GeForce RTX 5090 SE Incoming? NVIDIA Is Reportedly Working on a New GPU. Here's What It Might Look Like

A rumor launched by GameGPU suggests the arrival of a new high-end graphics card from NVIDIA, dubbed GeForce RTX 5090 SE. Looking at the company's past strategies and rumors about SUPER versions, the speculation leaves room for legitimate doubt; however, given the relevance of the news, we decided to share it.

According to the source, the new card is expected to target the market with the specific goal of bridging the performance and economic gap between the GeForce RTX 5080 and the current flagship of the series, the GeForce RTX 5090.

Unlike the variants named RTX 5090D and RTX 5090D V2, which are intended for specific regional markets in order to comply with U.S. government export restrictions on AI accelerators, the GeForce RTX 5090 SE is expected to be a product aimed at the global market.

From an architectural standpoint, the card would be based on the same GPU as the RTX 5090, the well-known GB202, but with a partially disabled configuration. Specifically, the chip should have 110 active SM units compared to the 192 physically present in the chip. It is worth noting that the commercially available RTX 5090 features 170 active SM units.

Based on the number of SMs, it can be inferred that there are 14,080 active CUDA cores, paired with 110 RT cores for ray tracing management, 440 Tensor cores dedicated to AI and deep learning calculations, and 440 TMUs (Texture Mapping Units). The number of ROPs remains unknown.

Regarding memory, the card should continue to have 32 GB of GDDR7 memory like the RTX 5090, on a 384-bit bus, but the VRAM chip density is unclear. As for the TDP, there is talk of a value of 500 W, down from the 575 W required by its elder sibling. In terms of market positioning, NVIDIA would be aiming for a recommended retail price (MSRP) of $1,500.

Finally, GameGPU also mentions a GeForce RTX 5080 SUPER, a solution based on the GB203 chip, equipped with 24 GB of video memory on a 256-bit bus. For this solution, whispers suggest a provision of 10,752 CUDA cores. As stated at the beginning, many doubts remain about this RTX 5090 SE, not only regarding specifications but especially concerning the rationale behind NVIDIA's decision to bring it to market.