It’s now being reported that NVIDIA has cancelled plans to launch the RTX 5080 24GB early next year. According to discussions over at the Chinese Board Channels forums, the company has already informed add-in board channels partners that it will no longer proceed with the variant and instead reinstate the current 16GB model.
The reason behind the alleged cancellation is due to the cost of 3GB GDDR7 memory chips. Compared to the 16GB version of the RTX 5080 that currently uses 2GB chips, the 24GB version would’ve used 3GB modules to form the new graphics memory pool.
By all accounts, the 3GB GDDR7 memory chips currently cost three times more than the 2GB counterparts. This, in turn, has made it difficult for NVIDIA to manufacture and sell at a price that is acceptable to the consumer market. In light of this, and as mentioned, the brand will retain the status quo with the current 16GB model.
If this turns out to be true, then it stands as one heck of a U-turn for NVIDIA, given the fanfare that has surrounded this topic. Since rumours of the company discontinuing the RTX 5090 – those rumours have since been dispelled by the brand – started, they were also accompanied by a secondary rumour, which is that of the RTX 5080 shipping out with 24GB. The rumours also said that the card would ship out sometime during the first quarter of next year, so the alleged cancellation of the January 2027 launch window tracks.
But, to be fair, board partners had said that they hadn’t received the design kits for said RTX 5080 24GB still, which had already cast doubt on said January 2027 window. It also doesn’t help that the company also has to deal with the current affair scandal between its CEO, Jensen Huang, and the alleged Chinese spy, Alice Huang.
(Source: Board Channels via Videocardz)
