GPU
The Great NVIDIA Switcheroo | GPU Shrinkflation
We look at how NVIDIA has downsized essentially all of its gaming GPUs in terms of relative configuration compared to each generation’s flagship
NVIDIA is giving you the least amount of CUDA cores for a given class of GPU than ever before.
Today an RTX 5070 is comparable to a GTX 950 (watch our review) in some ways when you run some numbers. An RTX 5080 isn’t distant from a 2060 (read our review) in some considerations. The relationship between the number of CUDA cores the flagship has and the number of CUDA cores the lower-tier GPUs has been getting worse basically across the board. The amount of money you have to spend, even adjusted for inflation, to buy the GPUs has been staying flat or rising.
When this happens in any other product category it’s called shrinkflation.
Editor's note: This was originally published on April 3, 2025 as a video. This content has been adapted to written format for this article and is unchanged from the original publication.
