NVIDIA is quietly adding a new option for laptop buyers who want its mid-range 5070 graphics card. Starting in June, some laptops will ship with a version that has 12GB of VRAM. Until now, the 5070 for laptops only came with 8GB.
The news was hidden inside a company blog post about driver updates. NVIDIA said its partners, including ASUS, Lenovo, and MSI, will begin offering the 12GB model next month.
Why the change? NVIDIA says demand for its chips is very high, but it is running into limits on memory supplies. By making a 12GB version, the company can use a different kind of memory chip that is more available right now. The new model uses 24Gb G7 memory, which comes in 3GB pieces. The older 8GB card uses 16Gb G7 memory with 2GB pieces. The main difference is where the parts come from, not how fast they run.
NVIDIA has not released a full list of technical details for the new card. But experts point out one likely limit. Unless the company gave the card a wider 192-bit bus interface path, which most do not expect, the 5070 will not handle the extra memory as quickly as higher end cards like the 5070 Ti. That said, for regular gaming, this speed difference may not be very noticeable.
Pricing is still unknown, as NVIDIA and its partner brands have yet to reveal them. However, it’s expected to be more expensive than the current 8GB variants.