Nvidia’s RTX 5090 now rumored to have superfast clock speeds – as well as being super-slim – could this GPU be too good to be true?

A mystery GPU with a colorful burst behind it
(Image credit: Future/Shutterstock)

Nvidia’s RTX 5090 could come packing way faster clock speeds than its predecessor flagship graphics card, or that’s the word from the grapevine.

As VideoCardz reports, over at the Chiphell forums, Panzerlied – a regular source of leaks, but still one we should approach with some trepidation – reckons that the RTX 5090 will run with a base clock of close to 2.9GHz out of the box.

To put that in perspective, the current Lovelace top dog GPU only just edges over 2.2GHz for its base clock, so the RTX 5090 will be very close to 30% faster than this – if, and it’s a chunky old if, this rumor is correct.

Indeed, even when boosting, the RTX 4090 typically doesn’t get much above 2.5GHz (out of the box, with default boosts), let alone anywhere near 3GHz. So, this is a pretty eye-opening revelation.

Panzerlied also recently informed us about the RTX 5090 supposedly using a 448-bit memory bus (as opposed to the previously rumored 512-bit bus), which would mean a VRAM loadout of 28GB (and not 32GB – though either way, that’s a massive amount of onboard memory). Remember, this will be speedy GDDR7 video RAM, too, if the rumor mill is anything to go by (and to be fair, this makes sense, especially for higher-end Blackwell GPUs).


Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090

(Image credit: Future)

Analysis: Curveballs and conflicting rumors

This one is a bit of a curveball in some respects. For a base clock speed, 2.9GHz (or near) would be a huge step up. Remember, this is the out-of-the-box stock clock, so the boost would be higher, and of course, the potential to overclock on top of that would be higher still. You can get an RTX 4090 to 3GHz with overclocking (using an excellent cooling system, and the right know-how), so what might we expect from a 5090 in terms of pushing the GPU to its limits, if it’s not that far off 3GHz with its mere base clock?

So, we’re finding this rumor a bit difficult to swallow, particularly as it seems to be confusing matters with another piece of recent speculation. Namely, that the RTX 5090 could be much slimmed down, and perhaps even be a two-slot graphics card (rather than a three-slot-plus affair).

The suggestion, then, is a much trimmer RTX 5090 that’ll more easily fit in your PC case, with massively juiced-up clock speeds. Two pieces of the rumor puzzle that don’t really fit very well together in terms of believability, let’s be honest. Unless Nvidia really is working miracles behind the scenes with the next-gen flagship to make it the best GPU ever seen at the premium end of the market.

Other RTX 5090 rumors have contradicted the slim graphics card theory, mind, though we need to be skeptical about those, too. Also, with a predicted up to 70% performance boost (gen-on-gen) in the past, the clock speeds being cranked up considerably could explain why Nvidia is getting such a big leap here. So, the ramped-up clocks could seem the more likely prospect, arguably, of these two rumor pieces, but we obviously can’t jump to conclusions.

Whatever the case, this won’t dampen expectations for the RTX 5090 to be a beast of a gaming GPU, and we’ll just have to wait to hear any further chatter on possible specs. We may not be all that far off our first leaked image, too, which will certainly confirm the size rumors, one way or another. The RTX 5090 is expected to debut later in 2024, maybe in just a few months, although it’s possible Nvidia’s RTX 5080 may launch a short time ahead of it.

You might also like

TOPICS

Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).

Read more
Moody shot of an Nvidia GPU
Nvidia RTX 5090 FE rumor claims high-end GPU gets loud - but other reports tell a very different story
The power connector for an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card
Nvidia RTX 5000 prediction suggests RTX 5090 will be a monster flagship GPU... but it’s the RTX 5070 I’m worried about
An Nvidia GeForce RTX 5000 GPU on a green patterned background.
A possible Nvidia RTX 5090 prototype shows what might have been – an absolute monster with nearly 25K CUDA cores and an 800W TDP
An Nvidia RTX 4090
Uh oh... Zotac just leaked Nvidia’s next-gen launch line-up, including RTX 5090 GPU with 32GB of VRAM
An Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Super on a desk
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 appears to leak ahead of possible CES 2025 announcement
An Nvidia RTX 4090
Nvidia RTX 5090 rumor suggests flagship GPU might not guzzle as much power as previously claimed – but don’t get too excited
Latest in GPU
An Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti
Nvidia could unleash RTX 5060 and 5060 Ti GPUs on PC gamers tomorrow, but there’s no sign of rumored RTX 5050 yet
An Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 on a table with its retail packaging
Nvidia RTX 5060 GPU spotted in Acer gaming PC, suggesting rumors of imminent launch are correct – and that it’ll run with only 8GB of video RAM
An AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT made by Sapphire on a table with its retail packaging
Want to buy an RX 9070 or 9070 XT but fed up of the GPUs being out of stock? AMD promises that “more supply is coming ASAP”
AMD RX 9070 GPU models
Modders do what AMD can't (or won't) by adding FSR 4 support to more games
Nvidia geforce rtx 3050
RTX 5050 rumors detail full spec of desktop graphics card, suggesting Nvidia may use slower video RAM – but I wouldn’t panic yet
Nvidia logo on a dark background
Nvidia's GeForce graphics driver woes continue for some users, despite 572.75 hotfix's overclock and black screen promises
Latest in News
A collage of Tom Holland's unmasked Spider-Man and Sadie Sink's Max in Stranger Things season 4
Marvel reportedly casts Stranger Things star Sadie Sink in Spider-Man 4, but I don't want her to tackle the roles she's rumored to play
Google Gemini Robotics
Gemini just got physical and you should prepare for a robot revolution
Lilo & Stitch Official Trailer
Stitch crashes into earth and steals our hearts with the first trailer for the live-action Lilo & Stitch
GTA 5
GTA Online publisher Take-Two is gunning for a black market that’s basically heaven for cheaters
Y2K cast looking shocked
Y2K has a streaming release date on Max, so you can witness the technology uprising at home
The Discovery+ homepage
Discovery+ just got a big update to its streaming app that makes it more like Max – here are 5 great new features to try