What if NVIDIA started using new 3 GB GDDR7 modules on the GeForce RTX 5050?
Unless you're living in a cave, you couldn't have missed last autumn's computer component event. No, we're not talking about a product release that's going to revolutionize everything! Since the end of September and, even more clearly, November, it's been the galloping inflation observed on certain products that has been stirring the crowds: just think, DRAM has risen so much in the space of a few weeks that some batches of DDR5 bars have gained 300%! What's even more disturbing is that this inflation is contagious, and NAND has also been affected, driving up the cost of SSDs.
Like dominoes, this double inflation has also affected all products that need DRAM and NAND to function... in the IT world, that is, just about all of them. Most computer manufacturers have had to raise their prices, and the graphics card giants find it much more profitable to sell cards with less video memory than models with more. For example, NVIDIA prefers to split the 16GB of a GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB into two GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8GB. A logical choice. But the firm founded and chaired by Jensen Huang may have another idea to satisfy gamers.
VideoCardz details the supposed features of the hypothetical GeForce RTX 5050 9GB © VideoCardz
Without producing cards with 12 GB, 16 GB or even 24 GB, NVIDIA is said to have the idea of slightly increasing the amount of video memory on its GeForce RTX 5050. In the minds of many gamers, 8 GB is too little, so why not offer 9 GB? To achieve such a figure - highly unusual in the sector - NVIDIA is taking advantage of the (relatively) recent launch of 3 GB GDDR7 modules. In fact, to get to 9 GB, all you need to do is combine three of these modules, which also boast a speed of 28 Gbps. Having said that, let's not forget that to combine three modules, NVIDIA has to switch to a bus of just 96-bit, compared with 128-bit on current RTX 5050s: the higher speed of the modules would then compensate for this bus reduction, and still result in higher bandwidth.
Bear in mind that NVIDIA has not, of course, confirmed this. It's still just a rumour, but it would be in line with the American group's new strategy. What's more, it would offer gamers a bit more without driving up the price of these entry-level cards. To be continued...
