Earlier this year, we learned that NVIDIA might be planning to introduce a 9 GB edition of the GeForce RTX 5050 graphics card. However, later rumors suggested that the development was paused, and the latest reports claim that the project has been entirely canceled. According to MEGAsizeGPU, the GeForce RTX 5050 9 GB edition has been canceled because NVIDIA is currently relaunching its GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB edition GPU, which would compete with its own revived product. To avoid this overlap, the company has reportedly canceled the RTX 5050 9 GB edition launch. Initially, NVIDIA aimed to introduce this 9 GB version to address memory shortages in the lower-end segment. Instead of using four GDDR6 modules with 2 GB capacity each, NVIDIA planned to switch to three modules of GDDR7 with 3 GB capacity each, reducing the number of memory modules needed for this GPU.

For example, the current RTX 5050 uses 8 GB of 20 Gbps GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 320 GB/s of bandwidth. The 9 GB model was expected to use three modules of GDDR7 memory, each with 3 GB of capacity, resulting in a total of 9 GB across a 96-bit memory bus. While the narrower bus decreases the interface width, the switch to the new 28 Gbps GDDR7 memory would increase total memory bandwidth to 336 GB/s, a roughly 5% improvement, along with a 12.5% boost in VRAM capacity. Earlier leaks also claimed that NVIDIA was using the GB206 as a GPU base, while the older RTX 5050 8 GB with GDDR6 used the GB207 die. However, the core count remained at 2,560 CUDA cores. Since the GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GPU is already on a path toward revival, launching this GPU wouldn't make sense.