Alleged GeForce RTX 5090 Seen Booting In Indonesian Factory Test Run But Is It Real?

by · HotHardware

Graphics cards have taken on an incredibly important role in the world, with AI leading the front of human technological progress. Gaming has also blossomed into a mammoth industry, leading to demand for gaming GPUs to skyrocket during the last several releases. Nothing is as exciting as the prospect of a new NVIDIA GPU, especially a top-tier offering. To that end, a new flagship GeForce GPU is on the horizon, and it may have made an early appearance. Or maybe not...

A supposed testing environment of NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce RTX 5090 has allegedly been leaked, from a factory in Indonesia. The RTX 5090 is rumored to be a ground-stomping beast of a GPU, with 32GB of GDDR7 VRAM at a 512-bit memory bus. Together with a potential 600-watt TDP, this seems like the perfect hybrid between a gaming and productivity powerhouse. 

There appears to be a problem with the legitimacy of the video, however. MEGAsizeGPU (@Zed_-Wang) on X/Twitter has stated that it is more likely a GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super Solid OC 16GB, and not the 50 series GPU. The notable leaker says the GeForce RTX 5090 is still in the QS qualification phase and not yet in production. NVIDIA partners will often use similar air coolers across different models of GPUs in the lineup, so without more detailed photos it is difficult to assess.

There's more intrigue, though. MEGAsizeGPU has since deleted the post on X/Twitter that essentially called the video a fake. So your guess is as good as ours.

From a blurry glance, it does not look significantly different than the air cooler designs on the GeForce RTX 4090. The current flagship has already had some rather large coolers, so the new offering may not be much larger. Newer cooling designs or other innovations would be welcomed if the 600-watt TDP rings true to keep it thermally in check, however. 

A video on Bilibili shows testing of what could be an RTX 5090

Factories being in Indonesia may be due to U.S restrictions on import into China, but the important thing here is the showcase of the potential GeForce RTX 5090. The GPU brand is from Zotac, which is a third party add-in-board partner, or AIB. Due to the AI arms race between worldwide countries, tougher restrictions have been placed on powerful GPUs. While most will fall under NVIDIA's data center lineup, the current GeForce RTX 4090 is powerful enough that has met the guidelines for restriction. Likewise, an even more potent GeForce RTX 5090 will surely also have the same issue. 

The Blackwell GeForce RTX 5090 should also have as many as 21,760 shader units, eclipsing the 16,384 of the Ada Lovelace GeForce RTX 4090. While pricing for the GeForce RTX 5090 is still unknown, at least a small price increase over the GeForce RTX 4090 should be expected. Reports of significantly higher pricing has not been deemed authentic, but remains unpredictable. 

The factory video on Bilibili gives us an interesting look at a possible GeForce RTX 5090, if that's indeed what it is. We are still months away from release, so there is still time for NVIDIA to finish its testing. A potential announcement should come at CES 2025 in January, where the NVIDIA CEO will be the keynote speaker.  A launch should come soon after if history is any indication.