The Chinese market will only have the flagship GeForce RTX 5090D

Due to US export limitations, Nvidia is unable to launch its most advanced AI accelerators in China and other similarly restricted regions. As a result of these restrictions, the company has developed the GeForce RTX 4090D, a modified RTX 4090 model with certain CUDA cores deactivated to comply with US regulations. Recently, it appears Nvidia is planning to introduce a corresponding RTX 5090 variant known as the RTX 5090D.

According to a recent leak from MEGAsizeGPU, the alleged logotype for NVIDIA's next-generation "China-compliant" flagship GPU has appeared online. At this point, details on how Nvidia plans to limit the AI capabilities of the RTX 5090D or how it might outperform the RTX 4090D remain unclear. It is important to note that the US export restrictions specifically target a GPU's AI capabilities rather than its gaming capabilities. This distinction is how Nvidia could potentially offer a RTX 5090D model. Nonetheless, it is still uncertain how Nvidia has been able to enhance gaming performance while throttling AI capabilities.

If the US were to impose stricter export controls, it’s possible that Nvidia's RTX 5090D could be subject to eventual bans. In the past, Nvidia has introduced various new GPU variants to navigate around US export restrictions, and further US actions could follow if the company continues to test the boundaries. With the RTX 4090D, Nvidia has indeed made their GPUs non-overclockable to prevent users from restoring the lost performance. However, overclockers have swiftly found ways to bypass these limitations, allowing users to regain the full capabilities of the RTX 4090. This essentially rendered the US's RTX 4090 export limitations ineffective.

In certain ways, the Nvidia RTX 5090D is poised to be an intriguing GPU. What methods has Nvidia employed this time to navigate US export limitations? How has the company managed to improve upon the RTX 4090D to present a meaningful advancement for gamers? Will this new D-series GPU provide gaming performance on par with a genuine RTX 5090? Only time will reveal the answers.

In the meantime, while we await more thrilling updates, don’t forget to use our comparison tool to find the best offers on your next favorite game.