NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Founders Edition Review With Copious Benchmarks


NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Founders Edition: MSRP $999
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Founders Edition looks just like the flagship RTX 5090, and offers the same features, but packs a smaller GPU at only half the price.


hot flat
  • Latest Architecture And Feature Set
  • Easy Overclocker
  • Relatively Power Friendly
  • More Compact Form Factor
  • Runs Cool And Mostly Quiet
  • DLSS 4 + RTX Neural Rendering
  • Upgraded Media Engine
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  • Price Premium
  • Mild Upgrade Over The RTX 4080
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NVIDIA is ready with the second member of the GeForce RTX 50 series, the GeForce RTX 5080. Last week we were able to show you NVIDIA’s own flagship GeForce RTX 5090 and an awesome partner board from MSI, the cool and quiet GeForce RTX 5090 Suprim Liquid SOC. Both of those cards are crazy powerful, but they also sit at the very, tippy-top of NVIDIA’s product stack, and as such, they command a hefty premium. The RTX 5090’s MSRP is two grand, and we’d be surprised if anyone other than the brave few already camping out for cards get one for the suggested retail price. The new GeForce RTX 5080 is a different animal though, and its suggested price is half of the RTX 5090’s, at just under a grand.

Although the RTX 5080 Founders Edition card we’ll be showing you here looks essentially identical to the RTX 5090, there are plenty of differences under the hood. In fact, the cards aren’t even built using the same GPU. More on that in a bit.


The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Founders Edition’s packaging and bundle is exactly the same as the RTX 5090’s. In stead of writing about all of the environmentally friendly and sustainable goodness in NVIDIA’s latest packaging again, we’ll let Davo tell you directly. Check out the video above to see for yourselves – just imagine that 9 is an 8...

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Specifications

geforce rtx 5080 specifications

As you can see in the comparison table above, in terms of its specification, the GeForce RTX 5080 is an upgrade over the previous-gen GeForce RTX 4080 in virtually every way. The GeForce RTX 5080 has more – and newer -- cores, more memory bandwidth, more L1 cache, a larger register file, higher clocks, an upgraded media engine, a native PCIe Gen 5 interface, and a higher pixel fill rate. Surprisingly though, the GPU powering the RTX 5080 is comprised of fewer transistors than the RTX 4080’s AD103, though the chips have similar memory interfaces, ROP counts, and L2 cache configurations.

The GeForce RTX 5080 is built around the 45.6 billion transistor GB203 GPU, but unlike the RTX 5090, which has a scaled back GB202 at its heart, the GeForce RTX 5080 features a full-fat chip. The GB203 is equipped with 11 GPCs, 42 TPCs, 84 SMs, and eight 32-bit memory controllers, for an aggregate 256-bit bus width. Each SM contains 128 FP32 CUDA Cores, for a grand total of 10,752 CUDA Cores, with 84 4th Gen RT Cores, 336 5th Gen Tensor Cores, 336 Texture Units, and 112 ROPS. NVIDIA's GB203 also includes 10,752 KB L1 cache, a 21,504 KB Register File, and 65,536 KB L2 cache. The GPU is linked to 16GB of GDDR7 memory operating at an effective 30Gbps, for up to 960GB/s of bandwidth.

While much of the IP in the GB203 powering the GeForce RTX 5080 is scaled back versus the bigger GB202 on the GeForce RTX 5090, their features and capabilities remain the same. RTX Neural Rendering, RTX Mega Geometry, DLSS 4 with Multi-Frame Gen, the new AI Management Processor, and updated media engine with hardware acceleration for 4:2:2 video, are all part of the GeForce RTX 5080's feature set. You can learn about all of those features in our previous NVIDIA Blackwell GPU architecture coverage, if you’re not already aware.

Check Out The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Founders Edition

In terms of its industrial design and overall aesthetics, the GeForce RTX 5080 Founders Edition LOOKS just like the RTX 5090 FE. There are some key differences we should note, however.
geforce rtx 5080 front
geforce rtx 5080 back
Like the GeForce RTX 5090, the GeForce RTX 5080 is much thinner than its direct predecessor. The card measures 304mm in length, 137mm in height, and it is truly two-slots (40mm) wide – it’s not just a 2-slot case bracket, with a protruding cooler assembly. It's a dense package that uses premium materials through-and-through. You can feel the build quality as soon as you pick up the GeForce RTX 5080.

NVIDIA was able to shrink its top-end GeForce RTX 50 series cards this generation by developing what it calls a “Double Flow Through” cooler design, which allows both cooling fans to blow air straight through the heatsink, for optimal performance with reduced noise.

rtx 5090 double flow though

To achieve this, the GeForce RTX 5080 has a multi-part PCB setup, similar to the 5090's. The central PCB is home to the GPU, memory, and power circuitry. It is situated in the center of the card, with only small portions protruding underneath each fan. A separate daughterboard attaches to the central PCB to the PCIe x16 connector, and a third, flexible board runs perpendicular along the bottom edge with high-speed signaling connections from the central PCB to the display outputs. 

A ton of engineering went into the design of the GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080. The cooling solution on this card is more capable than previous-gen offerings, and NVIDIA had to solve a number of problems to ensure proper signal integrity over the multiple PCBs and their connectors. NVIDIA discusses much of the design process in a video available here, if you’re interested in some of the finer details. 

geforce rtx 5080 bottom
geforce rtx 5080 top

At the top of the card, you'll find the familiar 12VHPWR 16-pin connector, also used on the RTX 40 series. On the RTX 5080 though, the connector is angled off the back on the PCB, and recessed slightly in the shroud. This configuration should allow for easier cable management and minimize the need to bend the power feed in thinner PC cases. The included power adapter requires four PCIe 8-pin feeds, but the cabling is longer and far more flexible than the adapters included in older RTX 40-series cards. The connector on the adapter is also beefier and emits a solid "click" when pushed fully into place.

The GeForce RTX 5090 has a newly-designed 3D Vapor Chamber affixed to its GPU, memory and power circuitry for cooling purposes, with a liquid metal TIM to aid in heat transfer. The GeForce RTX 5080, however, has a more traditional cold plate, with a dense array of heatsink thin-fins, linked via 5 heat pipes -- it is not outfitted with the same vapor chamber as the 5090. NVIDIA also uses a more traditional phase-change TIM on the RTX 5080, so none of the complexities associated with liquid metal are at play here. Externally though, you can't really tell. The same dual axial fans are present, along with the same directional outlets on the heatsink and top and bottom vents on the shroud.
geforce rtx 5080 ports
Outputs in the GeForce RTX 5080 (and other RTX 50 series cards) mirror the RTX 5090 as well, and include a trio of DisplayPorts (2.1b) and a single HDMI port (2.1b). Their orientations have been reversed versus previous-gen cards though, and the case bracket features a solid front bezel and an anti-fingerprint coating.

Now that you're intimately familiar with the GeForce RTX 5080's design, let's get to the benchmarks...

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