Nvidia kickstarts a “new era of PC” with RTX Spark
Nvidia revolutionises Windows on ARM with unified memory, RTX graphics, and strong game support
Ahead of Computex 2026, Nvidia teased “a new era of PC“, and it has arrived with RTX Spark. Nvidia has unveiled its RTX Spark Superchip, boasting a 20-core Grace CPU, strong Blackwell RTX graphics, and up to 128GB of Unified memory. This is a new Windows PC platform based on ARM, marking Nvidia’s entry into the PC market as a full-system provider.
As of now, Nvidia isn’t just a GPU provider. Nvidia now builds full Windows systems. With these systems, Nvidia promises the “Full Nvidia Stack”. That includes CUDA, RTX, DLSS, FP4, TensorRT, OptiX, Reflex and G-SYNC. That’s a big deal for gamers and workstation users alike. With RTX Spark, PC gamers can finally take Windows on ARM seriously.
Strong Gaming Credentials with RTX
Before AI took over the company, Nvidia was best known as a gaming company. With RTX Spark, Nvidia has promised strong gaming support. With its RTX Spark Superchip, Nvidia has included a Blackwell GPU with up to 6144 CUDA cores. That’s the same number of CUDA cores (6,144) as a desktop RTX 5070. This Blackwell GPU is connected to a custom 20-core Grace CPU using an Nvidia NVLink-C2C interconnect.
Nvidia says that its RTX Spark hardware is ready for gaming and creative workloads, seemingly bringing to an end Windows on ARM’s poor reputation amongst gamers. At 1440p, Nvidia showcased their RTX Spark running what appeared to be Forza Horizon 6 at 100 FPS with Ray Tracing and DLSS. Nvidia also showcased their hardware running Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
Starting with premium laptops
At launch, Nvidia’s new hardware will target premium laptops, with ASUS, Dell, HP, MSI, Microsoft, and Lenovo creating 14-inch and 16-inch models. At launch, Nvidia boasts strong vendor support, and Nvidia is clearly targeting the high-end MacBook audience with these devices.
With support for up to 128GB of Unified memory, these laptops will be incredibly expensive. That said, a GPU with access to that much memory is incredibly valuable. Discrete laptop and desktop GPUs simply don’t have access to that much memory.
Small RTX Spark Desktops are also coming
RTX Spark workstations are also coming from Acer, ASUS, Dell, Gigabyte, HP, Lenovo, and MSI. These devices appear to be strong Mac competitors, offering strong Nvidia graphics and unified memory.
Stronger app support is coming for Windows on ARM
Nvidia has claimed that Adobe is currently working on versions of Photoshop and Premiere “from the ground up” for their Spark hardware. ARM support for more creative applications is coming, delivering optimised support for Nvidia’s new hardware.
When is RTX Spark launching?
Nvidia has confirmed that Spark-based laptops and desktops will become available this fall from various manufacturers. Early systems will target premium price points, though Nvidia plans for lower-end configurations to become available later.
Nvidia has confirmed that its RTX Spark system cannot be paired with discrete GPUs. This will restrict Nvidia’s Spark hardware to compact desktop form factors, much like Apple’s Apple Silicon Macs.
What remains to be seen is how well these chips perform. Will they deliver the same level of game support as Nvidia GPUs with x86 CPUs? Will the CPU side of these chips impress? Can Nvidia’s ARM CPU cores compete favourably with Qualcomm’s? We will learn more later this year.
You can join the discussion on Nvidia’s RTX Spark on the OC3D Forums.
