Introduction
Next year, Nvidia is expected to release a plethora of new graphics cards, and early in 2025, we’ll probably see a good number of Blackwell GPUs. Furthermore, if it does materialize later in 2025 as predicted, Nvidia’s ambitious intentions to introduce its own processor—an Arm-based microprocessor for PCs—could pose a threat to AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm.
Are you ready to learn more about what Team Green is probably working on for the upcoming season? Let’s get right to the point and take a closer look at the likely scenarios.
Nvidia’s CES 2025 GPU launch frenzy
Next-generation Blackwell GeForce graphics cards are expected to be unveiled at CES 2025, according to rumors, and it would be shocking if Team Green didn’t make the announcement during CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote address on January 6, 2025. As of right now, Nvidia has essentially confirmed this.
Which Blackwell GPUs are going to be made public? According to rumors, the flagship RTX 5090 and the RTX 5080, which both promise a significant performance boost, will be the first models to be released.
If you take the leaked specifications with a grain of salt, the RTX 5090 is reportedly 1.5–1.7 times faster than the RTX 4090. The next-generation flagship’s 600W power consumption raises concerns about the cost as well, with a price increase likely to surpass the MSRP of the RTX 4090. This significant generational jump could come at a price.
The RTX 5080 is also subject to those cost concerns; according to sources, Nvidia may market it to its partners as a “professional GPU,” implying that it will be pricey. With some disagreement around the apparent choice of 16GB for the VRAM loadout—which may not be the whole picture, mind you—spec rumors regarding the RTX 5080 have been a bit of a wild ride.
Alongside these two GPUs, the RTX 5070 may also be unveiled at CES 2025, at least based on some of the rumors that have been circulating. However, according to various rumors, this graphics card might be released in February 2025, a little after the RTX 5090 and 5080. The RTX 5070 Ti may launch before the RTX 5070, according to several theories (and that Ti spin may be pretty peppy).
In any case, there is some agreement that RTX 5070 models—likely two of them—will be available in early 2025. A number of spec rumors have also been made, including the possibility that Nvidia will cut corners with the VRAM. In terms of future-proofing for the price that the GPU will undoubtedly command, Team Green is reportedly only planning 12GB for the RTX 5070 this time around.
In summary, the RTX 5090 and 5080, along with the RTX 5070 and/or 5070 Ti, are expected to represent the next generation of desktop GPUs. All of these could be presented, or at least hinted at, during CES 2025.
Blackwell GPUs for gaming laptops may also be unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show. From the RTX 5050 to the RTX 5090, Nvidia may showcase mobile graphics cards; the RTX 5080 is said to be a potent beast of a notebook GPU. Another hypothesis is that Nvidia will continue to support the RTX 4050 mobile under the RTX 5050 in order to provide a powerful enough product for low-cost gaming laptops.
DLSS 4 might be released to support RTX 5000 GPUs.
At CES 2025, Nvidia may reveal DLSS 4, or at the very least, provide some fresh details on the frame rate enhancing capability. Given that it’s a clear strategy to increase sales of next-generation GPUs, it makes likely that the future generation of DLSS would be exclusively compatible with RTX 5000 GPUs, as was the case with DLSS 3 and current-generation Lovelace graphics cards.
However, there haven’t been any concrete disclosures about what DLSS 4 might achieve yet, which raises some questions about a CES 2025 reveal at this late point. However, you can expect that Nvidia will release DLSS 4 sometime in the upcoming year.
Additional desktop graphics cards made by Blackwell
What other desktop graphics cards might Nvidia release later in 2025 once the initial Blackwell GPU launches—the RTX 5090, 5080, and perhaps those 5070 variants as well—have subsided?
The missing component is the RTX 5060, and since there have been fewer speculations about this GPU, we think it might not be released until later in 2025. When considering Nvidia’s previous launch schedules, it took seven to eight months for the RTX 4060 versions to appear following the first release of the Lovelace top GPU.
But recently, rumors regarding the RTX 5060 have surfaced, suggesting that the graphics card may be released in March or Q1 of 2025. The concern with the RTX 5060 is that Nvidia might continue to use the same 8GB of video RAM as the RTX 4060. (Although the RTX 5060 Ti is also believed to be on the way, it may contain 16GB, but all of this definitely needs a lot of seasoning).
Nvidia’s CPU is expected to compete with AMD and Intel domestically.
With a plethora of next-generation GPUs, 2025 may not only be a significant year for graphics cards, but Nvidia may also make a shocking move in a completely different area. That is, if rumors that Team Green will introduce a new Arm-based CPU aimed at consumers next year are accurate.
Although Nvidia’s effort would be arm-based (as opposed to x86), it would theoretically be a desktop chip that would compete with AMD and Intel in their home processor zone. This would make it a rival to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon (Arm) CPUs, which are now making a major splash in Copilot+ PCs.
Naturally, the Arm-based SoC would make use of Nvidia’s GPU know-how to deliver lively integrated graphics, and previous reports indicated that Team Green might be collaborating with MediaTek to manufacture these chips. There may be space for Nvidia, or maybe other companies, to enter the market now that Qualcomm’s monopoly on Windows on Arm SoCs is supposedly ending.
Naturally, Windows on Arm would cause the same problems for Nvidia’s CPU as it does for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X line. The inherent compatibility issues with that platform, such as software emulation (running x86 apps on Arm) and performance overheads, would affect Team Green’s chip.
Of course, Arm also has advantages in terms of battery life and cost (theoretically, far less expensive Snapdragon X laptops will be arriving in 2025). Additionally, as time goes on, app compatibility can become less of a problem. What exactly is that?
It’s important to keep in mind that Qualcomm has already made a significant effort with its Snapdragon X chips. If Nvidia and MediaTek follow suit as expected, the demand for PCs using Arm processors will further strengthen. Developers will naturally write more software for Arm natively as the market expands, as analysts predict big things for Arm devices and the hardware begins to carve out more and more sales with numerous IT giants backing these PCs.
If these claims are true, that is at least the notion and probably the vision that Nvidia has in mind. It’s also important to remember that Apple has also led the way with its own M-series CPUs.
Nvidia’s Arm-based CPU is expected to come later in 2025, although it’s unclear if this would coincide with a large-scale rollout of laptops that use the processors, which might not occur until 2026. Nevertheless, this appears to be a planned move by Nvidia for next year, which might be revolutionary in the laptop market and cause Intel to hesitate.
Final reflections
It is likely that Nvidia’s full line of next-generation Blackwell desktop gaming GPUs will be available in 2025, most likely quite early. Rumor has it that some models will have video RAM configurations that are regrettably weak and that the price tags may also be exorbitant.
The mid-range and lower-end AMD RDNA 4 graphics cards, which are anticipated to ship in Q1 2025, will be up against those new GeForce chips, which are sure to create quite a stir in the GPU industry.
However, if Nvidia releases that speculated Arm processor, it might stir up the CPU pot even more vigorously, not in terms of the PC scene in 2025 but rather in terms of what the future might hold.
Although Arm laptops will be a longer-term game, expert projections of Windows on Arm PC sales jumping sharply upward start to look a lot more plausible if companies like Nvidia and MediaTek support them alongside Qualcomm. These gadgets may become a significant force in the computing industry by the end of the decade, and the PC revolution may start the following year.
