The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 is a good card when you look at it from a purely technical standpoint. The wattage usage increase is slightly justified when you see the uplift over the RTX 4090, and the slight temperature increase in exchange for a smaller form factor is worth it for those looking to build smaller gaming rigs. The price is always going to be a bugbear for many, unless you approach the card as if it were supposed to be a Titan equivalent, where AI and creation work comes first — and gaming coming in second. The RTX 5080 is meant to be strictly for the gamers, and the hope is that there's just enough to prevent a repeat of the 4080, which felt like it was overpriced for what it was offering.

We received the Founders Edition from Nvidia, and it is a near-match of the RTX 5090 Founders Edition. The length and width of the card are the same, as is the height. This is a true two-slot card, which is still impressive considering that the likelihood is still very high of third-party cards being three-slot monsters. It's an all-metal card, with the only bit of plastic being the same 16-pin connector on this side. This time around, that connector has been rotated 90 degrees and then slanted another 45 degrees, so it sticks out at an angle. The adapter for traditional eight-pin power connectors is still present, but the cable is both softer and longer to potentially relieve stress on the connection. The card feels dense, but it actually weighs less than expected. Weighing in at roughly 1,710g, it's lighter than the RTX 5090, so card sag shouldn't be a worry.

The first piece of semi-good news is that the MSRP of the card is $999.99, which is half the price of the RTX 5090 and the same MSRP as the RTX 4080 Super, which was released around this time last year. That's still not cheap by any means, especially when you consider that there's a very good chance of third-party cards coming in at a higher price point, but it does mark a real dividing line between the 5090 and 5080 while still establishing the idea that the RTX 5080 is a high-end card with a gaming focus. There's less of a feeling that the 5080 only exists to upsell you on the 5090, so the differences in performance become more palatable.

When it comes to the specs, there are a few important items to note. Compared to the RTX 5090, the RTX 5080's specs are almost halved in a number of categories. Memory is at 16GB of DDR7 VRAM instead of 32GB. The memory bus is at 256-bit instead of 512-bit, while bandwidth is at 960GB/s as opposed to 1792GB/s. The CUDA and Tensor core numbers are halved as well. Despite the halving, the card recommends an 850-watt power supply, the same one recommended for the RTX 4090.

There are two things that the RTX 5080 is banking on, and they're based on the company's work with AI. The first is DLSS 4, which promises to be a significant upgrade over every other version of the AI technology to date. The main concept is still the same, where the technology has the game run at a lower internal resolution and then uses the card's tensor cores to upscale the image so it looks like a good facsimile of the target resolution. This time, the focus is on image clarity, where ghost images are eliminated and finer details like chain link fences, thin foliage, and power lines look clear and smooth instead of jagged or noisy.

For the most part, this works quite nicely. Small movements made on the screen don't produce odd-looking images, and the shimmer associated with fine details is reduced to the point where you really have to lean in to see something amiss. There are still some instances where shimmering and noise can be seen, but you'll really have to look closely and hunt for those anomalies to see them. You also have to use the technology when targeting the monitor's native resolution, as going for anything lower like using a 4K monitor with a 1440p target resolution has a tendency to produce graphical anomalies that don't exist if you're targeting 1440p on a 1440p monitor.

The second thing is multi-frame generation. DLSS 3 used AI to generate an extra frame of visual data to make games look smoother. DLSS 4 goes the extra step by letting you create up to three more frames of AI-generated screen data to create what you can perceive as a higher frame rate experience. All of this is done without incurring a responsiveness delay that's greater than what DLSS 3 had, so it creates some caveats when using the technology. Gamepad users may not feel much of the delay when compared to keyboard and mouse users. Single-player games are more suited for this compared to competitive online affairs. Then again, you'll need to see if you're even sensitive to these delays before determining whether frame generation is a boon or a detriment.

Nvidia promises that there will be at least 75 titles that will take advantage of these technologies at launch, and while some games will get patches to get Nvidia-specific features in the settings screens, other games will get the upgrades via the Nvidia app. The process has you going into the app to find the game that already has some DLSS support built in and turned on. From there, you can change the game's app setting to override the DLSS and frame generation processes, and then reboot the game for the changes to silently get applied; you won't see the changes to the game's setting screen otherwise. The process takes some work on the user's end, and there's some work that still needs to be done on Nvidia's side. For example, the names used for each DLSS model have no explanation for what they are and what they do. Granted, the press had an early version of the Nvidia app to work with, but there needs to be a more user-friendly list of settings. Second, players will be completely dependent on Nvidia actually adding games to the app for the override process to be viable. In the end, the process works fine for titles that will never get the advanced DLSS features patched in.

For this review, we'll be comparing the RTX 5080 against the RTX 4090, Nvidia's previous flagship card. While it would've made sense to compare the RTX 5080 against its predecessors, the RTX 4080 and RTX 4080 Super, I don't have access to those cards anymore, since they've been given to other reviewers on the team. The performance of the 5080 would've beaten these cards anyway, but the real question is how close the 5080 can get to the 4090. Depending on the results, we could have a situation where getting actual 4090 performance with a much lower-priced card before using the 3X and 4X versions of frame generation is more than feasible in a fairly short amount of time. For the sake of comparison, the charts will also feature the results from the RTX 5090 to see the impact (if any) of the $1,000 price difference.

The PC we're using for these tests is a Ryzen 7 7700X equipped with 32GB of G.Skill Flare X5 Series DDR5-6000 RAM in a dual channel configuration. The motherboard is the MSI B650-P Pro. We're using Windows 11 version 24H2, and the Nvidia press driver is version 572.02. This is different from the drivers we got for the RTX 5090 review, but there don't seem to be any noticeable difference in benchmark results from the RTX 5090 during some preliminary tests. Due to the time constraints on the card, the testing will be focused squarely on 4K. Unless noted, all of the graphical settings were placed at their maximum individual levels instead of relying on presets, and DLSS upscaling was always set to Quality with frame generation on when available. Tests were also conducted using the game's built-in benchmark, with a few exceptions that will be noted in their respective titles. As always, we recommend using this review in conjunction with others that may have a wider selection of cards to test with to get a clearer picture of where the GeForce RTX 5080 stands.

3DMark

As always, we start off the benchmark portion of the review with the 3DMark suite of synthetic benchmarks. Fire Strike has the RTX 5080 scoring 49748 at 1080p, 33754 at Extreme's 1440p, and 20457 for Ultra at 4K. Time Spy sees the RTX 5080 get a score of 26359 and a score of 12936 for the Extreme version. Port Royale has a score of 21853, Speed Way hits a score of 8928, and the 5080 gets a score of 8241 on Steel Nomad. These are all below what the RTX 4090 scored in these tests, but the overall gap doesn't seem to be too bad.

The suite also contains a test specifically for the various forms of DLSS using a slice of Port Royale for testing. At 4K native, the RTX 5080 hits 48.73fps, which is 18% below what the RTX 4090 scored. The difference is much wider when using the original DLSS, as the 5080 scores 64.74fps versus 105.89 for the 4090, a whopping 48% difference. Things normalize a bit when using DLSS 3, as the frame rate difference between cards is a little under 12fps. It takes DLSS 4 at 2X for the 5080 to finally match the 4080 at DLSS 3 before surpassing it with the 3X and 4X results.

Red Dead Redemption II

It may be fairly old by now, but this is the most advanced version of Rockstar's game engine out until Grand Theft Auto 6 finally lands. At 4K, the RTX 5080 manages to hit 78fps for the average, and an average of 95fps with DLSS turned on. That's an 18% difference for the former and a 15% difference for the latter when compared to the RTX 4090. Interestingly, that's close to the percentage differential between the RTX 4090 and RTX 5090.

Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered

With Horizon Zero Dawn rebuilt using the same engine as Horizon Forbidden West, performing a benchmark should provide a good idea for how both games will perform on this card. The good news is that while the RTX 5080 still doesn't beat the RTX 4090 in the frame rate category, it isn't a slouch, either. The card gets an average of 102fps with a 64fps low at 4K, 125fps on average with a 69fps low with DLSS on, and a 161fps average with a 108fps low once frame generation is activated.

Final Fantasy XIV Online: Dawntrail

The benchmark goes through parts of the MMO in a cinematic fashion, and while there are a good number of options in this free benchmark, the only knock against it is the fact that you can't turn off any of the graphical upscaling technologies. At 4K, the RTX 5080 hits an average of 110fps with a low of 74fps. It's edged out by the 4090, but for an MMO, this is still perfectly fine territory.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

Ubisoft's title may not be that new anymore, but it still retains some value as being a title where ray tracing cannot be fully turned off. It is also a game that only features frame generation when using AMD's FSR 3.1 technology. At 4K, the RTX 5080 actually beats out the average against the RTX 4090, scoring 87fps vs. 83fps in this category while matching the 1% Lows. The 5080 gets beaten when DLSS is on but manages another win against the 4090 with FSR3 and framegen on. It's a curious anomaly to be sure.

Forza Horizon 5

The game is technically solid all around, making for a perfect benchmark game for hardware of all types, since the ray tracing isn't all that taxing. Just like Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, the frame rates are very good and just like Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, the RTX 5080 can match up nicely with the RTX 4090. Ray tracing off sees the new card get a 125fps average with a 112fps low, while turning on ray tracing has the card hit a 117fps average with a 103fps low, negating the need for using DLSS or frame generation unless you have a very high refresh monitor.

Star Wars: Outlaws

Ubisoft's licensed game is one of the first titles to get the RTX 50-series features built into it via a patch. It is also another game with most ray tracing features on at all times. The only ray tracing option that can be toggled is RTX Direct Lighting, which has a major impact on the frame rate. Since this game doesn't have a built-in benchmark, tests were conducted by running around in the game's opening city.

Things fall back to a normal pattern for the RTX 5080. With Direct Lighting off, the RTX 5080 scores an average of 30fps with a 23fps low. Turning on DLSS has the card hitting 56fps on average with a 42fps low, and it takes the addition of 2X frame generation to hit an average of 93fps with a 75fps low. By comparison, the RTX 4090 broke that 60fps threshold only using DLSS, as it hit 68fps on average with a 51fps low. Turning on Direct Lighting proves to be heavy for the game, as the 5080 hits 16fps on average with 13fps for the lows, forcing you to optimize your settings to reach a decently playable frame rate. Using DLSS helps, but just like with Direct Lighting off, you'll need the combination of DLSS and 2X frame generation to hit the modern playable frame rate of 64fps with a 50fps low.

Alan Wake 2

Just like Star Wars: Outlaws, this game has no built-in benchmark, so tests were conducted in the game's opening level, which works out well thanks to the abundant foliage, presence of smoke monsters and rain, as well as some lighting and a character model with enough visible body hair to give DLSS a real workout.

At 4K with ray tracing off, the RTX 5080 sees the game squeak below acceptable limits with a 58fps average and a 37fps low. DLSS makes things much better with an 83fps average and a 48fps low for the card, and things get better from there with frame generation in play. That stops being true when ray tracing is on, as you'll need both DLSS and at least 2X frame generation to reach a playable average of 73fps with a 34fps low.

Marvel Rivals

This recent multiplayer-focused hit only has ray tracing in the form of Unreal Engine 5's Lumen technology, but it is quite optimized when compared to Epic's own Fortnite, which can crash on Windows 11 machines if you try to push out its graphical settings with hardware ray tracing and Lumen. Marvel Rivals is also significant as being one of a few titles that uses the Nvidia app to get some RTX 50-series features into it. While there's no hardware ray tracing at play, there is Lumen, which is Unreal Engine's own software ray tracing solution.

With Lumen turned off at 4K, the RTX 5080 hits an average of 87fps. That goes up to 136fps with DLSS and only goes higher from there with the various forms of frame generation activated. What's interesting is that the 1% Lows beat out both the 4090 and 5090 in all areas except with 3X and 4X frame generation. Turn on Lumen, though, and those lows along with the averages fall below the RTX 4090 — but not by much, as seen in the charts.

Black Myth: Wukong

This game is heavy to the point where you can't max out everything and run at the native 4K resolution without some sort of resolution scaling. Unlike many other games, this one has no presets, as it prefers to set a good number of its graphical options with percentages. Luckily, those percentages provide some hints about naming conventions.

With TSR set to 100%, the RTX 5080 achieves a frame rate average of 35fps with a 30fps low. Turn on DLSS at 75%, and the average climbs to 60fps with a 52fps low. With ray tracing on, however, the RTX 5080 suffers the same fate as both the RTX 4090 and the RTX 5090 in that it really needs frame generation to hit a playable frame rate average of 60fps with a 52fps low.

Cyberpunk 2077

The final game on the list that we benchmarked just happens to be a title with just about every graphical option available. It also remains one of the more taxing games when it comes to the various forms of ray tracing. The different configurations are plentiful enough that it becomes the perfect title to test every graphical feature on a video card.

With ray tracing off at 4K, the RTX 5080 scores a 46fps average with a 39fps low. DLSS is all that's needed for hitting 92fps on average with an 81fps low, but there is a drop to an 85fps average with a 76fps low when using the new Transformer DLSS model. Using DLSS has the 5080 producing frame rates of the mid-100s and beyond. Turning on ray tracing provides some expected hits, but the game still needs DLSS to hit some playable frame rates with the 5080. Go with path tracing, however, and the RTX 5080 absolutely needs frame generation to hit an average of 69fps with the Transformer version of DLSS.

As shown by most of the benchmarks in this review, the RTX 5080 is not a cheaper iteration of what players got with the RTX 4090 a few years ago. The hardware stats still favor the RTX 4090 in every category except for VRAM type, so these results are  expected but still a bit disappointing for those hoping for a miracle of sorts. Taking a look at the benchmarks from our RTX 4080 Super review last year, the RTX 5080 does indeed beat that card, but the differences vary. As stated earlier in the review, the numbers for the RTX 4080 Super aren't up to date since that card is inaccessible at the moment. Looking at Red Dead Redemption II, there's only a 5% difference between the cards at 4K, and that shrinks to 4% once DLSS is on. In Forza Horizon 5, there's a 7% difference with ray tracing off. That's only if you don't turn on DLSS, as the averages are dead even when DLSS is enabled, but the RTX 5080 has better 1% Lows than the 4080 Super. The difference grows to 8.9% once ray tracing is on, while using DLSS gives the 4080 Super a better average but a big 24% difference on the 1% Lows. Meanwhile, Cyberpunk 2077 has the 4080 Super winning with ray tracing off but losing when DLSS is on, and the gap widens once ray tracing comes into play.

On its own, the GeForce RTX 5080 is a fairly good video card. The performance is mostly good at 4K, and it does better if you're fine with DLSS. It has the newest frame generation techniques without the games feeling sluggish when the technology is activated. It generally performs better than the RTX 4080 Super, which is available at the same MSRP. That said, you get the feeling that the RTX 5080 should've performed better than it did, especially with the card having the better type of VRAM and sucking in more power. If you're in need of a video card at this moment, then the RTX 5080 is a decent choice. If you can afford to wait, you might want to wait for the RTX 5070 Ti results before making a decision.

Score: 7.5/10