NVIDIA Quietly Upgrades Blackwell: 12GB Laptops and Desktop "Super" Leaks Spark VRAM Hype

There's been one big thing on everyone's mind recently about high end PC components: Sticker shock. NVIDIA's Blackwell architecture (RTX 50-series) brings undeniable performance jumps, but its price tag has raised many eyebrows regarding the items' upgrade routes, both among builders and among laptop shoppers. But it now appears that NVIDIA has been working on the back burner to solve the generation's biggest pain point.. video memory, mobile and desktop.

The Mobile Fix: RTX 5070 Gets a Much Needed 12GB Upgrade

The gaming industry was not pleased to see NVIDIA just drop the 8GB VRAM configuration for the mobile lineup of the RTX 5070, it received immediate criticism from the community. With the advent of the modern AAA games, 8GB is becoming a hassle to perform at a high setting, which can result in texture pop in and stuttering.

Fortunately, GDDR7 yields and memory sizes have finally reached adulthood. Laptop manufacturers are now introducing a very heavily upgraded version of the 12GB RTX 5070 mobile GPU. With the use of the new, higher density 3GB modules, NVIDIA has been able to double memory capacity without having to redesign the GPU's limited 128-bit memory bus interface.

The 12GB version is among the first commercially available models to feature the high end Legion 7a by Lenovo. It's a powerful 115W Total Graphics Power (TGP) that's just the sort of future proofing mobile gamers have wanted for a long time.

The big disadvantage is the cost. These high end GDDR7 memory modules and the worldwide shortage of memory has caused prices to skyrocket in the first laptops, at least initially. The good news is that some high end setups running with this new GPU and powerful processors are creeping into the $3,000 range at big online stores, and so far it's more of an expensive luxury to be able to make the VRAM upgrade.

The Desktop Twist: Super Rumors Resurrected by Power Supply Leaks

From the desktop side, there's a huge twist that's stirring up the community. Over the past few months, hardware analysts and commentators indicated that NVIDIA should either have stopped its mid generation "Super" refresh or indefinitely delayed it, in order to prioritize the production of high value AI silicon for enterprises. This week, all that changed when an unexpected leak came out of the power supply industry.

Unannounced graphics cards have been quietly added to the official wattage calculators of major PSU manufacturers, be it Seasonic or otherwise.Unannounced GPUs, the RTX 5080 Super and the RTX 5070 Ti Super, are also quietly added to the official wattage calculators of the major power supply manufacturers, namely Seasonic. These calculator updates are of course historically extremely accurate predictors of new hardware because of the need for the power supply manufacturers to have a precise idea of NVIDIA's electrical needs to create an accurate recommendation database ahead of the product's release.

The data leaked reveals a fascinating insight into how NVIDIA intends to infuse Blackwell with new levels of performance. The new RTX 5080 Super is rumored to have a 415W TGP.. That's a significant 55W power increase from the base, non Super desktop RTX 5080, which has 360W.

The standard RTX 5080 already has a fully featured graphics die, so there's no way to just enable more core CPUs on the Super version. NVIDIA is relying on higher power limits, more aggressive factory clock speeds and improved memory speeds to push for performance gains. As with the 5070 mobile upgrade, it appears that these desktop Super cards will be based on 3GB GDDR7 modules, albeit with a higher density. This will take the RTX 5080 Super to a whopping 24GB of VRAM running on a 256-bit bus.. that will break the 1 terabyte per second bandwidth barrier.

What This Means for PC Gamers

In the end, these actions demonstrate NVIDIA's sensitivity to the need for bigger VRAM pools from the community. Whatever you're doing, whether you're looking for a high end gaming laptop that you won't have to upgrade in the year ahead or you're watching the DIY desktop space, the Blackwell architecture is definitely getting a boost in longevity. The real challenge lies in whether the price of these high density memory upgrades will be stable enough to make it cost effective for mainstream build makers.

To see how these new memory configuration work in practice, you can check out the breakdown of the RTX 5070 Mobile 12GB confirmation. This video gives a great idea of how the new 3GB memory module is going to fit in the new high end laptops.