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Bad news PC gamers – it seems AMD’s aggressively low price for its Radeon RX 9070 GPU will only be for a limited time

  • Some worldwide retailers have confirmed the RX 9070’s timed MSRP
  • It’s claimed only the first batch of select models will be available for $549
  • Once sold, the new prices could match (or narrow) that of the RX 9070 XT

It’s launch day for AMD‘s RDNA 4 graphics cards, with the RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT now available on store shelves. However, as some online retailers have mentioned already, the former’s respective MSRP ($549) may only apply to the initial batch of the GPUs sold, with future supply seeing a potential price increase.

As spotted by Videocardz, it’s alleged that the RX 9070 will only be sold at its MSRP of $549 for a limited time, as AMD’s partners will be able to set their prices. Swedish retailer Inet.se informed the outlet that the MSRP would only be respected for the first run, as the company evidenced this with its selling of PowerColor Reaper variants, as the prices of a second shipment are reportedly already higher.

The retailer explained how its AMD RX 9070 stock prices will depend on the manufacturer shipping the different cards, outlining that with “Sapphire and Asus it will be just usual” as you’ll be able to buy the GPUs at MSRP until they run out. However, it also said that it will be different with PowerColor. “Our second shipment from PowerColor is already waiting, and we cannot it at MSRP prices”.

To clarify, it says it will sell the first run of PowerColor Reaper RX 9070 cards it has in stock until they are sold out, and then increase prices when it is fulfilling orders from the second batch. “If you receive an order with MSRP price even though the cards are sold out we will of course give you that price, but unfortunately we have no way of continuing to sell cards at MSRP after the first deliveries are sold out”.

This is a problem that seems to impact prospective buyers in the UK as well. Andrew Gibson, Purchasing Manager for Overclockers UK, spoke about the limited amount of RX 9070 stock at MSRP from the retailer. He explained the retailer had around 5,000 cards in total from Sapphire (2,000), PowerColor (1,000), and ASRock (1,000), but that “MSRP is capped quantity of a few hundred, so prices will jump once those are sold through”.

It’s believed that only four different variants of the AMD RX 9070 will be available for its MSRP price: the PowerColor Reaper, Sapphire Pulse, Asus Prime, and XFX Swift, at least for the initial shipment window, as outlined in Sweden and the UK. There’s a possibility that things could be broadened in the US; however, there’s also no guarantee that the prices you’ll see today (and over the next few days) will be as low as what could come shortly if you don’t pull the trigger early.

A wrench in the works for RDNA’s budget performer

Earlier today, we praised the fact that many retailers were (seemingly) flush with options for RX 9070 XT stock on launch day, something that we cannot say for the dismal state of Nvidia‘s RTX 50 series in contrast. However, while availability doesn’t appear to be marred the same way, the fact that the aggressive $549 starting price seems so ephemeral is disappointing, given the overall value proposition.

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As it stands, the RX 9070 is just $50 cheaper than the (current) RDNA 4 flagship model, the RX 9070 XT, which is available for $599. However, if you’re unable to secure a non-XT model for its recommended retail price, then the overall point of the card in the face of its sibling seems moot by comparison. While stock is flying off the shelves (many of the MSRP models mentioned above are no longer available), you’re prompted to pay extra to get one instead, which is far from ideal.

As such, what’s the point of the RX 9070 if you’re going to have to spend the same money (or more) than purchasing the RX 9070 XT instead? The latter appears more available with retailers such as Best Buy, Newegg, B&H, and Micro Center having stock by comparison. To try to avoid disappointment, we recommend keeping up with our regularly updated dedicated RX 9070 and RX 9070 stock tracker.

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Nvidia’s 572.70 Game Ready Driver promises a black screen fix

  • Nvidia released a new Game Ready Driver for RTX 5070 support and DLSS 4 updates for some new and current games
  • Users continue to voice frustrations regarding black screen issues after new driver update
  • It may be ideal to hold off on updates until Team Green releases more stable builds

The tables are gradually turning in the battle between Nvidia and AMD in the GPU market, with the former’s RTX 5000 series launch coming with a litany of problems, which AMD is taking full advantage of with its Radeon RX 9000 series launch. While Team Green’s new Game Ready Driver promises a fix for some previous issues, it may be a good idea to stay away from it for the time being.

In a blog released by Nvidia, a new Game Ready Driver (572.70) is available which provides support for its new RTX 5070 GPU, along with DLSS 4 Multi-Frame Generation support for some games. It also suggests a fix for a previous black screen issue when attempting to boot into systems while using DisplayPort.

This issue seemed to be widespread after people installed driver 572.60 – I can corroborate this as booting into Windows 11 resulted in the login screen disappearing, leaving only the mouse cursor. The solution was uninstalling the ‘latest quality update’ in Windows 11‘s recovery mode, and rolling the driver back to 572.47 for stability.

It’s not the first time this has occurred – the driver that introduced DLSS 4 override for RTX GPUs (572.16), reportedly caused Blue Screen of Death errors when gaming, notably in Marvel‘s Spider-Man 2 when activating or adjusting Frame Generation settings.

A hotfix (572.65) was released to address 572.60’s major bug, but the issue remained (according to some Reddit users). Meanwhile, whilst the release notes for the new 572.70 update suggest the black screen issues have been resolved, users are still reporting the same problems, alongside stuttering in games and a black screen bug during the driver’s installation. This isn’t ideal, particularly for those using Team Green’s new RTX 5070 (the driver has been specifically released to support the GPU), and adds to the list of controversies surrounding the new Blackwell GPUs.

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An Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 leaning against its retail packaging with the RTX 5080 logo visible

(Image credit: Future)

Roll back your drivers, and stay away for now

Unless you’re using an RTX 5070, I would suggest you roll back your Nvidia graphics driver as soon as possible – I’ve been using driver 572.47 ever since encountering the black screen booting issue, and haven’t looked back.

Team Green is under fire for several problems regarding its Blackwell GPUs, and I worry that it won’t end anytime soon. The last thing you want to happen is for a future unstable driver to drastically affect your system, and recurring BSoDs, in-game crashes, installation issues and unresponsive black screens are not a great sign in my book.

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I must note that all PC configurations aren’t the same, and it’s likely some may not run into any of these issues (which I hope is the case) – but with the consistency of frustrations shared and the similarity between them, I’m willing to stick with what is most stable for now (even if it means losing out on any game enhancements).

I hope that Nvidia can get back to launching stable drivers that don’t further damage its reputation – though bear in mind, drivers may always have one or two issues for a number of users – but until then, I’ll be keeping my system clean of any GPU driver updates.

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AMD might go for Nvidia’s jugular in Q2 with a faster RX 9070 ‘Extreme’ GPU that could leave the RTX 5070 Ti in the dust

  • AMD is rumored to be planning a faster take on its RX 9070 models
  • This ‘Ultimate Navi 48’ GPU is supposedly being readied for a Q2 release
  • AMD is apparently aiming for a performance level of between the RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5080

AMD could be releasing a faster take on its RX 9070 GPUs as soon as Q2 2025, according to a fresh rumor.

Moore’s Law is Dead (MLID) has a new video out on YouTube which discusses a range of topics across AMD’s new RDNA 4 GPUs, with the excellent RX 9070 XT and vanilla 9070 having gone on sale yesterday – and part of the chatter here is more reinforcement of what we’ve already heard about the MSRPs of these boards.

Before I get into that, though, the most interesting revelation here (in my book) is that AMD is purportedly set to produce a new RDNA 4 graphics card using the Navi 48 chip – the one RX 9070 models are built on – with the GPU pushed to the absolute max.

According to one of MLID’s sources at a big US retailer, AMD’s graphics card making partners have been briefed on an ‘Ultimate Navi 48’ GPU which could be released in Q2, though I’d guess this would be more towards June than April (as this is the first whisper of such a board).

Team Red is apparently shooting for a performance level of between the RTX 5070 Ti and the RTX 5080. Naming-wise, this GPU would presumably be an RX 9070 XTX (or 9070 XT Extreme Edition as MLID suggests).

MLID doesn’t have anything else to share about this theoretical graphics card in terms of how the spec might pan out, so this is an early-stage rumor, for sure.

As mentioned, the YouTuber also talks about the RX 9070 launch supply, which was apparently triple the volume of the entire amount of Blackwell GPUs (all RTX 5000 models) that have arrived so far since the end of January.

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MLID asserts that the supply of RX 9070 boards is going to be more robust than Nvidia’s RTX 5000 models going forward – not just at launch – with one obvious caveat.

That catch is that only a percentage of the entry-level RDNA 4 graphics cards were sold at MSRP, and as we saw yesterday, once that initial batch was gone, those baseline boards got a fair bit more expensive.

If you’re hoping to grab one of AMD’s new graphics cards, don’t forget, we’re here to give you a leg up with securing your purchase courtesy of our guide on where to buy the RX 9070 XT and RX 9070.

RX 9070 XT & RTX 5070 Launch Analysis | AMD RDNA 4 Supply Leak – YouTube RX 9070 XT & RTX 5070 Launch Analysis | AMD RDNA 4 Supply Leak - YouTube Watch On

Analysis: An explosive Q2 beckons – and AMD is clearly off to a better start than Nvidia

Presumably with the supposed RX 9070 XTX, or Extreme Edition, we’d be looking at beefed up clock speeds, and possibly more VRAM (perhaps with the memory notched up on the speed front, too, MLID speculates). Whatever the case, however AMD might go with the spec, the intention is clear enough – to produce a GPU that would be roughly equivalent to a (theoretical) RTX 5070 Ti Super, or thereabouts.

What’s also planned for Q2 officially, as announced by AMD at the RX 9070 reveal at the end of February, is the debut of RX 9060 models, bringing more wallet-friendly fodder to the GPU world. So, in theory there’s plenty to look forward to as we head into Q2 which starts in only a few weeks.

As for the RX 9070 launch, from what I saw, stock did appear to be present in reasonable quantities – even if MSRP-level graphics cards sold out quite quickly (but not in the blink of an eye).

Is it fair that there aren’t any MSRP boards left now, because AMD is only willing to subsidize a limited number of RX 9070 graphics cards to get them at that price level for the on-sale day, so the recommended launch price is technically correct?

Well, it’s not an ideal situation, of course. We’re told by MLID that the entry-level price for the RX 9070 XT is likely to be around $670 going forward in the US, and looking at UK pricing now, entry-level 9070 XT boards are actually in stock, but they’re now 10% over the MSRP (roughly the same as that expected US price).

However, as MLID points out, at least a 10% hike isn’t terrible – when the 9070 XT looks good value in the first place, certainly – and there is still stock available in the UK at least (not in the US, mind, that I can see at the time of writing).

With restocking expected to be more robust, too, with AMD’s RDNA 4 graphics cards, this is at least a lot better than the situation with Nvidia’s RTX 5000 GPUs. That said, it’d be difficult to imagine a launch scenario much worse than Blackwell has been, sadly.

Team Red has done okay here, then, on balance, but it remains disappointing to me that the MSRP of RX 9070 models has proved to be something of an illusion spell cast by AMD. Still, with some Black Friday or Prime Day magic, those asking prices may well return later this year…

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Budget gamers rejoice as Nvidia RTX 5050 and RTX 5060 are rumored to launch in April

  • The RTX 5050 and RTX 5060 are rumored to launch in April 2025
  • It’s believed the MSRP of the former could be $299, matching the RTX 3050
  • Claims are circulating that there will be three variants of RTX 5060 available

The Nvidia RTX 5050 and RTX 5060 are rumored to launch next month, based on the latest rumors circulating online.

According to WCCF Tech, the two mainstream Blackwell RTX 50 series graphics cards will be released soon, following the midrange RTX 5070, which launched earlier this week.

It’s believed that the RTX 5050 will use the PG162 PCB with 8GB GDDR7 VRAM and a 145W TDP. Its pricing is expected to fall within the range of $199 to $249, depending on the manufacturer. This would position it alongside other entry-level graphics cards on the market, such as the Intel Arc B580 from December 2024, which we praised with a five-star score in our review.

April could also see the launches of both the RTX 5060 and the RTX 5060 Ti, with the former launching at the end of the month and the latter claimed to be coming earlier. It is rumored that both GPUs will utilize 8GB GDDR7 VRAM (with the Ti supposedly having a 16GB option), with the RTX 5060 expected to retail from $299, but this is unconfirmed at this time, and so far few concrete details are known about the hardware inside the two budget offerings.

Additionally, alleged industry insider MEGAsizeGPU has claimed that the RTX 5060 family could be announced 10 days from now to hit the shelves “a month later”. This backs up WCCFTech’s information about a launch coming sooner rather than later, and it’s certainly believable considering the trajectory we’ve typically seen in Nvidia’s graphics card launches. Historically, the 90 and 80-class cards come first, with 70-class and mainstream offerings following closely behind.

While unconfirmed, TechPowerUp claims that the RTX 5060 will be built on the GB206 graphics processor with 4,608 cores, 144 Texture Mapping Units, and a 128-bit memory bus combined with its 8GB GDDR7 VRAM. In contrast, this source claims the RTX 5060 Ti’s 16GB variant will be otherwise identical, save for double the VRAM. It’s likely a placeholder until an official reveal and tech specs are announced, however, it gives us a rough idea of how they could stack up to the company’s best graphics cards on the market.

A return for Nvidia’s 50-class dedicated graphics cards

Should these rumors be true, then we will be seeing the return of the 50-class graphics cards for the first time since January 2022 with the desktop RTX 3050. While far from gaming powerhouses, these affordable cards have (traditionally) given wallet-conscious gamers a way to keep up with today’s demanding games in 1080p, even featuring some light ray tracing functionality.

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While there technically was an RTX 4050 GPU, it was solely used as a graphics solution inside cheap gaming laptops and never saw a release as a dedicated graphics card. The RTX 4060 was the mainstream leader of Nvidia’s previous gen, starting at $299. Depending on the MSRPs of the RTX 5050 and RTX 5060, we could see a disparity in price similar to the difference between AMD‘s RX 9070 ($549) and 9070 XT ($599).

At a time when it looks as though Nvidia is solely focused on pushing the goal posts in terms of both price and performance, the addition of a 50-class and three 60-class versions of Blackwell could make DLSS 4 (and Multi Frame Generation) far easier to access for those who don’t want to pay out $600 or more at the minimum.

Performance of these cards are unlikely to be groundbreaking, but if upscaling from 720p to 1080p for the RTX 5050 and 1080p to 1440p with MFG, we could see the perennially popular RTX 3060 12GB and RTX 4060 finally dethroned from their top spots in the Steam Hardware Survey.

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AMD officially announces price and release date for Ryzen 9 9900X3D and 9950X3D processors

  • Both the AMD Ryzen 9900X3D and 9950X3D are releasing on March 12, 2025
  • The respective MSRPs for both CPUs are $599 and $699, similar to previous gen
  • The former features a 120W TDP whereas the latter uses a 170W TDP instead

Several months after first being announced at CES 2025, AMD has now officially confirmed the price and release date for its Ryzen 9 9900X3D and 9950X3D processors. They’re billed as the “world’s best processor for gaming and content creation”.

Both the Ryzen 9 9900X3D and 9950X3D processors will be available starting March 12, 2025. The former carries an MSRP of $599, with the latter available for $699, being the two most expensive (and high-performance) chips from the company.

On the technical side of things, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D is confirmed to feature 16 cores (32 threads) with a base clock speed of 4.3 GHz and a boost clock of up to 5.7 GHz. There’s 144 MB of second-generation 3D V-cache stacked onboard with a 170W TDP.

In contrast, the secondary processor, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D, features 12 cores (24 threads) with a base clock speed of 4.4 GHz and a boost clock of up to 5.5 GHz and 128MB of 3D V-cache pool available. Unlike the flagship model, this processor features the lower 120W TDP of the Ryzen 9 9900X (and cheaper Ryzen 7 9800X3D), which debuted back in August and November 2024.

As with all Ryzen 7000 and Ryzen 9000 processors, the 9900X3D and 9950X3D are built on the AM5 platform, meaning you’ll need a compatible motherboard. Similarly, these chips are built exclusively for DDR5 RAM and have PCIe 5.0 compatibility out of the box. If you’re thinking of upgrading from an older AM4 platform, then you’ll have to do more than just swap out the chips.

Regardless of which of the two new processors you choose from, you’re going to want to invest in one of the best CPU coolers in 2025 to keep those core temperatures down whether you’re gaming, rendering projects, or more. This is particularly true for the Ryzen 9950X3D with its 170W TDP, matching that of the non-3D variants, something we had not seen up until this point.

With a higher thermal design power comes increased heat along with the performance. We recommend a dedicated AIO with a large radiator attached (such as 240mm or 360mm) with a PC case with sufficient airflow and fans inside the computer case.

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Leading CPU options, provided you’ve got the cash to spend

While both the AMD Ryzen 9900X3D and 9950X3D processors are expensive, the company has made the smart decision to keep the prices consistent with the previous generation versions (7900X3D and 7950X3D) from 2023. Whether the generational performance gains are strong enough to consider investing in is something that we’ll only know after thorough testing, but those considering upgrading from AM4 should notice sweeping benefits.

How AMD’s second-generation 3D V-cache works is by having a dedicated pool of L3 memory stacked onto the chip which acts as a short-term (but incredibly fast) resource for the processor to access immediate data, for higher gaming framerates and lower rendering times than what’s seen from processors without a surplus of L3 cache / V-cache. By having frequently accessed data so close to the CPU cores, there’s less of a delay between processes and higher performance as a result.

With that said, AMD chipsets with a higher TDP can (usually) outperform the lower TDP 3D options when it comes to productivity and synthetic performance. However, gamers and content creators will notice the edge in performance thanks to the 3D V-cache. It’s a curious (but welcome) decision to see the Ryzen 9 9900X3D and 9950X3D with identical TDPs to their non-3D counterparts. We could, therefore, see improved performance across the board.

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iPhone 17 Ultra may replace Apple’s Pro Max with 3 exclusive features

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard rumors like this, but Apple is said to want the iPhone 17 lineup to be unlike any other smartphone lineup Apple has unveiled in one key way. On Naver, well-known leaker yeux1122 shared a few tidbits about the end of the iPhone Pro Max, as Apple supposedly wants to rebrand its most expensive phone as the iPhone 17 Ultra.

Rumors of an iPhone Ultra rebrand aren’t new. We’ve heard Apple could be readying this device for a long time. While creating a top tier above the iPhone Pro Max didn’t make sense, rebranding this device as an iPhone Ultra could be the obvious solution.

Yeux1122 believes Apple wants to give the iPhone 17 series a new look, which is why it might offer a regular model, an Air version, a regular Pro, and an Ultra device. According to the leaker, the iPhone 17 Ultra is expected to have three previously-rumored exclusive features to help set it apart:

Smaller Dynamic Island: Rumors about this change are contradictory. However, based on information from Weibo, Taiwanese, and US investment reports, Apple could add a much narrower Dynamic Island to this device. They say, “Component supply orders suggest that there aren’t enough parts to extend this feature to the Pro model.”

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Vapor chamber cooling: After three different reports about vapor chamber cooling, the leaker believes it will be exclusive to the Ultra model. This unique cooling system would make the iPhone 17 Ultra more power-efficient and perfect for playing demanding games without overheating the phone. They say this feature has been confirmed through supply chain sources.

Larger battery: Lastly, a recent rumor suggested Apple could make the iPhone 17 Pro Max thicker to add a larger battery. The leaker believes the larger battery will be available for the iPhone 17 Ultra.

yeux1122 also says that the company is at a “turning point where it aims to refresh the iPhone lineup” alongside a major iOS 19 revamp. They also believe Apple might be willing to change some of the names of the iPhone 17 series and highlight the new iPhone 16e to reiterate the new Air and Ultra names.

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Nvidia’s GeForce graphics driver woes continue for some users, despite 572.75 hotfix’s overclock and black screen promises

  • Nvidia’s new GeForce Hotfix Display Driver 572.75 supposedly fixes overclocking issue for some
  • Black screen login issues remain, as users voice further complaints
  • It adds to the growing list of Team Green’s controversies amid the RTX 5000 series launch

Nvidia‘s recent Game Ready Drivers have come with a list of issues, which appear to have begun with the launch of its RTX 5000 series and seem to be affecting all manner of RTX GPU owners. However, while Team Green is working hard to resolve driver hiccups, some users are still frustrated.

As highlighted on Nvidia’s support page, a new GeForce Hotfix Display Driver 572.75 has been released with patch notes addressing an overclocking issue, including black screen problems (notably on RTX 5000 series GPUs). This comes after the previous Game Ready Driver 572.70 that added support for the new RTX 5070 GPU and was supposed to solve a black screen booting issue that leaves users stuck at a blank login screen when connected via DisplayPort on certain monitors. Unfortunately, it appears as though the latter remains for some users.

It’s not exactly clear whether the issue stems from the drivers’ dedicated support for Team Green’s new Blackwell GPUs – one thing that is clear though, is that the black screen issue mostly occurs during system boot which renders PCs inoperable (beyond the BIOS) until repaired via Windows recovery mode.

Having faced black screen issues myself, I have switched back to driver 572.47, and it’s been smooth sailing without any glaring problems to note. Due to reports that this latest hotfix doesn’t appear to have completely fixed the issues, it’s yet another reason why it may be best to avoid updating drivers for now unless necessary.

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Moody shot of an Nvidia GPU

(Image credit: Andreas Merchel / Shutterstock)

More momentum for AMD…

It’s no secret that the RTX 5000 series launch has been a bit of a mess – from reports of missing ROPs, limited availability, inflated prices (partner cards), and now driver issues, it’s left some fans of Team Green in a sour mood.

AMD‘s Radeon RX 9070 series has also just launched, enjoying heaps of praise for its performance capabilities at affordable prices – and while it’s not a perfect launch since prices at some retailers are above MSRP, Team Red has been off to a much better start compared to its main rival.

The tide appears to be turning drastically now, as AMD’s Radeon GPU drivers were often criticized for issues in the past – which some used as a reason to avoid Radeon GPUs – but this is now happening with Nvidia’s Game Ready Drivers.

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If this same pattern continues, I expect AMD GPUs to become much more popular among PC gamers – and as one who has been crying out for competition against Nvidia’s market domination, it’s pleasing to see – though I’d rather AMD’s success didn’t come at the cost of poor experiences for Nvidia GPU owners.

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RTX 5050 rumors detail full spec of desktop graphics card, suggesting Nvidia may use slower video RAM – but I wouldn’t panic yet

  • We’ve had word of the rumored specs for Nvidia’s RTX 5050 desktop GPU
  • Two sources are saying that it’ll use slower GDDR6 VRAM, rather than the GDDR7 modules used with other Blackwell GPUs
  • Based on that, and the rest of the supposed spec, some PC gamers are not impressed, but it’s too early to judge yet

Apparently Nvidia does have an RTX 5050 inbound as a desktop graphics card (and likely a laptop GPU too), and we’ve just caught a bunch of spilled specs for this low-tier Blackwell model.

As flagged up by VideoCardz in both cases [1, 2], there have been two purported leaks around the RTX 5050, both of which insist that the graphics card will use a slower type of video memory than the rest of the existing Blackwell desktop GPU range.

First off came an assertion from Chinese tech site Benchlife that the RTX 5050 will have 8GB of video RAM, but that it’ll be slower GDDR6 memory, rather than the new GDDR7 featured in all the RTX 5000 GPUs so far (and rumored for the RTX 5060 models, too).

That’s backed up by a regular hardware gossip on X, Kopite7kimi, who also claims to have word on the specs of the RTX 5050. This leaker believes the VRAM will end up as 8GB of GDDR6 (with a 128-bit memory bus), and that the RTX 5050 will have 2,560 CUDA Cores (using the GB207 bottom-tier Blackwell chip).

The power consumption is supposedly set at 130W, we’re told.

This is the first concrete info on the full specs of this graphics card, but obviously, take all this with plenty of caution. However, the fact that we’re hearing more and more about the RTX 5050 now, including firmer spec details, does suggest that it’s more likely to be something Nvidia has up its sleeve, not just as a laptop GPU, but a desktop graphics card. (Remember that the RTX 4050 was a mobile graphics card only, present in budget gaming laptops – there was no desktop incarnation for PCs).

Indeed, the buzz on the rumor mill is that the RTX 5050 could arrive in a matter of weeks, and the RTX 5060 models aren’t too far off either. We may be looking at April (or May) for all these graphics cards to arrive (and announcements from Nvidia could come very soon indeed).

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Kopite7kimi also mentions the RTX 5060, echoing previous rumors of the spec, with the RTX 5060 Ti supposedly set to be offered in 16GB and 8GB flavors, and the vanilla 5060 just an 8GB version (with GDDR7 VRAM, though).

The leaker reckons the RTX 5060 Ti will sport 4,608 CUDA Cores, and a power consumption of 180W.

Nvidia geforce rtx 3050

(Image credit: Future)

Analysis: RTX 5050 in the bin already? Not so fast…

There’s nothing unexpected in equipping the RTX 5050 with 8GB of video RAM – indeed, this would be the expected allocation at the far budget end of the RTX spectrum – but slower GDDR6 memory is a bolt out of the blue (or green, rather).

Previous rumors suggested Nvidia was sticking with GDDR7 for the entire Blackwell range, but then, we’ve never been sure Team Green intends to make a desktop RTX 5050. Indeed, we still can’t be sure – but as noted, it’s looking more likely at this point.

Would much slower VRAM effectively hamstring the RTX 5050? Well, clearly it wouldn’t help, and a big part of the performance increase with Blackwell has been achieved by Nvidia thanks to the faster GDDR7 modules on these graphics cards. (As Blackwell’s VRAM loadouts have largely stagnated, as we’ve seen with the RTX 5080, 5070, and indeed the rumored plan to stick with the same video memory configurations with the RTX 5060 models).

So, leaving that generational boost out of the equation isn’t going to be good for the RTX 5050, and as gamers are already speculating, we might get a GPU that’s not a whole lot better than the RTX 3060 here (or one that’ll fall short of the RTX 4060, anyway).

Going by the rumor mill, the RTX 5050 is a reaction to the launch of Intel’s Arc B580 graphics card, which would appear to suggest that it’s aiming to compete with Team Blue’s well-received offering. At least in theory, but it feels like what we’re seeing on paper here for the RTX 5050 doesn’t fit that bill, and Nvidia would need something a fair bit peppier. Given that the B580 handles 1440p duties capably – and notably has 12GB of VRAM – whereas the RTX 5050 presented here looks more 1080p fare.

Perhaps Nvidia intends to push clock speeds with the RTX 5050, which the power consumption hints at, in order to get a faster graphics card – but overall, something doesn’t quite add up with the chatter from the rumor mill here, particularly that B580 comparison.

Really, though, speculating on performance at this stage is a bit premature – albeit the temptation is inevitable – but of course we need the price of the RTX 5050 to get a fuller perspective on what’s being offered.

Personally, I think there’s quite a lot of pressure on Nvidia to get some goodwill back with gamers, given how the Blackwell launch has limped along thus far. So an RTX 5050 which is priced very affordably – which lesser performance levels could hint at – would be a great way to do that. We’ve been a long time waiting for an Nvidia RTX desktop GPU at a true budget price level, after all.

Is this naïve thinking? Quite possibly, although other rumors have indicated a possible MSRP as low as $199 (or $249) in the US, and the point is, let’s not go throwing the (purported) RTX 5050 in the bin just yet. It might end up wresting the crown away from Intel’s B580, our reigning best budget GPU, you never know.

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Modders do what AMD can’t (or won’t) by adding FSR 4 support to more games

  • AMD’s FSR 4 can now be used in more games that don’t have an official implementation, thanks to the Optiscaler mod
  • It isn’t compatible with all games, as FSR 4 reportedly doesn’t support Vulkan yet
  • Players may run into trouble using the mod in anti-cheat games

The reception to AMD’s Radeon RX 9070 series GPU launch was mixed considering the inflated prices, and lack of availability for some. However, if you were fortunate enough to land one at MSRP, a new and improved mod may make life a little easier regarding AMD‘s new upscaling method and its compatibility in games.

As reported by VideoCardz, modders have managed to implement AMD FSR 4 support in numerous titles that already have DLSS or XeSS (Nvidia and Intel’s similar technologies, respectively). This is all thanks to a mod known as Optiscaler on GitHub from cdozdil, which has previously been used to enable other older versions of upscaling methods in titles that don’t have official support.

It’s an important mod for Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT users to take advantage of since so far, there are only a few titles that have official FSR 4 implementation from game developers. FSR 4 significantly enhances visual quality, particularly with its performance mode – which is arguably a game changer as previous FSR models suffered from ghosting issues that caused a blurry image or trail left behind by in-game UI or character models when in motion.

As well as super-resolution (Xe Super Sampling for Intel’s XeSS), frame generation can also be injected in unsupported games – this is similar to Nukem (on GitHub) which uses DLSS’ Frame Generation in games to implement FSR 3’s frame generation.

While it certainly isn’t as well polished as official support (it’s currently an experimental addition), it could be enough to hold users over for the time being. It’s worth noting that not all games are supported on Optiscaler as of now, which is supposedly because FSR 4 doesn’t support Vulkan (a graphics API used for rendering in plenty of games) yet.

There’s no guarantee that certain titles will even get official FSR 4 implementation – it took CD Projekt Red several months to add FSR 3 to Cyberpunk 2077 (likely because of its partnership with Nvidia), so don’t expect it to happen overnight with FSR 4 – especially with other titles that share a similar agreement with Nvidia.

The AMD Radeon Graphics badge displayed over an RGB gaming keyboard.

(Image credit: Ralf Liebhold / Shutterstock)

Modding capabilities as such should be allowed on anti-cheat games

While mods like this are great for RDNA 4 users and those who can’t use frame generation (mostly owners of Nvidia RTX 3000 series and older GPUs), the only major downside is that it doesn’t seem to work with games that use anti-cheating tools.

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Titles like Elden Ring, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, and The Finals, use anti-cheat software which is used to prevent cheating online. While I won’t argue against these measures (even though they can ruin performance in some games), they make mods like Optiscaler effectively useless, as users could be banned if they are using it.. Now, I haven’t seen cases of this myself without players genuinely cheating, but it doesn’t mean it’s impossible either.

I’ve shared the same frustrations when it comes to games that don’t support ultrawide resolutions and aspect ratios – those games usually require modification, as evident in Street Fighter 6 which cannot be played at 21:9 or 32:9 aspect ratios unless you use RE Framework by Praydog on GitHub, but Capcom views modding as cheating.

It’s a very similar scenario in this case – gamers spend hard-earned money to acquire new hardware, and if you can’t even use upscaling methods like FSR 4 in a large number of titles, mods like Optiscaler are the only way. So, with those anti-cheat measurements, maybe dial it down a little…Please?

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Apple’s top Siri exec calls AI crisis ‘ugly’ and ’embarrassing’

A week after Apple admitted that its revamped Siri with onscreen awareness and context understanding would be delayed with a release in the “coming year,” Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman reports that Apple’s senior director at Siri’s division, Robby Walker, had an all-hands meeting with his team, and said that delaying these key features has been “ugly” and “embarrassing.”

More interestingly, the report reveals that the company had nothing more than a video mock-up of these features, as it had “a barely working prototype” during the WWDC 2024 keynote. With that, the top Apple executive said in the meeting that it’s “unclear when the enhancement will actually launch.”

Gurman reports: “During the all-hands gathering, Walker suggested that employees on his team may be feeling angry, disappointed, burned out, and embarrassed after the features were postponed. The company had been racing to get the technology ready for this spring, but now the features aren’t expected until next year at the earliest, people familiar with the matter have said.”

What makes this crisis worse is that Apple heavily promoted features that were nowhere near launching, including an iPhone 16 ad highlighting the onscreen awareness of Siri, which has now been made private on YouTube.

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Even though Gurman says Apple’s executives took “intense personal accountability” for this PR crisis, Apple doesn’t plan to “immediately fire any top executives,” although this could change at any time.

Still, the journalist reveals the situation isn’t as bad as it could be. The onscreen awareness of Siri would work two-thirds to 80% of the time. Still, the executives understood the percentage needed to be higher to actually be helpful to customers, so Apple decided to delay these features.

During the meeting, Walker showed staff a few ways the new Siri already works, such as locating his driver’s license number, finding specific photos of a child, and even manipulating apps precisely via voice control.

Still, this isn’t the only feature Apple is developing to overcome this AI crisis. The company wants to make Siri more conversational by 2027, even though it will require new infrastructure.

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