NVIDIA appears to have paused or possibly cancelled plans to release a refreshed GeForce RTX 5050 featuring 9GB of GDDR7 memory. Industry insiders report that add-in board (AIB) partners have received no updates on the new model, leaving its launch uncertain. The original RTX 5050 comes with 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM, and the rumored upgrade promised both increased memory capacity and faster speeds.
The anticipated model was expected to boost memory from 8GB to 9GB, coupled with a switch from 20Gbps GDDR6 chips to faster 28Gbps GDDR7, which could increase memory bandwidth slightly despite reducing the memory bus width from 128-bit to 96-bit. This would theoretically raise bandwidth from 320GB/s to around 336GB/s, supporting better performance in budget-friendly GPUs.
However, a prominent hardware leaker on social media suggests the project may be shelved or indefinitely postponed. The decision may be influenced by NVIDIA reissuing the GeForce RTX 3060 12GB — a card competing in the same market segment, which could diminish the impact or necessity of a new RTX 5050 version. Reports from Videocardz also indicate AIB partners have not received any briefing or timeline about the 9GB variant, reinforcing the view that NVIDIA is keeping plans under wraps or reconsidering them entirely.
The scarcity and high demand for advanced memory chips, driven by growing AI workloads and data center needs, complicate the feasibility of launching a modest upgrade. Prioritizing resources for more impactful GPUs or AI-focused hardware might explain the reticence to pursue a marginal refresh of the RTX 5050 series at this time.