Nvidia RTX 5080 Review: Minor Upgrade, Big Price?
genji 
Nvidia RTX 5080 Review: Minor Upgrade, Big Price?
Nvidia RTX 5080 Review: Minor Upgrade, Big Price?
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080, priced at $1,000, offers a modest upgrade over the RTX 4080 Super. It boasts only a slight increase in cores and clock speed. The main improvement is the use of GDDR7 memory, boosting bandwidth by 30%.
RTX 5080 vs RTX 4080 Thermals
The RTX 5080’s Founders Edition runs remarkably cool and quiet, reaching a peak GPU temperature of 63°C under load. Thermal performance is nearly identical to the RTX 4080 FE, despite the 5080’s smaller size.
Gaming Benchmarks
Benchmark results show modest performance gains over the RTX 4080 Super and AMD’s 7900 XTX, varying across different games. Improvements are more noticeable at 4K resolution than at 1440p.
Ray Tracing Performance
Ray tracing performance shows similarly small improvements over the 4080 Super, with gains ranging from single digits to around 10% depending on the game and resolution. However, it significantly outperforms the 7900 XTX in ray tracing.
Cost per Frame
Considering its price, the RTX 5080 offers only a slight improvement in value over the RTX 4080 Super, which was available at a similar price point previously. The AMD 7900 XTX may offer better value if the price difference is minimal.
What We Learned
The RTX 5080 is a minor iterative upgrade, making it difficult to justify its price unless it launches significantly below $1000. For RTX 30-series owners, it offers a substantial performance increase, albeit with a price increase as well. Overall, the upgrade is underwhelming compared to previous generational leaps.
