By Elroy Fernandes
Publication Date: 2026-10-12 18:39:00
Nvidia’s long-rumored 24GB RTX 5080 refresh is now tracking toward early 2027. The reason traces straight back to the same GDDR7 supply crunch feeding Nvidia’s higher-margin AI and professional cards.
The GeForce RTX 5080 Super, expected to carry 24GB of GDDR7 memory instead of the current card’s 16GB, has slipped again. Earlier reports from Overclock3D, Club386 and PCGamesN pointed toward a CES 2027 window, while newer reporting from VideoCardz says Nvidia is preparing a 24GB RTX 5080 for Q1 2027 and that board partners are still waiting for details. CES 2027 runs in Las Vegas from January 6-9. That is another move after earlier reporting pointed to a Q1 2026 launch, then a Q3 2026 window, according to TweakTown. Neither date held.
The holdup isn’t design or yield. It’s memory economics. The Super refresh depends on new 3GB GDDR7 modules, double the density of the 2GB chips used in the current RTX 5080, and those modules are scarce because Nvidia’s own AI accelerators need the same supply. Guru3d reported that the 3GB GDDR7 packages are running Nvidia and its partners $60 to $70 each, roughly three times the $20 or so that 2GB modules cost. Multiply that across a 24GB card with eight memory chips and the bill of materials jumps by hundreds of dollars before Nvidia even sets a price.
That is not a rounding error for a card expected to launch somewhere in the $1,000 to $1,200 range. It is the difference between a profitable refresh and a thin one, at a moment when…
