If the $2,000Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090is theundisputed king of 4K gaming, is theRTX 5080the prince?
Or is it the hidden court vizier, the figure controlling the graphics kingdom behind the scenes?
TheNvidia GeForce RTX 5080 Founders Editionis more like the RTX 5090s goatee-sporting evil twin with something to prove.
© Photo: Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo
In most ways, its a less-capable graphics card, so you get what you pay for.
Heres where things get complicated, however.
Our tests running like-for-like 5080 didnt see vast improvements over the 4080 Super, last years big GPU upgrade.
The Nvidia RTX 5080, left, and the RTX 5090, right. © Photo: Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo
In some games, the FPS increase was within 10 to 15 frames.
See RTX 5080 at Best Buy
The difference was even more negligible in some demanding titles, likeCyberpunk 2077.
The dark horse amid all this discussion is the Multi Frame gen capabilities.
© Photo: Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo
Things are more complicated for those with a 4080 orespeciallythe 4080 Super.
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 is set to launch on Jan. 30 for $1,000.
Its running on 10,752 CUDA cores compared to the 5090s 21,760.
© Photo: Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo
It packs 16 GB of VRAM compared to 32 GB.
But a card is more than just core counts.
The 5090 has a 2.01 GHz base clock and up to 2.41 GHz at max boost.
The 5080 also has the added benefit of requiring far, far less power draw.
Thats before you get to performance, where the differences in the same generation are truly striking.
How Does the GeForce RTX 5080 Compare to the 5090 and 4080 Super?
In 3D Mark benchmarks, the difference between the three cards is striking.
The RTX 5080 scored close to 1,500 points more in the Steel Nomad benchmark and Time Spy Extreme.
That was without 2x frame gen, but with it, the game maxed out close to 100 FPS.
The game made it to 100 FPS without frame gen.
These were all the latest drivers provided by Nvidia for reviewers.
That was with all the ray tracing prefs enabled and excluding framegen.
Thats better than the 4080 Super that averaged 77 FPS in the same area.
The RTX 5090 would do 100 to 130 FPS outdoors.
Theres no question that the 5090 is the best consumer GPU you’re free to buy.
But let me turn the tables.
What if you really demand 160 FPS or above 200 FPS with all the hyped ray tracing controls enabled?
Frame Gen works to such a surprising degree that your average gamer wont be able to tell the difference.
The instances are rare, but those with discerning eyes might spot them easier than others.
I didnt spot too many issues in my gameplay.
I know I would feel perfectly comfortable playing with Frame Gen turned on.
Those considering the RTX 5080 should know its not all gravy.
Nvidias Multi Frame Gen may not support your favorite game at launch.
Some gamers will inevitably get more out of these cards than others.
Update 01/29/25 at 1:03 p.m.
ET: This post was updated to correct mentions of the 5090 when actually describing the 5080.
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