Everything We Know (and Don't) About the NVIDIA RTX PRO 5500
The NVIDIA RTX PRO 5500 is a workstation GPU built on the same GB202 die as the RTX 5090, but with 84 GB of memory -- more than 2.5x the 5090's capacity. NVIDIA revealed the new card in mid-September 2026 and currently lists it as "Coming Soon" with no official price or release date.
As for the RTX 5090, it continues to be one of the most sought-after GPUs for both gaming and AI workloads. But getting your hands on one has become increasingly difficult. First-party inventory of the RTX 5090 at major retailers has almost completely evaporated, and third-party pricing has risen far above the original MSRP of $1,999.
Could the emergence of the RTX PRO 5500 and the disappearance of the RTX 5090 be connected? The timing is certainly interesting.
But before we get into that theory, let's separate facts from rumors. Here's what we know about the PRO 5500 so far and what we don't.
RTX PRO 5500 Workstation Edition: What We Know So Far
The latest addition to NVIDIA's Blackwell PRO family, the RTX PRO 5500 is a high-end workstation GPU. It's designed for professional environments that need to run demanding AI, rendering, scientific computing, simulation, and data analytics workloads at scale.
With support for rack-mounted deployment and a choice of air- or liquid-cooled thermal solutions, it offers organizations flexibility in how they integrate the GPU into their infrastructure.
NVIDIA has published the following specifications for the RTX PRO 5500:
- Architecture: Blackwell
- Chip: GB202
- GPU Memory: 84 GB GDDR7 with error-correcting code (ECC)
- Memory Bandwidth: 1,398 GB/s
- Tensor Cores: 5th generation
- Ray Tracing Cores: 4th generation
- Multi-Instance GPU (MIG): Up to two isolated GPU instances
- NVIDIA Encoder (NVENC): 3x 9th generation
- NVIDIA Decoder (NVDEC): 3x 6th generation
- Display Ports: Up to 4x DisplayPort 2.1b
- Max Power Consumption: Up to 600 W
- Graphics Bus: PCIe Gen 5 x16
- Thermal Solutions: Active, air-cooled (liquid-cooled available in the RXM form factor)
The memory configuration is the headline spec, however.
When an AI model doesn't fit in GPU memory, inference may need to offload part of the model to system RAM or storage, or split it across multiple GPUs, slowing down performance. With 84 GB of GDDR7 memory, the RTX PRO 5500 can hold larger models entirely in GPU memory, including some 27B-class Mixture-of-Experts models at full context that would otherwise require two RTX 5090s.
So, how does it stack up against its neighbors in NVIDIA's lineup?
RTX PRO 5500 vs. RTX 5090 vs. RTX PRO 6000
The RTX PRO 5500 sits between NVIDIA's other two top cards featuring the GB202 chip, the GeForce RTX 5090 and the RTX PRO 6000.
Here's how the three GPUs compare:
| FEATURE | RTX 5090 | RTX PRO 5500 | RTX PRO 6000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Blackwell | Blackwell | Blackwell |
| Chip | GB202 | GB202 | GB202 |
| GPU Memory | 32 GB GDDR7 | 84 GB GDDR7 | 96 GB GDDR7 |
| Memory Bandwidth | 1,792 GB/s | 1,398 GB/s | 1,792 GB/s |
| CUDA Cores | 21,760 | 21,760* | 24,064 |
| Error-Correcting Code | No | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-Instance GPU (MIG) | No | 2x42 GB | Up to 4x24 GB |
| Display Ports | 3x DisplayPort 2.1b | Up to 4x DisplayPort 2.1b | 4x DisplayPort 2.1b |
| Max Power | 575 W | 600 W | 600 W |
| Graphics Bus | PCIe Gen 5 x16 | PCIe Gen 5 x16 | PCIe Gen 5 x16 |
| Thermal Solution | Varies depending on edition | Active, air-cooled (liquid-cooled in RXM form factor) | Active, air-cooled |
*NVIDIA's official specs don't currently list a CUDA-core count for the RTX PRO 5500; however, third-party coverage reports 21,760.
Memory, Bandwidth, and Features: Where the RTX PRO 5500 Fits
-
Memory: Compared to the RTX 5090's 32 GB of GPU memory, the RTX PRO 5500's 84 GB capacity places it much closer to the RTX PRO 6000 at 96 GB. Meanwhile, its reported 21,760 CUDA cores put it on par with the RTX 5090, whereas the PRO 6000 has 24,064 CUDA cores – about 11% more.
-
Memory Bandwidth: The RTX 5090 and PRO 6000 both deliver about 1.8 TB/s, while the RTX PRO 5500 is listed at roughly 1.4 TB/s, about 22% lower. This positions the latter primarily as a high-capacity workstation card rather than one with peak throughput.
-
Error-Correcting Code: Unlike the consumer-grade RTX 5090, both the RTX PRO 5500 and the PRO 6000 have ECC memory. That's a big deal for long, complex workloads, because ECC catches and fixes certain memory errors to help prevent data corruption during mission-critical tasks.
-
Virtualization: The RTX PRO 5500 can be divided into two isolated 42 GB instances. The PRO 6000 supports up to four 24 GB instances, but the RTX 5090 can't be partitioned at all.
These features make the RTX PRO 5500 an attractive middle-ground option between the other two cards, as it delivers enterprise-grade stability and virtualization at a more accessible tier than the PRO 6000.
How Much Will the RTX PRO 5500 Cost?
This is where things get a little more uncertain. NVIDIA hasn't announced an official price for the RTX PRO 5500 – but there is at least one online listing for it. Retailer LDLC France has it priced at €16,439.95.
Granted, that doesn't necessarily mean much, given that it's impossible for stores to have any inventory yet, and a retail listing before the GPU is officially available doesn't reflect MSRP. However, the RTX 5090 and PRO 6000 offer a useful point of comparison.
Originally launching at $1,999 in January 2025, the RTX 5090's price has recently skyrocketed. It's now selling for $6,500–$9,500 from some third-party retailers. That's if you can even find it in stock. And it's not alone in experiencing a massive price surge.
NVIDIA's U.S. marketplace currently lists the RTX PRO 6000 Workstation Edition at $16,000, almost double its launch price of $8,565 in March 2025.
Until NVIDIA announces an official price for the RTX PRO 5500, any figures are speculative. But a price tag of $12,000 seems plausible based on the current pricing of the RTX 5090 and PRO 6000, as well as the RTX PRO 5000 72GB at around $9,000. High-volume orders from China could potentially have an impact on price, as well.
Why Is China Interested in the RTX PRO 5500?
There's reportedly substantial interest in the RTX PRO 5500 in China. One possible reason for this is that the chip could offer Chinese firms access to NVIDIA GPU capabilities that are otherwise difficult to obtain under current U.S. export restrictions. Some industry executives reportedly expect the RTX PRO 5500 to fall outside those restrictions.
Over the past few years of shifting regulations, Chinese buyers have had a hard time accessing NVIDIA's most capable data center chips. The RTX PRO 5500 could represent a new source of high-performance GPU capacity for the Chinese market, provided it can actually be imported and purchased at scale.
According to The Information, as reported by Reuters, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has asked domestic companies like ByteDance and Alibaba to submit their plans for purchasing NVIDIA's RTX PRO 5500 chips. The report states that MIIT plans to approve the purchases.
One widely circulated claim is that ByteDance alone is considering an order of 1 million units. However, that figure remains unverified, and Reuters has said it could not immediately confirm the broader report.
What Happened to the RTX 5090?
That brings us back to the question from the beginning: are the RTX PRO 5500 and the vanishing RTX 5090 connected?
The timing suggests it's possible. NVIDIA's announcement of the RTX PRO 5500 in mid-September came just as RTX 5090 availability in the U.S. fell sharply. The two GPUs also share the same GB202 die, so NVIDIA could potentially divert some GB202 production from the RTX 5090 to the PRO 5500.
Tom's Hardware argues that "[NVIDIA] makes substantially more profit by putting recycled GB202 into an RTX PRO 5500 than into a GeForce RTX 5090." The chipmaker may therefore be steering its chip allocation toward professional and AI markets, where the same silicon earns far more per card.
This theory hasn't been confirmed, but one thing is true. The RTX 5090 has suddenly become more expensive and difficult to source, while another GB202-based GPU with more than twice its memory capacity is soon to be on the market. We'll be watching with interest.
Is the RTX PRO 5500 Worth Waiting For?
For AI developers and professionals who need more memory than a consumer GPU can offer, the RTX PRO 5500 is an appealing option. But it still comes down to availability, which is currently unknown, and price, which is likely to be steep.
You don't have to wait for launch or break the bank to work with a high-memory GPU like the PRO 5500. Browse live GPU rental prices on Vast.ai to compare available hardware and find the right compute for your workloads. You'll save 5-6x on average over traditional cloud providers – and pay only for what you use.
