Nvidia RTX 5080 might get speedier video RAM than we expected – but doubts remain around this GPU

RTX 5080 to get faster VRAM than the RTX 5090? In theory, but that's not the full story here

News By Darren Allan published 9 October 2024

Nvidia’s RTX 5080 graphics card will supposedly be loaded with faster video memory than expected, in a new twist in the tale of rumors being spun around Team Green’s next-gen GPU.

Wccftech has heard from sources (engage skeptical mode now) who claim that the RTX 5080 is set to be equipped with 16GB of GDDR7 VRAM (as previously rumored), but that this RAM will be running at 32Gbps, a faster speed than the 28Gbps memory that speculation suggested in the past. (Samsung has 28Gbps and 32Gbps GDDR7 modules available initially, as you may recall).

With a 256-bit memory bus and 32Gbps VRAM, as Wccftech points out, the total bandwidth in this case will (just) exceed the magic 1TB/s mark (1024GB/s to be precise). To put that in perspective, the RTX 4080 offers a total memory bandwidth of 736GB/s.

Another interesting wrinkle here is the assertion that the RTX 5090 is set to use 28Gbps memory, but it’ll have a way wider memory bus at 512-bit, meaning its total bandwidth will still far exceed the RTX 5080 as you’d expect (it’ll be closing on double, in fact – plus the 5090 will supposedly offer 32GB of VRAM).

Eventually, the likelihood is that the RTX 5090 will also use 32Gbps video RAM, but initially, this is going to be the domain of the RTX 5080 – assuming this info from the grapevine is correct (and all the other past rumored specs, for that matter – add seasoning as ever).

Analysis: Memory matters – some compensation from Nvidia?

Okay, so assuming this is on the money, why would Nvidia make this VRAM speed choice for the RTX 5080, then? Well, in case you didn’t notice, there’s already been quite the reaction to the (purported) memory loadout with the RTX 5080. Firstly, with the choice to use that 256-bit bus (sticking with the same as on the RTX 4080, and not upgrading there), and more recently, the 16GB of VRAM configuration has left many PC gamers displeased.

Nvidia likely anticipated this, and so perhaps this is Team Green’s way of compensating for these shortcomings to some extent, and ensuring overall memory bandwidth is suitably peppy. At 1TB/s, or just over, you can’t really complain – this represents an almost 40% generational uplift for video memory speed.

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