It’s a wierd time to be reviewing an Nvidia graphics card. The corporate despatched me a GeForce RTX 5080 a month and a half in the past, and in that point, I’ve performed a number of video games and watched a number of GPU benchmark comparability movies. But in addition in that point, Nvidia’s longtime competitor AMD (which has traditionally been the underdog of the 2) launched its new line of playing cards, together with the Radeon RX 9070 XT, which is shockingly similar to the RTX 5080 whereas being considerably cheaper (the 9070 XT retails for $599, whereas the RTX 5080 prices $999). I figured, perhaps by the point I put up one thing, you’d be capable to purchase both GPU.
Right here’s the factor, although — you may’t. Virtually as quickly as Nvidia’s new playing cards hit the market in February, they offered out in lower than an hour. The AMD playing cards are additionally in terribly quick provide. Extra troubling, each the Nvidia and AMD GPUs have ended up promoting for considerably greater than their retail value, both due to enterprising resellers, or as a result of retailers can and do benefit from the truth that persons are at all times prepared to pay fairly a bit extra for these playing cards than the listing costs. However even in the event you had been prepared to pay a number of thousand {dollars} for certainly one of these playing cards, you continue to won’t be capable to get one for months — or longer, it’s arduous to say proper now. Not that many of those playing cards exist on this planet at the moment, seemingly. [Ed note: This is not a new problem.]
I don’t have a 9070 XT to which I can examine the RTX 5080, and in the event you’re studying this and also you care about that comparability, you’ve in all probability already determined which one you like and what you hope to get. You may be the type of one that has additionally been watching comparative benchmark movies and is prepared to attend nevertheless lengthy it takes to buy the best-performing card in the marketplace.
Otherwise you may be any individual extra like me, who purchases what’s accessible and inexpensive once I’m ready to improve. I truly purchased an RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous final fall with my very own cash. At the moment, rumors instructed that Nvidia would launch new playing cards in early 2025, however I used to be fearful about President Trump’s impending tariffs, and I guessed that the 50-series playing cards wouldn’t truly be accessible to buy for a very long time after their debut anyway. It’s why I truly purchased all of the elements for a brand-new PC construct alongside my new GPU. (Additionally, at the moment I didn’t know Nvidia was going to ship me an RTX 5080 to assessment. One can’t and mustn’t depend on such issues, even in our line of labor.) This PC, for readers’ reference, accommodates an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D 4.7 GHz 8-core processor, a Gigabyte X670 AORUS Elite AX motherboard, 64 GB of RAM, and a 1600 W energy provide. I’ve two 1440p screens and, sadly for testing functions, no 4K shows.
Picture: GSC Sport World by way of epicgamejourney
Picture: GSC Sport World by way of epicgamejourney
Picture: GSC Sport World by way of epicgamejourney
Picture: GSC Sport World by way of epicgamejourney
Along with feeling determined to improve my PC earlier than Trump took workplace, lest I make an already costly improve even pricier, I simply needed to play STALKER 2, which didn’t run in any respect on my earlier PC (the one which contained the RTX 3070 I reviewed in 2020, a card that’s barely beneath the advisable STALKER 2 system necessities). I’m not saying that STALKER 2 ran poorly on my earlier machine. It didn’t run in any respect. It wouldn’t even load. Now, the PC model of STALKER 2 wasn’t precisely optimized for achievement at launch, however I stored on attempting after a number of updates, and it didn’t go properly. It appeared like an sick portent. Plus, the RTX 3070 was by far the latest element in my PC at the moment.
I used to be planning to circle again to the RTX 3070 as my comparability level for this RTX 5080 assessment as a result of I figured the variations between it and my RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous can be considerably negligible, or at the least, not very thrilling to write down about. As a substitute, I’ve ended up realizing that my RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous — by far the costliest merchandise in my new PC construct — was not truly that nice.
I hate to even admit this as a result of I’m nonetheless type of pissed off about it, however right here we go. I had truly realized this downside lengthy earlier than the RTX 5080 arrived on my doorstep. Most video games regarded good on my new PC construct, however Indiana Jones and the Nice Circle — and let me use a technical time period right here — regarded like dogshit. I might have, and would have, spent extra time attempting to determine the place the bottlenecking was occurring, or why the body charge within the sport would plummet any time I attempted to truly flip up the graphics settings in any respect to take some good screenshots of what ought to have been a really fairly online game. Even on regular settings, it nonetheless tended to look shimmery and grainy and simply plain mistaken.
I’m now gratified to be taught that I’m not alone on this expertise. Googling “RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous Indiana Jones and the Nice Circle appears unhealthy” will yield tons of various discussion board threads on Steam, Reddit, and elsewhere from folks having the identical issues that I bumped into. After a number of tweaking with settings, I managed to discover a candy spot the place the sport regarded fairly good and the body charge wasn’t struggling, however I felt confused and dissatisfied that it didn’t look manner higher — and that this a lot effort was required to really feel content material with the outcomes. In spite of everything, I had simply upgraded my total PC, and Nice Circle was the primary main AAA, graphically intensive sport that was launched after my massive improve. It felt unhealthy.
I now really feel extraordinarily spoiled by how good my video games have regarded and carried out in 1440p with the RTX 5080. As quickly as I plugged it in and put in the brand new Nvidia drivers, Nice Circle regarded unbelievable, no tweaks required. With each setting maxed out, I used to be nonetheless in a position to common 120-125 frames per second within the sport, even in wide-open areas with a lot of transferring belongings on display (with Nvidia’s DLSS Body Technology expertise on the 4x setting). STALKER 2 fared even higher, averaging 160 fps on all “Epic” settings and solely dropping to 120 fps once I bumped into these large anomaly areas with tons of stuff floating round within the air.
Maybe essentially the most satisfying level of comparability for me was Cyberpunk 2077. This can be a sport with a number of shiny, reflective surfaces, and I had a blast taking photos of all of them. I in contrast them to a few of my outdated screenshots once I first performed the sport, on my earlier PC with the RTX 3070 (which was a brand-new card for me when that sport was first launched), and it’s enjoyable to see the enhancements. Cyberpunk 2077 has gotten a giant makeover (together with DLSS 4 help and path tracing) because it was first launched, and now, my PC has, too, and I get to reap the advantages.
All of this mentioned, would I’ve tried to buy an RTX 5080 by myself, had I not been despatched one by Nvidia final month? I truly suppose I might need, however not for a very long time — in all probability a yr from now, or longer, as soon as the cardboard truly turns into extensively accessible and inexpensive. By that time, my private frustrations with the RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous — itself not a very massive bounce in energy in comparison with the RTX 4070 Ti and the RTX 4070 Tremendous (sure, these are literally two different playing cards with extraordinarily comparable names) — might need motivated me to resell and commerce up my GPU. Or maybe for the time being, I might have troubleshooted no matter bizarre, unlikely bottleneck was occurring with my GPU on Nice Circle. I’ve the non-public privilege, presently, of not having to determine that out anymore, as a result of I’ve an RTX 5080 that makes all the things look implausible proper out of the field with no work on my half in any respect. Even when I determine to improve to 4K screens down the road, I’m not too involved about whether or not the RTX 5080 can sustain.
For an everyday one that’s seeking to buy a GPU proper this second, I don’t know that I can suggest the RTX 5080 since you actually can’t purchase it proper now. I imply, you may actually strive, and in the event you’re as anxious about impending tariffs as I’m, then perhaps you need to, regardless of the resale markup you’ll in all probability face. Even Nvidia’s 40-series playing cards are presently promoting for hefty value tags, and it may be some time earlier than even these playing cards get cheaper. They in all probability received’t till the 50-series playing cards are extra extensively accessible, assuming that ever occurs.
That is a part of why your entire competitors between the Nvidia RTX 5080 and AMD RX 9070 XT is a theoretical one, at the least for the second. Except you’re prepared to pay prime greenback for a wallet-gouging resale on the precise new card you need, you’re in all probability going to do what I did final fall, which was to buy a decently new card that occurred to be accessible at a bearable value through the time interval that I used to be making mentioned buy. If that in some way finally ends up being an RTX 5080, I can promise you it’ll make AAA video games look implausible for the following couple of years. Additionally, I hope you’re surviving no matter is occurring to you within the far future the place that RTX 5080 was that can be purchased at a bearable value.
