Nvidia’s RTX 5080 Founders Edition is the next GPU up for testing, releasing tomorrow alongside its more powerful Blackwell sibling, the RTX 5090 Founders Edition. Positioned as a 4K card at an MSRP of $999, the RTX 5080 Founders Edition aims to be a viable 4K upgrade for those who can’t necessarily plunk down the $2K it costs for the more expensive 90-class card.
How does it stack up, especially compared to last generation’s RTX 4080 Super and even the RTX 4090? Let’s find out.
Specifications:
- MSRP: $999
- Architecture: Blackwell
- Nvidia CUDA Cores: 10752
- Tensor Cores: 5th Generation; 1801 AI TOPS
- Ray Tracing Cores: 4th Generation; 171 TFLOPS
- Boost Clock: 2.62 GHz
- Base Clock: 2.30 GHz
- VRAM: 16GB GDDR7
- Memory Interface: 256-bit
- Memory Bandwidth: 860 GB/s
- Total Graphics Power: 360W
- Required Power Supply: 850W
- I/O: 3x DisplayPort 2.1b; 1 x HDMI 2.1b
- Connector: 600W PCIe Gen 5 Cable (3x PCIe 8-pin cable adapter included)
- Size: 2-slot form factor; 304mm x 137mm (LxW)
Unboxing and First Thoughts
Like the RTX 5090 Founders Edition before it, the RTX 5080 Founders Edition comes in the same 100% plastic-free packaging, with the form-fitting all-fiber box sitting holding the 2-slot GPU snugly. There’s something satisfying unpackaging this GPU; the custom-made and environmentally friendly box feels almost as thoroughly engineered as the GPU it’s holding.
Once out of its box, the RTX 5080 Founders Edition looks identical to its more powerful sibling, just with the RTX 5080 stamp on the front. I do appreciate the smaller, more unassuming stamp of the 50-series compared to the 40-series cards, though when you’ve got two on your desk it’s a little easier to get them mixed up. Though, if I’m honest, that’s likely a problem 99% of people buying this card won’t run into.
The card still retains its elegant design, the Mobius strip still running along the length of the GPU on both sides, while the RTX 5080 FE features the new Double Flow Through design, which will feature on all the Blackwell Founders Editions. It also has an angled power connector on the side, likely as a response to the awkward cable angles that resulted in burnt-out connectors on the RTX 40 series.
If you’re still rocking an older power supply that doesn’t have native support for the new 16-pin (12VHPWR/12v-2x6) connector, Nvidia still supplies an Octopus adapter with three 8-pin PCIe connections with incredibly flexible cables for extra…well…flexibility when cable managing. So if your PSU is already 850W, there’s no dire need to rush out and buy a new one (unless you just want a cleaner overall look for your build).
The RTX 5080 Founders Edition supports all the new technologies brought with the Blackwell architecture, namely DLSS 4 and its improvements, such as the new Multi Frame Generation technology. RTX 5080 will also support Nvidia’s suite of new rendering techniques, including RTX Neural Shaders, RTX Skin, Hair and Neural Faces, RTX Mega Geometry and more.
RTX 5080 users (and anyone with an RTX-enabled GeForce card) can also take advantage of DLSS’s new Transformer model, replacing the Convoluted Neural Network (CNN) model the tech has used since its inception. This new Transformer model might be more computationally heavy than the CNN Model (which Blackwell’s architecture has been designed to handle the extra computational load), but it results in cleaner, more detailed images that the CNN model just can’t achieve.
We do a larger breakdown of the new technologies brought by Blackwell in Chris’ CES 2025 Editor’s Day write up, which I encourage you read before pulling the trigger on a new card. Chris also wrote a great DLSS 4 primer for IGN, which is also worth a look.
When comparing the RTX 5080 directly with the last generation’s 80-class GPU, the 5080 boasts 10752 CUDA cores compared to the last gen’s 9728 CUDA cores, and the Blackwell card has a slightly faster Boost Clock (2.62GHz vs. 2.5GHz). Both cards use a 256-bit memory interface and 16GB of VRAM, though the RTX 5080 utilizes newer GDDR7 RAM on its board. The RTX 5080 has slightly more memory bandwidth at 980 GB/sec versus the RTX 4080’s 717 GB/s. However, it should always be noted that these aren’t always apples-to-apples comparisons, even with the same manufacturer, due to architectural differences.
RTX 5080 Founders Edition Benchmarks
So how does the RTX 5080 Founders Edition perform? We put the card to the test in a variety of gaming and synthetic benchmarks, aiming to push the card to its limits and test the new feature suite of the Blackwell architecture.
We’re especially keen to see how the RTX 5080 Founders Edition stacks up compared to the RTX 4080 Super and even the RTX 4090, especially since it seems Nvidia intends to keep the Ada Lovelace king at its $1599 MSRP, sitting in between the RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 on the pricing chart.
As we noted in our 5090 review, we are using our new Starforge Systems Voyager II test bench this year for all our GPU reviews. We wrote up why we made this decision in a separate post, but here are the specs for your quick reference:
- CPU: Intel Core i7-14700K
- CPU Cooler: Starforge Custom Bitspower 360mm Liquid Cooler
- RAM: Teamgroup Delta RGB 32GB DRR5 6000 CL38 (2x16GB)
- Motherboard: MSI Z790 Tomahawk Wifi DDR5
- Cables: CableMod Pro ModMesh Sleeved Cable Extensions (Black)
- Primary Storage: 2TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD (min 7000 read)
- Power Supply: Corsair HX1200i 1200 Watt Platinum
- RGB Fans: 6 x Bitspower 120mm ARGB
- Case: Lian Li O11D EVO RGB Mid-Tower (SMITE Custom Printing Version)
The cards tested:
Nvidia
AMD
As with our RTX 5090 Founders Edition review, we opted to test the card as it will be realistically used. The vast majority of users buying an RTX 5080 Founders Edition will be using technologies such as DLSS and frame generation, so we wanted to ensure we’re presenting numbers that are more in-line with the actual use case of the card. For any graph detailing DLSS and AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR), we used the Performance preset with all game settings at their maximum preset. We also ensured that ReSizeable BAR and XMP profiles were enabled in the BIOS.
While this is a 4K card, we also included 1440p numbers as many people still use this resolution while gaming. In our benchmarks, when possible we utilized in-game benchmark tools to ensure the most consistent run across all our tests. For Alan Wake 2, Hogwarts Legacy, and Star Wars Outlaws, we did a repeatable circuit around the game map, such as strolling through the corridors of the Defense Against Dark Arts tower in Legacy or running a circuit around Tatooine in Outlaws. For Marvel Rivals we tested using a replay of a previous game from the same player’s perspective to ensure everything was consistent with each run.
RTX 5080 Founders Edition Synthetic Benchmarks
In 3DMark’s 4K DX11 Benchmark, Firestrike Ultra, the RTX 5080 Founders Edition comes out 20% faster than the RTX 4080 Super Founders Edition overall, while it finds itself 12% slower than the RTX 4090 FE. Meanwhile, the Blackwell GPU comes out on top compared to rival AMD’s RDNA 3 competitors, the RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT by 28% and 9%, respectively.
In TimeSpy, 3DMark’s DX12 benchmark, we see more of the same, though the gaps do close somewhat in each run. RTX 5080 performs 11% overall better than the RTX 4080 Super, while it maintains its lead over the two AMD cards. The RTX 5090 and RTX 4090 still retain the top two in performance, with the RTX 5080 28% slower than its Blackwell sibling, and 12% slower than the Ada Lovelace GPU.
In Port Royal, the DX12 Ray Tracing test, this trend is again repeated. The RTX 5080 FE is 17% slower than RTX 4090, but is 54% faster than AMD’s top-line RX 7900 XTX.
RTX 5080 Founders Edition Gaming Benchmarks
When looking at gaming benchmarks, much the same plays out. Looking at Cyberpunk 2077, the RTX 5080 Founders Edition is 30% faster than RTX 4080 Super, while it still falls short of RTX 4090 by 5%. The RTX 5090 Founders Edition retains its top spot as the fastest card in our stack, a full 35% faster at 4K than the RTX 5080 Founders Edition.
When comparing with AMD, the RTX 5080 Founders Edition is a much faster card overall, especially when you turn on ray tracing. Using the Ray Tracing Overdrive preset in CP2077, as well as DLSS/FSR frame generation, the RTX 5080 FE is a full 112% faster than the Rx 7900 XT, and 37% faster than the top line RDNA 3 card, the Rx 7900 XTX. The RTX 5080’s 1% lows are also better than AMD’s at 4K, making for a smoother overall experience in the end during gameplay.
Black Myth: Wukong also pushes the hardware across the board, especially when ray tracing is enabled. We see the same trend play out here, with the RTX 5080 Founders Edition faster than the RTX 4080 Super, but still behind the 4090 and 5090 in the stack. Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail is interesting as we see the RTX 5080 19% faster than RTX 4080 Super overall, but its 1% lows are 37% higher on average compared to the last gen card. This points to an overall smoother experience when questing through Tural or running that next Duty after queuing up for the day.
Interestingly, Returnal sees the RTX 5080 Founders Edition finally flip the script on the RTX 4090 FE in ray tracing. With DLSS 3 and frame generation enabled, the RTX 5080 FE is almost 13% faster on average, while that gap widens to 40% when compared to the RTX 4080 Super. Turning to AMD, the 5080 sits 75% faster on average at 4K with ray tracing enabled versus the RX 7900 XTX, but it should be noted that DLSS has frame generation in this game, while FSR Frame Generation is not supported.
RTX 5080 Founders Edition DLSS 3 vs DLSS 4
DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation are the tentpole feature suites with the RTX 5080 Founders Edtion. While DLSS 4 will launch with 75 supported games and apps, during our review period we were only able to test a handful, using preview versions of Cyberpunk 2077, Hogwarts Legacy, Star Wars Outlaws, and a demo build of Alan Wake 2 which also featured Mega Geometry support. With Dragon Age: The Veilguard and Marvel Rivals DLSS 4 wasn’t natively supported, but driver overrides were available to test, forcing 4x Frame Generation as well as the Transformer model with Super Resolution.
To reiterate, these tests were done using the highest possible preset, including ray tracing, with DLSS set to Performance. All used the Transformer DLSS model where possible.
When looking at just DLSS 3 Frame Generation and DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation uplifts, we see on average an 81% uplift in performance overall, with games like Dragon Age: The Veilguard and Marvel Rivals both seeing over 90% increases compared to DLSS 3. Crucially, though, the 1% lows when switching to DLSS 4 MFG 4x are also all boosted, seeing a 68% improvement on average across the board. This results in smoother gameplay overall, which is crucial when we’re adding more generated frames into the mix.
While the 1% lows might be much lower than you might expect given the final average framerate results, it should be noted they are all still upwards of 100fps on average. In my testing, I didn’t notice any stutter while playing any of these (which was especially good since most of the games in our DLSS 4 bench, I had to physically control myself versus just letting a benchmark tool run).
Unlike our RTX 5090 review, I did not notice a jump in latency when going from 2x FG to 4x FG in Alan Wake 2 with the RTX 5080, which tells me that driver improvements and patches to the demo likely helped to mitigate that issue in between reviews.
RTX 5080 Founders Edition Thermals and Power Consumption
Despite being the same physical size as the RTX 5090, the RTX 5080 Founders Edition requires far less power to drive its visuals. At a TGP of 360W, the 5080 is much more conservative with its power draw. Even when setting the GPU to “Prefer Maximum Performance” in our testing, the 5080 stayed mostly under 300W, peaking at 339 watts in Alan Wake 2.
Thermally, this is an incredibly cool card. The Double Flow Through design keeps the card cool under pressure, peaking at 67 degrees Celsius in Star Wars Outlaws.
RTX 5080 Founders Edition Final Thoughts and Conclusion
So what do we make of all this? The RTX 5080 Founders Edition is a great uplift over the RTX 4080 Super, both cards that cost $999 (though I would not be shocked if the 4080 Super sees a price cut after the 50-series launch).
On average, across our testing, the RTX 5080 Founders Edition performs 16% better in standard rasterized games, while when DLSS and ray tracing are enabled (not including MFG for a better comparison), the RTX 5080 is 26% faster. For cards that share the same MSRP this is not a bad uplift, especially if you skipped the 40-series and are looking to jump into a new card with the 50-series finally.
DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation make me recommend the RTX 5080 over the RTX 4080 Super, even if the latter sees a price drop. Sure, the 4080 Super is still a powerful card and can take advantage of some of the improvements Nvidia has made to DLSS, including the new Transformer AI model. But it’s Multi Frame Generation that puts the RTX 5080 over the edge if we discount the raw performance uplift alone.
Being able to tailor my experience with MFG to effectively max out my monitor has been, frankly, incredible. My main 4K monitor is simply 144hz, which meant that even MFG 4x at times was just too much. Having the level of granularity over my frame generation either natively in the game, as is the case with Cyberpunk 2077 or Alan Wake 2, or even at the driver level in Marvel Rivals, just puts more power in my hands as the end user. If I didn’t need all that extra frame gen horse power, I simply didn’t have to use it.
Jumping into matches of Marvel Rivals with my 4K monitor’s refresh rate fully maxed out for once was incredible,;the gameplay was silky smooth with no noticeable latency, even when using a controller (just to test it out, mouse and keyboard all the way for me). Throwing the RTX 5080 Founders Edition on my 49” Super Ultrawide Curved 1440p 240hz OLED monitor was an interesting experience, as Cyberpunk 2077 initially gave me motion sickness, but it was so smooth with 4x MFG.
Then I remembered I turned off motion blur to make things clearer in motion to check out the CNN/Transformer model differences with DLSS. Turning that back on fixed things for the better.
There is something incredible about just having instant performance boosts without sacrificing the responsiveness of these games, something that should get even better once Nvidia’s Reflex 2 is released later on down the line. Back at CES 2025 I truly was concerned that the introduction of three additional generated frames would be just too much latency to overcome, especially in a competitive game like Marvel Rivals. Yet, barring the one issue with Alan Wake 2 during our 5090 testing, nothing of the sort cropped up on the 5080, resulting in a silky smooth experience across the board.
It also makes me incredibly curious how AMD is going to compete with this when we finally learn more about its first foray into AI upscaling and frame generation with RDNA4. It’s hard to speculate without having many concrete details here, but I’m very concerned that AMD is so far behind they just won’t be able to compete as MFG gets more refined and more titles embrace the technology moving forward.
Even compared to the current RDNA 3 offerings from AMD, it’s hard to recommend them over the RTX 5080 at this point. With more and more games starting to require ray tracing-enabled GPUs even to run (Metro: Exodus Enhanced Edition, Indiana Jones and The Great Circle, and Doom: The Dark Ages), Nvidia’s lead with ray tracing performance is exacerbated when you add in features such as higher quality upscaling, the inclusion of ray reconstruction, and then you put Multi Frame Generation on top of that.
While you can find AMD RX 7900 XTX for around $100 less than the MSRP of the RTX 5080 Founders Edition, if you’re already spending close to a thousand dollars, my recommendation is just to save a little bit more and get the more performant card with the better suite of software around it.
However, what initially shocked me was seeing how much the RTX 4090 Founders Edition continued to outperform the RTX 5080, though it’s not as surprising as I thought at first glance. With a higher CUDA core count, more VRAM, and a wider memory bus, the RTX 4090 is still on an island of its own, sitting between the top-line 50-series cards. I would be very surprised to see Nvidia drop its price, especially as it literally fills the gap between the 80 and 90-class Blackwell GPUs.
All in all, the RTX 5080 Founders Edition is a great card, especially when compared with last generation’s 80-class GPU, though I would hesitate if I already own an RTX 4080 Super unless I could get a good selling price. Compared to the current competition at or around the same price, the RTX 5080 Founders Edition is a no-brainer. If you already have an RTX 4090, it’s not worth the upgrade unless you truly want the benefits of Multi Frame Generation but don’t quite want to drop $1999 on the RTX 5090 Founders Edition.
DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation allow the RTX 5080 to really achieve incredibly high framerates at 4K, and the granular control at the driver level the new 50-class GPUs offer allows users to tailor their experience directly to their needs. Given the whole package on offer, it's hard to think of anything negative to say about this GPU. The RTX 5080 Founders Edition is, at the end of the day, a great card that feels well worth the $999 price tag. If you've held off upgrading for a few generations, this is the perfect card to make the jump for.
Full Disclosure: This product was provided by the manufacturer for the purposes of this review.