Nvidia is reportedly making a U-turn on its plan to release the 24 GB variant of RTX 5080. The company is finding it difficult to secure 3 GB GDDR7 memory modules for cheap, and that has reportedly forced the company to cancel the release.
Previously, it was reported that Nvidia will discontinue the RTX 5080 16 GB variant and replace it with the 24 GB version, but the soaring VRAM prices is making it difficult for the company to sustain enough chips for its graphics cards. Consequently, the company will continue to produce the 16 GB variant.
The 24 GB variant was expected to launch in China as early as December 2026. According to Gazlog, the development documents for the chip, which include everything partners need to design, engineer, test, and mass-produce their own custom circuit boards and cooling solutions for a new graphics card, was supposed to be distributed to Add-in Board (AIB) partners in October, but it had not arrived by the end of October, putting the release in doubt.
According to China’s Bobantang (Board Channels), Nvidia has officially notified AIB that it has canceled its plans to release RTX 5080 24 GB in China in January 2027 without an alternate date.
The RTX 5080 with 24 GB VRAM would reportedly use 3 GB GDDR7 memory modules instead of the 2 GB modules used in the entire RTX 50 series. However, doing so would have increased the price of RTX 5080 24 GB significantly. One report mentioned that the RTX 5080 24 GB could launch at about $2000, which would be twice the MSRP of the RTX 5080 16 GB Founders Edition. This would have a greater impact on sales, and so, Nvidia decided to ditch the release plan.
Nvidia will now continue the production of RTX 5080 16 GB, which was previously rumored to have been canceled. In fact, it was delisted from the official Nvidia marketplace, but that is quite common for brands to list and delist GPUs. Soon, the prices could hit $3000 as MSI is reportedly increasing its price by up to $1200.
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