Nvidia’s RTX 5090D maintains full RTX 5090 specs – Leaker claims
Nvidia’s restrictions-busting GeForce RTX 5090D may be the same as an RTX 5090 on a hardware-level
Nvidia’s upcoming GeForce RTX 5090D is going to be a lot more powerful than expected, at least according to the leaker Panzerlied. The GPU is claimed to have “no hardware difference from an RTX 5090, making the Chinese variant practically identical to its Western counterpart.
What is the RTX 5090D? It’s Nvidia’s answer to US export restrictions on AI hardware. Nvidia can’t export AI hardware above a certain performance level to China and other restricted markets. This banned RTX 4090 exports to China and resulted in the release of Nvidia’s RTX 4090D. The RTX 4090D is a slightly less powerful variant of Nvidia’s RTX 4090.
Since the US export restrictions apply to AI performance, Nvidia doesn’t necessarily need to nerf its upcoming RTX 5090 too aggressively to avoid these restrictions. Only AI performance needs to be reduced, and AI performance isn’t gaming performance.
If Panzerlied is correct, Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 5090D will have the same hardware as the RTX 5090. This should mean that it will have the same number of CUDA cores and the same amount of GDDR7 memory. All Nvidia needs to do is reduce its GPU’s AI performance to enable Chinese exports. This could be achieved through a locked-down BIOS with restrictions on Tensor performance or by disabling some tensor performance in hardware. However, even with these limitations, there is a chance that the US will tighten its restrictions to ban Nvidia’s planned RTX 5090D.
(Panzerlied – via harukaze5719)
Will Nvidia software lock the Geforce RTX 5090D to reduce its AI performance?
If Nvidia opts for a software lock for its RTX 5090D, it will only be a matter of time before this lock is bypassed. Remember, users bypassed the RTX 4090D’s overclocking restrictions. This enabled full RTX 4090 performance through overclocking. Again, when Nvidia locked down the cryptocurrency mining performance of its RTX 30 series GPUs, these restrictions were eventually bypassed.
If a bypass is possible to enable full RTX 5090D AI performance, users will eventually find it. Nvidia should consider this, given the US’ export restrictions. Their product will effectively break US export restrictions if/when a bypass is found. After all, are Nvidia complying with export restrictions if their RTX 5090D is a BIOS update or modded driver away from full RTX 5090 AI performance? For this reason, Nvidia should limit their RTX 5090D at a hardware level, making any such bypass impossible.
Note that restrictions to AI performance may impact the performance of DLSS and other AI-based gaming features. This may make the RTX 5090D weaker than the RTX 5090 in some games. However, clock speeds for both GPUs are reportedly identical.
You can join the discussion on Nvidia’s rumoured RTX 5090D specifications on the OC3D Forums.
