Nvidia’s next-gen GPU plans could be good news for Intel and AMD

According to a new leak from Benchlife, Nvidia may launch the vast majority of the RTX 50-series in the first quarter of 2025 — but one GPU is notably missing from the early lineup. That could be very good news for AMD and Intel. While Nvidia will rule the high-end market, the other two brands may get to swoop in with some of the best graphics cards for gamers on a budget and get some breathing room before Nvidia strikes back.

Benchlife reveals that we’ll see many of the RTX 50-series staples arrive in the first quarter of the year. The flagship RTX 5090 and the RTX 5080 arriving in January feel like a sure thing at this point, but many leakers also suggest that we’ll see other GPUs make their debut during CES 2025.

The RTX 5090, RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti, and RTX 5070 are all said to be launching in the first quarter of the year. The RTX 5090D is also said to be coming around that time, and it’s likely to be a cutdown version of the RTX 5090 made to be exported to China. There’s no mention of the RTX 5080D, though. That implies the base RTX 5080 may have specs and performance that already make the cutoff.

Benchlife also revealed a bit more of the specs for the upcoming GPUs. We heard about the RTX 5070 Ti yesterday, which is said to feature 8,960 CUDA cores. Benchlife now adds that it’ll also have 16GB of GDDR7 memory. Meanwhile, the RTX 5070 is said to sport 6,400 CUDA cores, a 250-watt thermal design power (TDP), and 12GB of GDDR7 memory. The signs are all there pointing toward Nvidia keeping the RTX 5060 with just 8GB of VRAM, but of course, all of this is just speculation at this point.

With four GPUs hitting the shelves in the first quarter, Nvidia will have pretty good coverage of the market, from the high-end to the mainstream. However, the lack of news about the RTX 5060 Ti and the RTX 5060 is interesting. Could it be that Nvidia is taking its time with releasing its most popular GPUs?

That kind of adds up. Recent leaks revealed that Nvidia is reportedly ending production for just about every RTX 40-series GPU apart from the RTX 4060, and if the 5060 is not expected to arrive until later, that might be why Nvidia continues making new RTX 4060s.

Assuming all of the above checks out, Intel and AMD will have a unique opportunity to strike at the budget side of the market without much next-gen competition from Nvidia. Both manufacturers are said to be aiming for the mainstream market, with AMD’s flagship unlikely to be able to rival anything above an RTX 5070 Ti. As such, having less competition with a delayed RTX 5060 is good news all around for AMD and Intel.

It won’t be long before we know more. Nvidia is rumored to announce the RTX 50-series at CES 2025 in January, and AMD is set to do the same with RDNA 4. Intel may strike first, with Battlemage possibly arriving in December.