But here, in an unexpected twist of fate, the long-awaited, so-called SUPER refresh of its GeForce RTX 50-series desktop graphics cards might be put on hold - and PC builders need to take notice of it. A number of established hardware retailers are circulating rumours that the intended RTX 50 SUPER models (such as the hypothetical RTX 5070 Super, 5070 Ti Super and 5080 Super) may not be produced at all or may not be launched until much later.
The underlying cause seems to be a shortage of 3 GB GDDR7 memory modules - and severe increase in prices. The higher density chips were supposed to allow the "Super" models to support a larger VRAM (e.g. 18 GB rather than 12 GB on a 5070 class, or 24 GB rather than 16 GB on a 5080 class) with no increase in the memory bus width. The leak chain says that a big part of the free GDDR7 capacity is being redirected into AI/data-centre workloads and Nvidia might need to drop/delay the refresh.
What is the implication of this to PC builders? First: in case you have been holding on to a purchase of a current RTX 50-series card hoping that a so-called SUPER upgrade, you might want to think twice. The refresh being questionable, the current cards are left as the best available at the present. Second: the existing models can increase in prices. Even non-SUPER models may also be priced higher as the cost of memory is rising. Third: to the people that are currently constructing a new system, this may be a window to seal a good deal - especially when you do find RTX 50-series cards at under MSRP - since the projected upgrade path might not be achievable so quickly as you might think.
Naturally, one should keep in mind that these are just rumours. Nvidia has not officially reported the cancellation of the SUPER refresh and historically such leakages are not always based on final decisions. So caution is still advised.
In summary: PC builders need to operate today on the basis of what is actually available and at what price not on what they hope to get in an eventual SUPER refresh. And when you are ready, do not wait forever just in case something never arrives; and monitor the prices in memory-module, as that aspect seems to be driving more of the GPU roadmap than many people had supposed.
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