Nvidia RTX 5090D GPU confirmed by leaker
Nvidia has a restriction-busting RTX 5090 variant planned for China and similar markets
Thanks to US export restrictions, Nvidia cannot release its most powerful AI accelerators in China and similarly limited markets. These restrictions resulted in the creation of the GeForce RTX 4090D, an RTX 4090 model with CUDA cores disabled to comply with US policy decisions. Now, it looks like Nvidia has plans to create a similar RTX 5090 variant called the RTX 5090D.
Currently, it is unknown what Nvidia has done to limit the AI performance of their RTX 5090D or how it will outperform the RTX 4090D. Note that the US export restrictions limit a GPU’s AI performance, not its gaming performance. This is how Nvidia will be able to release an RTX 5090D model. That said, it remains unclear how Nvidia has created a more powerful gaming GPU while limiting AI performance.
If the US tightens its export restrictions, Nvidia’s RTX 5090D exports may eventually be banned. Nvidia has created several new GPU models to skirt around US export restrictions in the past, and the US may react with higher restrictions if the company keeps pushing its luck. With the RTX 4090D, Nvidia did make their GPUs non-overclockable to prevent users from regaining lost performance. However, overclockers quickly overcame these limits, allowing users to regain full RTX 4090 performance. This basically made the US’ RTX 4090 export restriction useless.
In some regards, Nvidia’s RTX 5090D will be a fascinating GPU. What has Nvidia done this time to skirt US export restrictions? How has Nvidia surpassed the RTX 4090D to create a worthwhile upgrade for gamers? Will this new D-series GPU deliver similar gaming performance to a proper RTX 5090?
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