There are some other titles that you expect to see in the discussion of the last NVIDIA graphics card, the GeForce RTX 5080. So let me cut the search and summarize.
First of all: the 5080 is not a card that has evangelism-worthy functionality gains in its predecessor. With regard to improving the strength of the raw representation, it is firmly in the category of intelligent distribution. But it goes for point two: the 5080 gives the “raw value” in terms of functionality not only of this generation of cards so far, but one of those that we have noticed for several years.
These two concepts would possibly seem vaguely disagree, but they are not. The performance gains compared to the most recent generation RTX 4080, the direct predecessor of this card, is on average between 10% and 15%, while retaining the same price. This is a modest gain compared to what we have noticed in the past, however, it is also a financial value for explosion for the time. But in addition, the New Generation 50 series GPUs have access to the complete set of RTX features that make a main difference for games, more later.
One could dismiss this as marketing fluff, and I’m sure some will. As embargoes lift I expect some reviews to lead with things like ‘weaker than the 4090’, which to be fair the 5080 is. But I think this is an upgrade to consider with some nuance. If you already have a 40-series GPU, you probably aren’t intending to drop near enough four figures on an incremental upgrade. This card probably isn’t for you. But if you’re the sort of person shopping in that price range with a card that’s a couple of generations old, the 5080 becomes a strong proposition – and quite possibly the best card on the market in its price bracket, at least without delving into the quagmire that is the used market.
Above all, just about all of the upgrades detailed in my RTX 5090 review are also headed to the 5080. There’s the new shape factor, greater warmth dissipation with sleek liquid steel and a tradition cooler design, and sometimes a sleek design on the Founders Edition cards that I literally like. Like the 5090, the 5080 shrinks down from the past generation – going from a heavy three-slot dual card to a more classic two-slot design. It’s a small replace – yet I think it is fairly big for this card.
In genuine terms, if you are a general person, I think that 5080 is the maximum luxury graphics card you deserve to consider. It is true that the 90s are the upper part of the line ”, however, the strength point of these letters is for the sick, the monsters and the other people who wish to make a super complicated painting as a representation in 3 -D , complex video editing or transmission configurations, etc. Array the same delimitation was true for 4080 and 4090, however, the two cards raised with 3 locations. In 90, the smallest form is intelligent. But in 80 cards, I think it’s important.
In my opinion, the “average player” does not correspond to other people who have instances and configurations designed to involve such a beast. By bringing the physical length of the GPU and keeping the value under this $1000 logo, the 5080 comes across as anything more suitable for all gamers who have a big burn and who need the performances for this cash they can get.
People in this client can, as discussed above, wait for a gain of around 10-15% in the raw rankization functionality, that is, how well the GPU does its games without more characteristics, compared to 4080 Super of last year, which was sent to the same price. To this, let’s communicate widely on some reference games.
If we hop into Cyberpunk 2077 with its settings maxed out but with no ray tracing or frame generation technology, I experienced more or less an exact 15% increase on the frames generated by the 4080 Super. Hop over to Alan Wake 2 and it’s a similar story, though with slightly less potency, offering a boost of 10%. Star Wars Outlaws is the same. The performance change is quite linear and predictable across all games be that at 4K or 1440p – almost always broadly the same percentage lift, always matching that initially set expectation.
Each of those reference points highlights something else: despite this building in force compared to 4080 Super, 5080 remains approximately 10% behind 4090. This can disappoint some. In past generations, we have regularly noticed that the new generation of a NVIDIA card corresponds to the functionality of the next card of the most recent generation. For example, I enjoyed that 4070 has a similar point of strength or before 3080, which helped to be felt as a complete “generational jump. ” It is undeniable that 5080 does not achieve this, 4090 takes it up to 10% on average, but is it important? The 1940s90 decade of the load used almost double what this card does at the time of the moment: Is it even fair comparison?
This building in place would possibly seem modest, but because the value has remained “frozen” at $999, in terms of money charge, it works quite well. Our DigitalFoundry shoots have established a rather desirable graph, for example, showing that the 5080 is the most productive GPU for the number of frames it generates on average for every dollar spent, the position at the moment is 3080, a card that at this level pushes at the age of five. Thankfully, the power intake stays so close to 4080 Super, which means you’ll charge the same for running and avoid the attractive jump in operating loads we saw on the 5090.
In comparisons like this, we want to take a step back from raw rendering and percentage increases in frame rate from one generation to the next and take the total picture. This overall picture is more flattering than those early figures would at first make it.
However, there’s more than the modest edifice in the raw force that this generation’s Blackwell architecture unlocks. Each 5080 takes position, of course, on the fifth generation of tensor cores that unlock “RTX” functionality, which in turn opens the door to a variety of software responses that can be used to create a variety of software responses.
As with the previous generations, the load on this front is directed through Nvidia DLS. The newest edition is DLSS4 and is a key feature of the 50 series, as is the new generation of Multicamambe generation (MFG). The perceived deficiencies in raw render updates: the generation of NVIDIA beyond that is quite impossible, and the newest cards obtain the difficult iterations and maxims of that generation.
If you are not familiar, DLSS represents the deep learning of a super sampling. Essentially, it is a formula that uses the learning of AI so that the graphics card delivers the quality of the upper symbols without sacrificing the speed of paintings. It is a bit of smoke and mirrors, however. It is a bit of falsified falsification that works brilliantly.
Essentially, DLSS allows the GPU to make the game slow down a solution than its demo releases before its eyeballs. A decay solution does this to do more confusing things, like tracking the shelves in genuine time or just very similar games, at a higher symbol frequency. But DLSS interferes and then boosts the generated symbols, so you can natively make the game at something like 2K, but DLS will interfere to give you a crunchy 4K symbol. As the generation has improved, the symbol’s symptoms have been scaled down to be almost unnoticeable, while other prospective pitfalls such as delay have been compensated for through other inventions such as NVIDIA Reflex software.
Generating multiple trips happens to this consistent with the level. In addition to strengthening an image, it allows the GPU to use AI to necessarily create new frames out of thin air, extrapolating from the frames it makes in genuine time. These “fake” frames can make a game smoother and less difficult on the eyes, although they won’t be the responsiveness of a game. MFG is a total new generation for this generation, and I’d argue that its main application is to help get games up to 120 photographs consistent with the moment for 120Hz displays.
The two technologies look good and fulfill an important objective. Even in 4K, this card crushes cyberpunk without tracking shelves, providing something silky and appropriate for the ultimate and difficult player. But turn on ultra-point ray tracking in cyberpunk and you’ll see that in 4K, it’s a card that still suffers from achieving a 60-frame forged frame consistent with the moment with this technology activated. However, activating DLS and reaching 60 photographs consistent with the moment with tracking the consistent with lightning is child’s play.
MFG can even put 120 photographs consisting of the moment in view of such parameters, which is only evidence that this generation is the future. At this point, however, it is difficult to judge MFG: it is impressive, however, the limited set of games that will have to be verified (which will be bigger to around 75 in the launch) if we need it more used. Again, I had the same skepticism about DLSS years ago, and now I use it without a question.
Many hardcore graphic nerds will prefer to join in knots. Do fake executives count? Many of those other people are trapped in the culture of being basically interested in the strength of the raw remedy, which I perceive perfectly. But at this stage, this generation is an indelible component of the graphics card composition making decisions. More and more games are helping this type of generation; It’s probably a major component of the console market in the long run as well. This is here to stay.
When this, a key thing is clear: anyone who buys a GPU like the 5080 is rarely buying the raw computer force that unlocks the new Blackwell architecture of Nvidia: they are buying in the help of software that the card unlocks for the high -end games. As that or not, this is now an essential component of Nvidia’s proposal. Sometimes, sometimes those raw computing jumps will still be raw to the amazing, but not always. 5080 is an example of this, where a modest but modest GPU update in raw terms is greatly promoted through the other features that the card contributes to the table.
I think, honestly, at this level of the review, you know where you are. You know that if the concept of a construction of 15 to 20% of the raw power is appropriate or a massive preventive for you, you know what you think of your existing configuration, and you know how it is probably related to DLSS4 and MFG. What I can say about my tests is that all those things paint strangely well. The new “transform” style for DLSS is a massive update and one of my specific favorites: this must also be taken in the 40 series cards.
That perhaps sums it up, though. If you’re cruising on a 40-series GPU, many of the best features of the 50 series are available to you already via software updates. To those, this generation might prove a bit disappointing, a bit of a middle step. To anyone upgrading from something like a 30 series or older, the 5080 is a solid proposition at $1000 – a tantalizing upgrade that’ll offer far more of a noticeable performance boost and new software tech you otherwise wouldn’t have access to.
In short, the 5080 is a strange graphics card. If you want the best GPU available up to $1000… this is the one to buy. But in a sense, in the current market, it is also the only one to buy in its class. That’s one bottom line. The other is that this doesn’t hold the usual power gain you’d expect from a generational shift – but software goes a long way to soften that fact. I expect it’ll be divisive – and I expect you already know if you want one or not.