NVIDIA Rolls Out RTX 5090 and 5080 Globally, Bringing AI-Powered Performance to Gamers and Creators

NVIDIA has made its GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 GPUs available globally starting Thursday, bringing the next generation of AI-powered graphics and computing to gamers, content creators, and professionals.

Built on NVIDIA's new Blackwell architecture, these GPUs promise faster AI rendering, improved encoding speeds, and better power efficiency, positioning them as major upgrades over their predecessors.

AI-Powered Graphics and Faster Rendering with the RTX 5090 and 5080

The RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 introduce a major leap in AI-driven graphics acceleration, particularly for users working with generative AI models and real-time 3D rendering. The inclusion of fifth-generation Tensor Cores with FP4 support significantly cuts VRAM requirements while doubling AI processing speeds.

For example, Black Forest Labs' FLUX models on Hugging Face can now run on less than 10GB of VRAM at FP4 precision, a huge reduction from the 23GB required at FP16. The RTX 5090 can generate AI-driven images in just over five seconds-a major improvement over the RTX 4090, which took 15 seconds on FP16 or 10 seconds on FP8.

Both GPUs also feature fourth-generation RT Cores and DLSS 4, ensuring higher frame rates, smoother gameplay, and better real-time 3D rendering for creative applications.

Key Specifications

• GeForce RTX 5090: Comes with 32GB of GDDR7 memory and 1,792 GB/sec bandwidth, a 77% increase over the RTX 4090. The GPU features three encoders and two decoders, which allow for video exports up to 40% faster than its predecessor.

• GeForce RTX 5080: Features 16GB of GDDR7 memory and 960 GB/sec bandwidth, offering 34% more bandwidth than the RTX 4080. It includes two encoders and two decoders, speeding up video editing and AI workloads.

Both GPUs support ninth-generation encoders and sixth-generation decoders, bringing 4:2:2 encoding support for higher-quality HEVC and AV1 video compression.

NVIDIA Broadcast Gets AI Upgrades for Content Creators

NVIDIA is also rolling out new AI-powered features in NVIDIA Broadcast, making it a more powerful tool for streamers and video creators.

New AI Effects in Beta

• Studio Voice - Enhances microphone quality, making standard microphones sound like high-end studio mics.

• Virtual Key Light - Adds professional lighting effects to improve on-camera appearance without physical studio lights.

These features, currently in beta, require an RTX 4080 or higher and are focused on content creators rather than gaming applications.

Additional Enhancements in NVIDIA Broadcast

• Better Background Noise Removal - Improves voice clarity by reducing unwanted sounds.

• Enhanced AI Eye Contact - Stabilizes gaze movements, making eye tracking appear more natural.

• Improved Virtual Background Effects - Better foreground and background separation for cleaner visuals.

• Updated UI - Displays GPU utilization metrics and live camera previews, making it easier to monitor real-time performance.

For developers, NVIDIA Maxine SDKs and NVIDIA NIM microservices will allow deeper integration of these AI-powered tools into other software applications.

Faster Video Processing and AI Workflows for Creators

With AI and video processing becoming more resource-intensive, NVIDIA has introduced several encoding and decoding upgrades with the RTX 50 Series.

• Ninth-generation NVENC Encoder: Improves HEVC and AV1 encoding quality by 5%, making videos sharper at lower bitrates.

• AV1 Ultra Quality Mode: Provides 5% better compression at the same visual quality, benefiting both RTX 40 and RTX 50 series users.

• Sixth-generation Decoder: Doubles the speed of H.264 decoding, improving video playback and editing responsiveness.

These advancements allow the RTX 5090 to export videos 40% faster than the RTX 4090 and four times faster than the RTX 3090. Content creation tools like DaVinci Resolve and Filmora have already integrated these features, making high-quality livestreaming and video editing more accessible.

Availability and Driver Updates

NVIDIA has also released its January NVIDIA Studio Driver, which optimizes performance for the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080. Users can download the latest drivers via the NVIDIA app, ensuring their systems receive updates for RTX Video Super Resolution and AI optimizations.

The updated NVIDIA Broadcast app will also be available starting January 30, 2025, allowing users to try out the new AI-powered effects.