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The graphics card train left the station weeks before CES 2025 began in early January, with the launch of Intel’s $249 Arc B580, the GPU we’ve been clamoring for since the pandemic. But make no mistake: Intel has to release its second-generation Arc in December because CES is shaping up to be a real windfall for graphics card launches.
Nvidia is in a position teasing CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote of the RTX 50 series announcement, while AMD’s new Radeon cards are rumored to also appear at the show. Yes, my friends, after a few disappointing years for graphics cards, the next generation of gaming products will be revealed at CES 2025 and Nvidia, AMD and Intel seem to be in a position to fight. Let’s dig deeper.
Let’s start with Nvidia’s highly anticipated GeForce RTX 50 series, as the company is already actively teasing it, very sneakily. Then again, who misses the opportunity to tout their next-gen GPU in the first trailer for Witcher four?
The new GeForce cards are a no-brainer; The only question is what specific models we will see announced at Nvidia’s keynote. But what will feed them?
Specs for the GeForce RTX 5090, 5080, and 5070 leaked months ago. (Hit that link for full details.) Normally, we wouldn’t give much credence to ancient rumors, but they’ve remained consistent ever since, and the timing makes sense given that the “Blackwell” GPUs were reportedly delayed by manufacturing issues.
The RTX 5090 appears to be the beast of the bunch (no surprise), as it supposedly offers big innovations in the CUDA count, memory capacity, and bandwidth of the 4090 (32GB on a 512-bit bus !) and in energy consumption: the leaks say this. The monster of a GPU can consume only six hundred watts, 150 W more than its predecessor. And if you think the RTX 4090’s $1,599 price tag is high, prepare to be surprised; I expect the 5090 to command an astronomical sum given its excellence in device learning responsibilities if the leaked specifications turn out to be true. Button.
Nvidia is generating excitement for its new cards with social promotions and a huge “GeForce LAN 50” global LAN party.
NVIDIA
Details are still largely murky about the RTX 5070 (maybe it won’t be announced at CES?), however, the RTX 5080 looks much less like an upgrade. Rumors put its CUDA core count at 10,752, an increase of just 10% over the existing 4080. The memory configuration remains the same apart from the switch from GDDR6 to GDDR7, while overall graphics power is expected to increase from 320W on the 4070 to 400W on the 5070.
Note that the Blackwell architecture that powers the RTX 50 series will have technological differences from the Ada Lovelace architecture of the 40 series, so comparing raw CUDA counts is rarely really apples to apples. Array Nvidia tinkers with the bones of its GPU architectures to improve functionality in various tactics (the RTX 40 series includes a new committed optical flow accelerator to enable DLSS 3 frame generation, as well as a new symbol reordering feature). run shaders to speed up classic rendering, for example). example).
The biggest wildcard here? Software. Nvidia pumps out software features at a frenetic pace, releasing not only DLSS 3 Frame Generation but also DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction during the RTX 4090’s lifespan, along with helpful tools like RTX Video Super Resolution. With Nvidia reigning at the top of the stock market due to the current AI frenzy, I’d be shocked if the company doesn’t announce some new AI-powered tricks at CES 2025.
Compared to Nvidia, AMD has been silent about its plans for CES, other than giving a speech on Monday, January 6, just hours before Nvidia’s. However, Jack Huynh, head of IT and graphics at AMD, teased “our next generation of gaming, PC and enterprise AI innovation” in reference to the statement about may turn out to be true.
But what kind of graphics cards does AMD have up its sleeve for the Radeon RX 8000 series (or is it the Radeon RX 9070 XT)?Don’t hold your breath at an RTX 5090 competitor.
In September, Huynh said that trying to compete for “King of the hill” hasn’t historically worked out for Radeon. “I want to build the best products at the right system price point. So, think about price point-wise; we’ll have leadership.” The company hopes to drive higher adoption in mainstream price points to convince developers to focus on Radeon products. Gaming and AI are both very hot categories right now, and while AMD has footholds in both territories, Nvidia dominates.
Currently rumors are swirling around alleged Radeon RX 9070 XT specs, which if true, means that AMD will continue to battle in all but the tippity-top of the of the GPU grunt charts. If the leaked specs are truly leaked and not simply “made up,” the card could see a big boost in both ray tracing performance and energy efficiency.
But big GPUs are the only potential game out there.
AMD’s Ryzen Z1 with Radeon processors push the limits of today’s gaming laptops, from the Steam Deck to Asus ROG Ally. The company’s keynote landing page says the demo spaces will come with “AMD Ryzen and Radeon games, from handhelds to laptops. ” “
Of course, this may simply mean showcasing the portfolio of existing AMD-powered wearable devices. But we haven’t noticed any wearable devices with the particularly beefier Ryzen Z2 chip yet, and AMD has said we can expect to see them in early 2025. Valve just updated its logo rules to include a new “Developed via” badge. SteamOS” for third-party cars. Third-party material, and we’re already seeing leaks of a second-generation Lenovo Legion handheld. (The first one was powered via AMD. )
Will CES be the Z2 bombing? Fingers crossed.
Intel just unwrapped the fantastic $249 Arc B580 in December. Expect to see the company showing off its second-gen Arc graphics cards at the show – not just partner models of the B580, but also the cheaper $129 Arc B570. That GPU was announced alongside the B580, but won’t hit the streets until January 16. Intel and its partners will no doubt be putting a spotlight on their designs in their booths.
I’d also expect to see at least one gaming handheld powered by Intel’s Core Ultra Series 2 “Lunar Lake” laptop chip, which includes the same Xe 2 graphics cores as Arc. MSI’s Claw was the first Intel-powered gaming handheld at CES last year, and the new Lunar Lake-powered Claw AI Plus series is already being shown off, with a scheduled release date of January 15. So that’s a lock for MSI’s booth at CES. The only question is whether any other handheld vendors will take the plunge alongside MSI.
I’ll be in the CES 2025 room with a group of my friends at PCWorld, so I can bring you the latest news and interviews with the other people making all this new PC hardware. The screen officially runs from January 7 to 10, but the big speeches will take place on Monday, January 6, and other data will be broadcast the weekend before to anticipate the deluge. Stay tuned here at PCWorld and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube and TikTok channel so you won’t miss a thing!Also, subscribe to our Full Nerd channel to listen to our delusional mind in podcast format, live from Las Vegas.
Brad Chacos spends his days poking around on desktop computers and tweeting too much. It specializes in graphics cards and gaming, but covers everything from security to Windows tricks and all types of PC hardware.
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