Has any graphics card ever had a narrative as dramatic because the GeForce XX80? The RTX 3080 was a factor of magnificence, however it was marred by one of many worst shopping for and promoting practices (and crypto mining embezzlement) within the historical past of PC parts. Since then, the RTX 4080 has elevated in worth to a laughable Β£1,269 / $1,199. This was a really critical miscalculation, and the RTX 4080 Tremendous, regardless of not being practically as quick, seemed higher just by not repeating itself. For the brand new RTX 5080, you’ll be able to virtually need That is boring.
it is not. Nevertheless it’s neither a blood pumping product just like the RTX 4080 nor a largely formidable showpiece just like the RTX 5090. Sustaining the value correction of the 4080 Tremendous whereas enhancing the compelling enhancements of DLSS 4, the RTX 5080 is a snug GPU to begin with. Particularly if in case you have a 4K monitor, you’ll be able to profit from it.
It is definitely a wiser buy than the RTX 5090 for high-resolution gameplay. The Founders Version, just like the one I am testing right here, prices Β£979 / $999, or virtually half the value of the subsequent (and final) RTX 50 mannequin. Moreover, it has the identical 16 GB of 256-bit VRAM because the 4080 and 4080 Tremendous, greater than sufficient for all probably the most resource-intensive customers within the AAA business, and has been upgraded to GDDR7 for much more bandwidth. If you buy the Founders Version, you get the identical stunning metallic design and efficient dual-fan cooler because the RTX 5090 FE, and the RTX 4080’s decrease energy consumption means it runs even cooler.
True, that is nonetheless a thirsty creature. NVIDIA believes you may want not less than an 850W PSU to run this, with an estimated most utilization of 360W. Nonetheless, in contrast to the RTX 5090 FE, we’ve not recorded the RTX 5080 FE truly hitting its limits and reaching as much as 322W whereas working video games. The very best GPU temperature was 64 Β°C, 9 Β°C decrease than the 5090. look? It is smart. Ish.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 evaluate: 4K benchmarks
The largest and deadliest decision of a mainstream monitor will not faze the RTX 5080 one bit, even on at this time’s hardest runners. The RTX 5090 is even sooner, however the RTX 5080 constantly matches a very good portion of its sibling’s frames per second output with half the cache. It is also a sexy improve to the RTX 30-series Elite, which is reassuring for those who’re upgrading from an older card, and places it considerably near the RTX 4090, which nonetheless fetches over Β£1300 on the second-hand market on the time of writing.
Avid bar graph followers could do not forget that the RTX 4080 fully defeated the RTX 3090 and RTX 3090 Ti. So it is a bit of a backwards shuffle that prevented the RTX 5080 from fully outperforming the earlier technology’s prime canines so as. I am unsure if it is a significantly huge deal apart from sustaining conventions, however I want the RTX 5080 may pace up rasterized native Rez video games much more than the RTX 4080 Tremendous.
To substantiate this, I will should quickly, sorry, return to my outdated RPS check rig and its Core i5-11600K. That is all we obtained for the RTX 4080 Tremendous. Cyberpunk 2077 sees a big bounce from 51fps on the 4080 Tremendous (at Extremely settings) to 71fps on the 5080, however 81fps at F1 22 (Extremely Excessive) on fashionable GPUs is simply a 12fps improve. Metro Exodus additionally confirmed little enchancment, averaging 99fps on the 4080 Tremendous and 106fps on the 5080.
Nonetheless, these RTX 40 collection playing cards don’t function the complete suite of DLSS 4 framerate therapeutic massage instruments. Certainly one of my private favorites of those is the brand new Transformer mannequin choice for upscaling. This offers a small efficiency improve however improves general picture high quality. enamel Though out there on older RTX fashions, Headline Multi-Body Era (MFG) is unique to the RTX 50 collection. And this might probably permit the RTX 5080 to overhaul the RTX 4090, not less than when it comes to purely seen smoothness.
For these unfamiliar, MFG leverages DLSS 3’s AI body technology, probably producing 1 to three generated frames for each body your PC truly renders. This provides extra enter lag, however not essentially. really feel It is smoother (as a result of the generated frames do not account for mouse actions or keyboard presses), however the visible impression definitely appears significantly better. MFG combines 4K with the business’s most demanding ray tracing and path tracing results on RTX 5080, whereas additionally opening up the potential of body charges in extra of 60 fps. In all three video games I attempted, making use of the 4x body technology choice simply surpassed the RTX 4090, the place the DLSS 3 model’s most was on par with MFG’s 2x setting.
Except for the benchmark nerdiness, every thing appears playable, although Alan Wake II began pushing 100ms of delay with 4x MFG on, which is sufficient to purpose for a little bit of slowness. In that case, you may in all probability need to drop your DLSS upscaling from “High quality” to “Balanced” to extend your base to 37 non-AI frames per second. This additional improves visible smoothness whereas bettering responsiveness. However in any other case, DLSS 4 makes a convincing argument in favor of the RTX 5080, and with 75 appropriate video games confirmed, it is beginning to be rather more extensively supported than competing body technology applied sciences like FSR 3 and XeSS 2.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 evaluate: 1440p benchmark
As at all times, something you are able to do in 4K, you are able to do sooner in 1440p. In case you’ve channeled your whole monitor improve finances into GPU funds, there’s good purpose to decide on the RTX 5080 at this decision. The CPU bottleneck eradicated the tall pop of the RTX 5090, permitting this cheaper card to maintain up the tempo extra successfully, whereas additionally closing the hole on the RTX 4090 and giving the RTX 3090 some very nice type.
That mentioned, the RTX 5070 and RTX 5070 Ti are value ready for at this level. The RTX 5080 is certainly excellent at 1440p, however in contrast to 4K, it could generally really feel such as you’re paying for extra energy and options than you should use. For instance, 4x MFG will not be very helpful because the framerate you get with out it’s already very excessive. Take Cyberpunk 2077, which has psycho ray tracing, for example. The RTX 5080 can run at 106fps with simply high quality stage DLSS upscaling. Most screens cannot even show all the extra AI frames, even when the attention can understand such a pace distinction. And diminishing returns are an enormous issue.
Nonetheless, some video games could have 2x body technology. F1 24 at Extremely Excessive went from 116fps with high-quality DLSS solely to 148fps with body technology, and we truly noticed a noticeable (albeit small) enchancment in smoothness. RTX 5080 is clearly not a foul GPU for Quad HD. It is simply not the very best decision to unfold the wings of DLSS 4. So it is going to be fascinating to see if the extra inexpensive RTX 5070 Duo makes for a greater mixture.
Or possibly AMD’s Radeon RX 9070. FSR 4 could have its personal enhanced DLSS rival, which appears to be a less complicated 2x body generator within the vein of DLSS 3. With the sooner and extra versatile MFG, DLSS 4’s pin-sharp Transformer mannequin choices, and the historic benefits of the GeForce line with ray and path tracing, it is exhausting to see how an RDNA 4 GPU like this might compete in opposition to the RTX 50 collection when it comes to options.
With regards to 4K, the RTX 5080 is the winner anyway. It is cooler, extra environment friendly, and considerably extra out there than the RTX 5090 (not counting potential inventory shortages) whereas nonetheless being succesful sufficient to ship easy, top-quality efficiency. Is it as lovable because the pathetic RTX 3080 exploited by resellers? Probably not. An excellent greater bounce up from the RTX 4080 Tremendous would have been appreciated. However general it is higher than each the Tremendous and the unique RTX 4080, particularly once you begin benefiting from extra superior expertise. Expertise that helps go away the RTX 4090 behind, not to mention the 4080.
This evaluate is predicated on the retail unit offered by the producer.