Review Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 Founders Edition review: Incremental gains over the previous generation

[Gaidax]

Will the prices for 5090s ever come down? I can't help but notice the 4090s seemed to actually go UP in price at the end of their product cycle -- at least at the retail level (i.e. MSRP never seemed to change).

Not anytime soon.

Not only you have the shortages from the get-go, but that 32GB VRAM makes it more capable for semi-pro use cases.

It will be slurped up instantly.

 

[DS426]

5090 is more than 50% faster than 5080 which is ridiculous. There's something to be said for trying to upsell, but that's way too big a gap in performance and cost between the 5080 and 5090. Also sounds like there are issues with volume production as well. Getting people to move up doesn't work if you don't have product to sell them. If you're in the market for a 5080, wait for the refresh. Will likely have more VRAM and will hopefully gain some meaningful ground in performance.

I said this multiple times since 5090's and 5080's specs were released: why the heck is their no 384-bit GDDR7 mem bus GPU? That would be a 5080 Ti, too easy, right? Well, maybe NVIDIA will release this late in 2025 to freshen up the 50 series. This, not to be confused (lol, yeah right) with a 5080 Super that will come later and namely just have higher clocks and higher power limit.

It's definitely a big gap going from $1K to $2k -- even bigger than we saw when 4080 and 5080 launched by almost double the margin. Well, again, street pricing will make probably both of these numbers go up, but anyhoo...

16 GB in a $1K gaming GPU released in 2025 is silly. Even if green had stepped down to slower GDDR7 or GDDR6X and went with 24 GB @ 384-bits, some slight raw perf drop would have been worth it as soon enough, AAA games are going to bog at 16GB at 4K (real, not fake), which tells me this all goes back to NV heavily leaning on AI and DLSS to make up for the obvious hardware deficits. As for those playing with and especially those doing serious AI workloads, this isn't your GPU.

 

[Gaidax]

I said this multiple times since 5090's and 5080's specs were released: why the heck is their no 384-bit GDDR7 mem bus GPU? That would be a 5080 Ti, too easy, right?

They are counting on the upcoming 3GB VRAM modules. There will be a 24GB VRAM 5080, whether just straight up like that or "Super" version.

 

[DS426]

They are counting on the upcoming 3GB VRAM modules. There will be a 24GB VRAM 5080, whether just straight up like that or "Super" version.

Meh. That's fine and dandy -- they SHOULD do that, but it still shouldn't negate a 384-bit mem bus GPU.

 

[80251]

@DS426
Are there really GPUs that can make use of a 384-bit, GDDR7 memory data bus? GPUs only run at 3+GHz. right?

 

[palladin9479]

Cards shouldn't be withholding the VRAM that would help at high resolutions because your budget is merely high and not "the best, regardless the cost".

I mean you could just solder another GDRAM chip onto it and then wonder why it keeps crashing.

 

[palladin9479]

@DS426
Are there really GPUs that can make use of a 384-bit, GDDR7 memory data bus? GPUs only run at 3+GHz. right?

5090 has a 512-bit bus, but also a ridiculously high amount of core compute units.

Honestly most people don't really understand graphics resources well enough and just operate under "ALL THE THINGS" and "BIGGER NUMBER BETTER" kinda thought process.

 

[atomicWAR]

Ouch, the 50 series gets more disappointing by the day. The 5080 should have tied a 4090 or been extremely close. At the performance level we were given we should have got a price cut to 899 or even 850. The 5090 should have kept the old price or at best gone with a 1699 price tag. At least then these cards would be more palatable for upgraders. As it stands now recommending someone buy a 50 series cards is difficult at best and impossible at worst. Unless your old card is smoking or VRAM starved... I don't see much motivation to spend money on these dumpster fire cards.

As always thank you @JarredWaltonGPU for your in-depth review. It sadly confirmed my worst fears about the new 80 series cards and only worsened my fears on sub 80 class cards. From what I can tell of the specs the 5070Ti or 5070 might get the best performance increases of the stack though we'll need to wait on reviews to know for sure. Nvidia has clearly gone with gimping 80 class cards AGAIN to upsell 4K gamers to even more expensive 90 class cards.

The one silver lining I see in th is generation of cards is the used market shouldn't see steep drops in the value of their cards as not much has changed. Sad days
Nvidia, sad sad days... 💩

 

[80251]

How much of a diff. in perf. will there be once Nvidia tunes their drivers for 5xxx cards?
I found it interesting that the 5080 occasionally beat the 4090 substantially in 1% lows (I think it was 1% lows).

 

[UnforcedERROR]

I felt exceptionally uncomfortable upgrading to a 4090 from a 1070, but after seeing where the 5000 series has landed I can say it's not all as bad as I thought (especially as I got mine notably cheaper than it's been since). The 5090 may have been disappointing, but at least it was still an upgrade in performance. The 5080 feels like treading water in a sea of hubris and greed.

 

[palladin9479]

Looks like 5080's are for people who didn't bother buying 4080's.

So did some looking around at prices and holy cow people are scalping / gouging the 4080's. I'm talking $1800~2000 for 4080s on both Amazon and Newegg. Microcenter also has outrageous pricing of $1500+.

 

[Phaaze88]

4080 Super Ti?
Just wait for the refreshes... which are probably the ACTUAL 50 series, and the initial 60 series are probably 50 series refresh, and so on... Like I said before, the names don't mean jack anymore.

Oh wait, this(50 series) and the 9070XT are what I get to look forward to for my next upgrade?

Spoiler

 

[Gaidax]

4080 Super Ti?
Just wait for the refreshes... which are probably the ACTUAL 50 series, and the initial 60 series are probably 50 series refresh, and so on... Like I said before, the names don't mean jack anymore.

Oh wait, this(50 series) and the 9070XT are what I get to look forward to for my next upgrade?

Spoiler

Well Series 60 will benefit from a new process, so that one should be a good bump by default.

 

[palladin9479]

So after doing some basic market research, yeah the 7900 XTX is the card to buy at this price range. The 4080's might as well not exist at the obscene prices they are listed at. I doubt the 5080's will be any lower due to under supply creating crypto-mining craze pricing.

 

[spongiemaster]

I said this multiple times since 5090's and 5080's specs were released: why the heck is their no 384-bit GDDR7 mem bus GPU? That would be a 5080 Ti, too easy, right? Well, maybe NVIDIA will release this late in 2025 to freshen up the 50 series. This, not to be confused (lol, yeah right) with a 5080 Super that will come later and namely just have higher clocks and higher power limit.

I'm about 95% sure the 5080 performs where it does because of China. Nvidia does not want to have to produce a 5080D. Techpowerup was able to increase gaming performance by 12% with an overclock without increasing the power limit. They tested the FE model and an AIB and they both OC'd 12%. Their tests have the 5080 11% faster than the 4080 at 1440p, meaning you can double the performance gap by overclocking. With all the fancy boosting algorithms GPU's run now, an overclock like that shouldn't be possible. It really looks like Nvidia held this card back artificially, and the only reason that makes sense is China. I don't know what they're going to do with a refresh or the 6000 series, because they can't continue to have every card but one stuck at 4090 performance or below.

 

[Gaidax]

I'm about 95% sure the 5080 performs where it does because of China. Nvidia does not want to have to produce a 5080D. Techpowerup was able to increase gaming performance by 12% with an overclock without increasing the power limit. They tested the FE model and an AIB and they both OC'd 12%. Their tests have the 5080 11% faster than the 4080 at 1440p, meaning you can double the performance gap by overclocking. With all the fancy boosting algorithms GPU's run now, an overclock like that shouldn't be possible. It really looks like Nvidia held this card back artificially, and the only reason that makes sense is China. I don't know what they're going to do with a refresh or the 6000 series, because they can't continue to have every card but one stuck at 4090 performance or below.

China has nothing to do with shaders most of the reviews test. So no, it's not because China.

Why they held out? So that in a year from now 5080 Super will make more sense. They will slap 24GB VRAM on it, OC it 5% base and take their $$$ again.

 

[spongiemaster]

China has nothing to do with shaders most of the reviews test. So no, it's not because China.

Why they held out? So that in a year from now 5080 Super will make more sense. They will slap 24GB VRAM on it, OC it 5% base and take their $$$ again.

No pun intended, what does your first statement have to do with the price of tea in China? It means nothing.

The 4080 Super says your 2nd statement is wrong. The Super is 1% faster than the regular 4080. 5090 doesn't need to be 50% faster to leave room for a 5080 Super. If Nvidia adds 50% more VRAM to the 5080 people will forget how bad the uplift is and buy it because they're too blinded by the more VRAM fixes everything narrative they're being fed.

 

[Gaidax]

No pun intended, what does your first statement have to do with the price of tea in China? It means nothing.

The 4080 Super says your 2nd statement is wrong. The Super is 1% faster than the regular 4080. 5090 doesn't need to be 50% faster to leave room for a 5080 Super. If Nvidia adds 50% more VRAM to the 5080 people will forget how bad the uplift is and buy it because they're too blinded by the more VRAM fixes everything narrative they're being fed.

a. What?
b. I'll repeat again, the headroom is there not because of "Chayna" but to leave something to the partners AND for the future release.

Nvidia is not restricted on how many and how fast shader cores are for China - 5090D is enough example for that, what matters is AI performance and that's what they cut there, not basic shaders which are identical in capacity and clock on that card.

 

[valthuer]

So after doing some basic market research, yeah the 7900 XTX is the card to buy at this price range.

Its 24 GBs of VRAM, sure are enticing. Its Ray Tracing performance, though? That's another story.

 

[TeamRed2024]

So is my 4090 still better than everything other than the 27% uplifted 5090?

I'm talking from a real frame perspective... not this AI generated BS.

 

[spongiemaster]

Nvidia is not restricted on how many and how fast shader cores are for China - 5090D is enough example for that, what matters is AI performance and that's what they cut there, not basic shaders which are identical in capacity and clock on that card.

Derp, you're not getting it. Whatever they are doing to limit only the AI performance in the 5090D, they would have to do the same thing with a 5080D creating another China only SKU and another regular SKU that can't be sold in China, which they're clearly not interested in doing.

 

[valthuer]

So is my 4090 still better than everything other than the 27% uplifted 5090?

I'm talking from a real frame perspective... not this AI generated BS.

Yep. Most definitely. The tests Jarred Walton ran, pretty much confirm this.

Actually, the performance increase between 4090 and 5090, is so pathetic, that you don't even have to upgrade.

 

[80251]

Looks like 5080's are for people who didn't bother buying 4080's.

So did some looking around at prices and holy cow people are scalping / gouging the 4080's. I'm talking $1800~2000 for 4080s on both Amazon and Newegg. Microcenter also has outrageous pricing of $1500+.

That's obscene. That's what I paid out the door for my 4090 (thanks microcenter).

R U sure those prices aren't for 4080 supers?

 

[Gaidax]

Derp, you're not getting it. Whatever they are doing to limit only the AI performance in the 5090D, they would have to do the same thing with a 5080D creating another China only SKU and another regular SKU that can't be sold in China, which they're clearly not interested in doing.

??

Because 5090 exceeds the AI computation threshold for a single chip. While 5080 does not?

Here's how it works:

And by the way, that's only part of the restriction, the above is just a starter. The rest is not clear.

 

[UnforcedERROR]

That's obscene. That's what I paid out the door for my 4090 (thanks microcenter).

R U sure those prices aren't for 4080 supers?

Nope, those are 4080s. There are some Supers listed around the same price. Look up 4090s. $3-4k a pop. It's crazy. I paid $1600...

Edit: just to be clear I did a very fast search on Newegg, so you could argue I didn't do enough research but I scrolled a fair bit.