According to a leak in the Chiphell forums, Nvidia is cobbling together an RTX 5070 Super and, more importantly, an RTX 5080 Super that will supposedly ship with 24GB of GDDR7 VRAM. That is a  step up from the plain RTX 5080 and the earlier RTX 4080 Super, which wheezed along with 16GB of VRAM.

MSI had previously teased a non-Super RTX 5080 using 24GB of GDDR7 VRAM, so it is unclear if Nvidia is just slapping in more memory or actually planning a Super variant. Either way, the rumour smells slightly less dubious now.

If the leak holds true, the RTX 5080 Super could match the RTX 4090’s memory size but with faster GDDR7 rather than the crusty GDDR6X VRAM. It would still lumber along with the GB203 die, though, which is a few rungs below the RTX 4090’s AD102 silicon. Despite its age, the RTX 4090 easily stomps the RTX 5080.

This VRAM upgrade might help, but no amount of lipstick will turn this pig into a proper successor. The unconfirmed card would benefit from the extra memory, given the endless parade of triple-A games demanding more VRAM.

Even if the RTX 5080 Super manages to rub shoulders with the RTX 4090, the bin fire that is the GPU market means hardly anyone will care. Few gamers are willing to cough up these days.

Unless Nvidia prices the RTX 5080 Super lower than the standard RTX 5080, like it did with the RTX 4080 Super, it is probably going to rot on shelves. Performance close to the RTX 4090 will not mean much if the price tag punches harder.

Even if Nvidia somehow nails performance and cost, the market’s broken spine means it will likely be slapped with a price higher than a RTX 4090 anyway. Third-party RTX 4090 cards are still selling above launch price, nearly three years since they first staggered onto shelves.

Would be lovely to be wrong, but if this rumour proves true, expect a slight bump in performance rather than anything that will dethrone the reigning king.