 600 W TGP, the new RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell should have lower clocks, given its bigger core count to maintain the TGP for its massive memory configuration. Remember, GDDR7 memory modules consume power, too.

With 96 GB of GDDR7 memory and ECC memory correction on board, it will primarily target professionals in 3D rendering, simulations, and local AI development. To cool the beastly configuration, NVIDIA opted for a double-flow-through cooler used on the RTX 5090, with an open-air design. Operating on a PCIe 5.0 x16 interface with four DisplayPort 2.1 connectors, the design remains double-slot in thickness. VideoCardz obtained pictures of it, which you can see below. Interestingly, the color accents of the new cooler are darker. We can expect to see more from NVIDIA and its new RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell GPU from the upcoming GTC 2025 on March 17.

Leadtek has expanded its graphics card lineup into GeForce RTX 50-series territory, with a quiet introduction of three new generation WinFast models. We have not heard much—gaming-wise—from the Taiwanese manufacturer in recent years. Going back to Computex 2023, TechPowerUp staffers inspected several GeForce RTX 40-series offerings. Leadtek is involved in the production of NVIDIA professional graphics solutions—for data science and HPC workload purposes. Curiously, Team Green press material tends to only lightly mention its manufacturing partner's involvement. The newest WinFast entries have rolled out with "Blackwell" silicon and refreshed enclosures. As reported by VideoCardz, Leadtek has focused mainly on Asian PC gaming markets over the past decade—so the brand-new WinFast RTX 5090 HURRICANE 32G, RTX 5080 HURRICANE 16G, and RTX 5070 Ti HURRICANE 16G models are not expected to arrive on Western shores.

The 2025 WinFast HURRICANE package utilizes a triple-fan array paired with a robust heatsink design, and a "revamped" metal backplate. A total of ten heat pipes are advertised as providing strong heat dissipation—Leadtek's product description goes into more detail: "three 10 mm and seven 8 mm heat pipes, along with large aluminium fins and a vapor chamber base, quickly and efficiently dissipate heat." The three freshly introduced models all conform to NVIDIA reference specifications, so the HURRICANE cooling solution seems to be a bit over-engineered for purpose. Price details are not available at the time of writing, and an official press release is not present on Leadtek's website. The WinFast RTX 5090 HURRICANE card seems to sport a chunkier shroud, when lined up against its less powerful siblings. Leadtek has decorated its flagship with "Esports" ARGB lighting strips, while the RTX 5080 and RTX 5070 Ti variants make do with silver-ish accents instead.

We had the unpleasant surprise of learning on 03/06/2025, through an article on Kitguru website Link, that a Dutch retailer—UW GAME SPECIALIST—allegedly informed a customer that they were unable to fulfill their order because 5 GeForce RTX 5090 32G Suprim SOC from our brand had supposedly been recalled due to a fire hazard.

With this statement, we would like to make it clear that these allegations are absolutely false, that no recall program is in progress, and that our products present no such risk.

Furthermore, we would like to specify that this retailer is not one of MSI's partners, and we do not work with them.

We reserve the right to initiate legal proceedings against those responsible for these highly defamatory allegations, which harm our brand's reputation, as well as against anyone contributing to their dissemination.

Taiwanese press outlets have put a spotlight on an inexplicably devised "GIGABYTE RTX 5090 Super Bundle." According to regional reports, a local company—Deyuan Computer—has listed this unusual multi-piece package on Taiwan's MOMO e-commerce platform. GeForce RTX 5090 graphics cards are a hot commodity nowadays—unfortunately, limited supplies and scalping activities have created a volatile environment for regular punters. Retail outlets have implemented various "nifty" sales methods in attempt to create a fairer buying environment—pre- and post-launch. Hong Kong's HKEPC Media has acknowledged that locals are very used to a "bundling culture" that requires the purchase of superfluous extra items.

By comparison, these offerings look quite reasonable when lined up against a Taiwanese business dealing in staggeringly silly combination platters. To claim ownership of a single GIGABYTE RTX 5090 GAMING OC graphics card, potential buyers are strong-armed into adding forty(!) GIGABYTE H610M-K-DDR4 motherboards to virtual shopping carts. A grand total expenditure of NT$191,500 (~$5832 USD) unlocks "GIGABYTE RTX 5090 Super Bundle" ownership. By itself, the high-end/award-winning GIGABYTE graphics card would cost NT$91,900 (~$2796 USD). An individual entry-level H610M-K-DDR4 Micro ATX model comes in at NT$2490 (~$76 USD). Willing customers will have to deal with an inventory of slightly outdated motherboards—a full build's worth of components would make more sense. Around late January, Taiwan's AutoBuy advertised an anti-scalping deal for GeForce RTX 5080 cards—requiring shoppers to load up on parts for a near complete Intel Core Ultra 200S CPU-based system.

More than 700 games and applications feature RTX technologies, and each week new games integrating NVIDIA DLSS, NVIDIA Reflex, and advanced ray-traced effects are released or announced, delivering the definitive PC experience for GeForce RTX players. Last week, DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation came to NARAKA: BLADEPOINT, and even more games launched with support for DLSS. This week, DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation will be available at launch in the new 5v5 shooter, FragPunk, while Star Wars Outlaws shows off DLSS 4 enhancements in a new RTX On trailer.

Additionally, Dragonkin: The Banished and Rise of the Ronin are launching with support for DLSS Frame Generation and DLSS Super Resolution. Vector Strike entered Early Access yesterday featuring DLSS frame Generation and DLSS Super Resolution. And Deadlock and Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced now boast DLSS and Reflex support on PC.