Nvidia blasted as "F-tier" as Edward Snowden blows his whistle over RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 VRAM amounts

It always seemed likely that the keenly awaited GeForce 50 series launch from Nvidia would attract plenty of criticism, especially with leaks concerning high AIB prices and the obligatory stock shortages. But perhaps even Jensen Huang would be surprised to find Edward Snowden taking shots at the company and some of the key specs of the GeForce RTX 5070, RTX 5080, and RTX 5090.

As can be seen in the X post embedded below, clearly Snowden is personally invested in the gaming/PC building scene and has not been too impressed with Team Green’s tactics. The computer security consultant lamented the VRAM offerings for each of the SKUs, with the RTX 5070 coming with 12 GB of memory, the RTX 5080 being loaded with 16 GB, and the RTX 5090 arriving with 32 GB of RAM. Snowden seems particularly irked by the RTX 5080, opining that the combination of price ($999) and VRAM amount for that SKU was “a monopolistic crime against the consumer”.

Such a closing line burn seems appropriate considering Snowden started his inflammatory post by accusing Nvidia of focusing too much on quarterly reports, leading to the brand succumbing to “F-tier value for S-tier prices”. He also suggests that the RTX 5080 should have come in 24 GB and 32 GB flavors while the RTX 5090 should have been released with 32 GB and 48 GB options or even higher. However, Nvidia will continue to have the ability to take advantage of the desktop GPU space until a strong rival can help create a more-competitive and consumer-friendly market.