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2025-01-29T19:02:00.354Z
Another thing I appreciate about the RTX 5080 is that even though on paper its TDP is 360W, a 40W increase over the RTX 4080 and RTX 4080 Super’s 320W, I never saw it really approach that much power draw.
The most it ever got was about 335W. By comparison, the RTX 4090 pushes right up against its 450W TDP with a max power draw of around 446W.
The fact that the RTX 5080 is within 12% of the RTX 4090’s performance (and within 8% of its overall gaming performance) at just 75% of the power draw is fantastic, and something that really needs to be celebrated. Hell, the RTX 5080 even manages to use about 15-20W less power than the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX and it blows the best AMD graphics card clear out of the water.
It’s not often you get a card with this level of performance that is going to fit in as many PCs as this one and with a much lower upgrade cost than if it had a TDP of 420W or similar. Yes, third-party partners are still going to use their chonky big boy shrouds that they use for every graphics card from the RTX 4060 to the 5090.
That can’t really be helped, but if you can fit the Asus TUF Gaming 4070 in your case, great news! You’re also going to be able to fit an RTX 5080 in there too, and the innovation that Nvidia introduced around power efficiency and better all-around design this generation is a big reason why.
I don’t often commend Nvidia for its power efficiency, but in this case, its engineers definitely deserve the praise. It would have been simpler to throw 450W at this card and call it a day, but they didn’t, and I. for one, am very grateful for that.
2025-01-29T17:25:42.119Z
Hey folks, John here, taking over for the next few hours as we await the launch of the GeForce RTX 5080 tomorrow morning in the US, (UK and Australian readers might have to wait a few hours longer, unfortunately).
Having just wrapped my RTX 5080 review, I had some mixed feelings, though I stand by the 4.5 stars I gave it.
If you’re a serious, upgrade-every-generation PC enthusiast, you’re not going to like this card, you’re just not. It doesn’t give you the same kind of gen-on-gen uplift that we got from the RTX 4080 over the RTX 3080, for example, and for a lot of folks, that’s a dealbreaker. I definitely get that.
But how many people are moving from an RTX 4080 to an RTX 5080? A few hundred or thousand? No, most potential RTX 5080 buyers are going to be like those in one of my D&D groups who are all sitting on RTX 3060 Tis or RX 6800 XTs, because those were the only GPUs they could really afford or even find when they last upgraded their gaming PCs back in 2020 and 2021.
Now they’re getting ready to upgrade again, and for them, they’re getting close to RTX 4090 gaming performance for a lower power draw, in a slimmer profile and, hopefully, a much lower price. And that’s not even factoring in DLSS 4 with Multi-Frame Generation, which can make 4K games that implement it feel buttery smooth.
If you’ve been sitting on an RTX 30 series or AMD Radeon 6000-series card for the past five years, maybe even an RTX 3090, then this graphics card is a fantastic pickup, assuming you can find it at MSRP, which is definitely going to be a challenge, I fear.
2025-01-29T14:14:22.555Z
With our RTX 5080 review now live, definitely dive into the relative performance of the best graphics cards on the market and see whether the RTX 5080 is the right card for you.
2025-01-29T14:08:43.913Z
(Image credit: Future)
Our Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 review is now live!
Our Components Editor, John Loeffler, gave it 4.5 stars, saying: “It might not have the wow factor of the beefier RTX 5090, but for gaming, creating, and even AI workloads, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 is a spectacular balance of performance, price, and innovation that you won’t find anywhere else at this level.”
John found that while it was only about 13% faster than the RTX 4080 overall, it also comes within 12% of the RTX 4090’s overall performance, and within about 9% of the RTX 4090’s gaming performance. All at a substantially lower cost.
2025-01-29T11:54:52.922Z
Stock levels are looking rather dicey, and we haven’t even reached launch day yet! MSI has issued a statement revealing that it’ll only be opening pre-orders for the RTX 5090 tomorrow, with actual cards shipping on February 6 instead. However, the RTX 5080 will be available on MSI’s online storefront.
Some eager shoppers are even camped out in front of physical stores in the US to try and snag one of these highly prized GPUs. While I can’t stop you from doing that, I would personally recommend avoiding the cold and just bookmarking this page…
2025-01-29T11:00:47.597Z
Well, somebody hit that big shiny ‘PUBLISH’ button a bit soon. It looks like Igor’sLab mistakenly posted their RTX 5080 review before the embargo lifted, and while the page has since been taken down, it was live for long enough for Reddit to grab some screenshots.
The takeaway is… unimpressive. It shows about an 8% performance increase over the RTX 4080 Super on average (a GPU with the same launch MSRP as the 5080), with as little as 1.3% difference in some games. Not exactly a tour de force for Nvidia, but the figures from Igor’s only show performance at 1440p without DLSS or frame-gen activated – so we’re not getting the full picture here just yet.
2025-01-29T10:09:05.909Z
One day left, folks… it’s so close, you can almost taste it. Today is also RTX 5080 review day, meaning embargoes will be lifting and we’ll get a closer look at performance. Our own review is waiting in the wings, but we can’t talk about it just yet – watch this space.
2025-01-28T21:42:20.841Z
Nvidia posted an update earlier today on expected stock availability for the new RTX 50 series GPUs, including the RTX 5080, and it’s looking increasingly likely that these cards are going to absolutely fly off the shelves when they launch on Thursday.
“We expect significant demand for the GeForce RTX 5090 and 5080 and believe stock-outs may happen,” the message read, posted to the official Nvidia forums by an Nvidia PR rep. “Nvidia & our partners are shipping more stock to retail every day to help get GPUs into the hands of gamers.”
While it’s good that Nvidia is acknowledging the intense demand for these cards and will hopefully get enough stock out that the RTX 5080 doesn’t sell out in mere minutes, it’s still going to be a scrum come Thursday for sure.
2025-01-28T16:52:24.631Z
(Image credit: EE)
New RTX 5080 retailer alert! In the UK, mobile phone network EE will be selling the Nvidia RTX 5080, as well as the RTX 5090. EE, which usually sells smartphones, will sell the Nvidia RTX 5080 Founders Edition on January 30 on a first-come-first-serve basis from £1,245.99.
Meanwhile, further stock of the RTX 5080, plus the RTX 5090, will be sold ‘in the coming weeks’. Having another retailer with RTX 5080 stock is definitely welcome, and as EE isn’t an obvious place to buy a GPU from, it could end up being a great way to get an RTX 5080 on launch day. Plus, if it is getting more stock later, then even if you miss out on Thursday, you might still be able to get hold of one later.
2025-01-28T10:54:50.475Z
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Good morning! We are getting ever closer to the RTX 5080 launch on January 30, and it looks like you’ll need to be as prepared as possible (to kind of quote Scar from The Lion King), as there have been plenty of rumors emerging that stock could be low for both the RTX 5080 and the more powerful RTX 5090.
Another rumor also hints that these GPUs could end up selling for more than the MSRP, so we might see quite drastic price differences between retailers. That means having this page bookmarked is more important than ever, as we’ll be keeping track of stock and prices for UK and US retailers when the GPUs go on sale. And in the run up, we’ll be giving you tips and advice to help you get a new RTX 5080 without being ripped off.
2025-01-27T11:04:06.912Z
If you’re specifically hoping to snag one of those sleek new Founders Edition RTX 5080 models, you may want to temper your expectations. If previous years are anything to go by, chances are Nvidia’s FE cards will sell out fast – meaning you may need to accept that you’re getting a third-party GPU from a manufacturer like Asus or MSI instead.
2025-01-27T09:21:24.046Z
Welcome back, everyone – I hope you had a relaxing weekend.
There’s no time for me to relax now, though: it’s RTX 5000 launch week, with the RTX 5090 and 5080 both dropping on Thursday, January 30. We’ll keep an eye on retailer sites to see when (or if) pre-orders go live, and keep you updated throughout the week and beyond to help you secure one of these hotly-coveted new GPUs.
2025-01-24T21:28:47.363Z
Looking through the available RTX 5080 stock on B&H Photo, I came across the MSI GeForce RTX 5080 SUPRIM LIQUID SOC, which is interesting because it combines air and liquid cooling to keep those Blackwell temps down.
While this extra cooling isn’t exactly helping the small form factor certification, it is an appealing proposition for the limit pushers and overclockers of the community.
If you’re keen on getting one come launch day, now is the time to get signed up for a reminder when pre-orders go live on January 30th at 9:00am ET.
2025-01-24T20:08:38.135Z
If you’re more into the portability that gaming laptops offer over desktop PCs, there are some laptop listings that feature the RTX 5080 as well. Best Buy has the most listings for 5080 machines so far, whereas other retailers only have the GPU itself listed for the most part as of now.
A new HP Omen Max 16-inch gaming laptop page went up on Best Buy roughly a week ago, and it comes packed with Nvidia’s new RTX 5080, an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB SSD for a considerable $2,699.99 – sure, you get a 240Hz display and the latest hardware on the market to back it up, but considering that’s the cheapest 5080 laptop listed on Best Buy so far, you might be better off reaching for a gaming handheld at a fraction of that price instead (unless you plan to use the laptop for work or school as well).
2025-01-24T18:18:20.507Z
We’re already seeing some prebuilt PCs and gaming laptops featuring the RTX 5080 pop up at retailers like Best Buy – if you’ve been looking to upgrade more than just your GPU, a prebuilt rig like the Asus ROG G700 Gaming Desktop (G700TF-U7KF5080) could be your shot at securing a 5080 on (or close to) launch day.
The most affordable 5080 build at Best Buy looks to be CyberPowerPC’s new Gamer Supreme build, which comes in at $2,299.99 and features a Founder’s Edition RTX 5080. Considering the $1,000 5080 price tag, $1,300 for an AMD Ryzen 9 9900X (which will run you $400 to $500 on its own), 32GB of DDR5 RAM, a 2TB SSD, 1000W power supply, all wrapped up in a sleek case with expert installation and room for upgrades isn’t half bad.
2025-01-24T16:34:10.322Z
Remember, although the MSRP of the RTX 5080 is set at $999 / £939, that doesn’t mean that’s the price you’ll pay for a new card – that’s just the base price set by Nvidia for the Founders Edition version. Third-party cards from manufacturers like Asus, MSI, and Gigabyte may cost a bit more – but you’re usually getting a card with a higher factory default clockspeed and a more robust cooling solution.
However, don’t rush ahead and spend massively more than that MSRP on a listing from Amazon or Ebay if you don’t manage to secure a unit on launch day. Trust me – that’s just asking for trouble.
2025-01-24T15:38:27.545Z
Although the review embargo for the RTX 5080 doesn’t lift until next week, there are already plenty of speculation circulating with regard to its performance – along with some potentially concerning benchmark leaks.
This latest leak has claimed that the 5080 won’t be a major upgrade over the current-gen 4080, which we weren’t hugely impressed by in our RTX 4080 review way back in late 2022. Since it’s been more than two years, PC gamers and creative professionals alike are no doubt hoping for a serious upgrade over the current-gen model, so let’s hope we’re not disappointed…
2025-01-24T11:31:06.236Z
Although we’re focused on US and UK retailers here (because, well, we Computing Editors are American and British), I’m going to quickly go over some shopping advice for PC builders in other English-speaking regions who want to pick up an RTX 5080.
In Canada, it’s largely the same story as the US: Newegg and Best Buy are potentially the best options, with Walmart and Amazon also worth keeping an eye on – though be careful with Amazon, as it can be a haven for scalpers and scammers during big launches like this. Nvidia’s own website doesn’t appear to have a dedicated page for Canadian shoppers; you’ll be redirected to the US page about the RTX 5000 series, but it’s not clear whether or not the ‘Notify Me’ feature will function properly for non-US users.
As for Australia, the big stores like JB Hi-Fi and Dick Smith don’t seem to have any RTX 5000 cards listed at the time of writing (though that doesn’t mean they won’t be selling them), but you can sign up for notifications at MWave and BPCTech also has a bunch of placeholder listings visible on-site. For anyone considering a pre-built system, EvaTech’s RTX 5000 custom PC page is worth checking out.
2025-01-24T10:01:16.742Z
If you’re toying with the idea of a hardware upgrade but the RTX 5090 is (very understandably) out of your price range, you might want to consider a different upgrade solution. Even though launch day is still a ways off, we’re already seeing some retailers start to cut loose stock of pre-built gaming PCs with RTX 4000 GPUs – no doubt to make room for an incoming swathe of new RTX 5000 systems.
Our lovely (and eagle-eyed) Deals Editor, Alex Whitelock, has compiled a list of clearance deals on RTX 4000 PCs starting at $729, and there are some rather tasty discounts to be found there. If you’re keen to upgrade but worried about the health of your wallet, these could be worth a look.
2025-01-24T09:50:18.921Z
…aaaaaand we’re back. Christian Guyton here, UK Computing Editor, taking things over until the Americans wake up. Six days to go, folks…
2025-01-23T21:58:25.812Z
That’s it for me today, folks. At the moment, there’s little movement on the availability front; I’ll continue checking retailers to monitor any changes in stock or pre-order procedures so you can be the first to know when it changes.
Be sure to check back in with this guide to see how the situation develops! Think of it as practice for getting your hands on a 5080 come launch day if you like.
2025-01-23T20:46:41.339Z
Diving into the tech specs, the RTX 5080 has a max temperature rating of 88 degrees Celsius (190.4 degrees Fahrenheit), whereas the 4080 maxes out two degrees higher at 90 Celsius (194 Fahrenheit).
This means that ideally, despite churning out (presumably) a significant amount more performance, the 5080 will run a bit cooler than the RTX 4080. However, if we find the 5080 runs particularly hot under load (stay tuned for our review next week), that lower max temperature could be an issue for graphically demanding titles on builds that have poor ventilation.
2025-01-23T19:43:36.838Z
Speaking of the monster power draw I mentioned earlier, Asus ROG’s RTX 5080 page lists the ROG THOR III 1600W (or 1200W at least) power supply as the “perfect PSU companion” to the newly-listed ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 16GB GDDR7 OC Edition graphics card – now that’s a lot of power.
This version of the 5080 also comes stocked with not two, or even three, but four fans along with rows of heatsink fins to keep the heat from slowing down clock speeds, and 16GB of Nvidia’s new GDDR7 video memory will definitely be a sight to behold.
2025-01-23T18:36:31.366Z
If you’re seriously considering upgrading to Nvidia’s RTX 5080, I’d head to one of the websites that lets you get a notification as soon as stock drops in – these being Nvidia, Best Buy and B&H Photo in the US, and Nvidia, Scan, Overclockers, and Box in the UK (links above) – so you can try your best to beat the scalpers and resellers.
If you live near a Micro Center, you might have a good chance of picking a 5080 up in person. It’s offering a voucher system on a first-come first-serve basis that guarantees you’ll be able to purchase a GPU on launch day (though it doesn’t guarantee a specific model or manufacturer). Micro Center stores also have a rule in place that allows only one 5080 or 5090 per customer, meaning if you don’t mind waiting in line, this could be a good chance to pick up a Blackwell card the day it comes out.
If you’d prefer to try your luck at buying one online, Newegg is a great place to look. It’s offering a trade-in deal on your current GPU towards a new 5000 series card. Just for fun, I looked at how much I’d get if I traded my (fully-functioning, undamaged) MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 3080 Ti in – $419 towards a new GPU isn’t shabby at all.
2025-01-23T17:14:09.199Z
All that power means the 5000 series isn’t just for gamers, either.
If you’re a creative professional who relies on a quality GPU to render large amounts of 3D art for editing, or you’re a programmer who works with large-scale ML models, you’ll see some significant improvements over other cards (the 5090 scored “between 35% and 49.3% faster in [our] Blender Benchmark 4.30 tests” for 3D rendering over the 4090, as well as “up to 34.3% faster in Geekbench 6 OpenGL compute test and 53.9% faster in Vulcan”).
Interestingly enough, video editing only saw a small bump in performance, though our Components Editor believes CPU bottlenecking may be at fault here.
2025-01-23T15:58:31.604Z
With great power comes great…power draw. We just put our much-anticipated Nvidia RTX 5090 review live earlier today, and one of the main ideas I took from it was just how much of a high-end card it really is.
The 5090 isn’t just for the average gamer looking to squeeze out a few extra frames per second. This card regularly pulls down 550W or more of power, and is capable of throwing 200+ fps at 8K (yes, 8K) resolution on Ultra settings in games like Cyberpunk 2077, Hogwarts Legacy, and Star Wars: Outlaws using Multi-Frame Generation.
If you’re thinking about upgrading to a 5090, it’s important to also keep in mind the hidden costs that come with that upgrade; do you have a sufficient power supply? Are your motherboard and RAM up to snuff, and will your current CPU be a massive bottleneck?
That’s why I have my eyes set on the RTX 5080 (or hopefully a 5080 Ti down the road) as a realistic upgrade choice; we can’t talk about the specific performance of this card just yet (stay tuned for that review next week), but its more palatable price tag and the fact that it can also take advantage of Multi-Frame Generation makes me think it could be the best value play of the Blackwell lineup.
2025-01-23T14:56:31.612Z
(Image credit: Nvidia)
You can’t talk about Nvidia’s new graphics cards without talking about AI and DLSS, can you?
DLSS is the tech that allows Nvidia to tout results like the new $549 5070 performing as well as 2022’s $1,599 RTX 4090 – it’s also cause for heated debate in the PC gaming world, as enthusiasts are divided on whether “fake frames” should be considered in performance metrics.
While all RTX cards (including the 20, 30, and 40 series GPUs) will be able to utilize most of DLSS 4’s features, as of right now only the new 50 series cards will benefit from the latest improvements like Multi Frame Generation (though it looks like Nvidia may be bringing MFG to older cards).
If you read through our Nvidia RTX 5090 review, you’ll find “In non-upscaled 1440p gaming, you’re looking at a roughly 18% better average frame rate and a 22.6% better minimum/1% framerate for the RTX 5090.” over the 4090 – so it seems DLSS isn’t everything the 5000 series has to offer.
2025-01-23T11:49:43.992Z
If you suddenly decide you actually have more cash to throw at your PC build (or perhaps you made a typo while Googling) and you’d rather spring for Nvidia’s upcoming flagship monster GPU the RTX 5090, be sure to go and have a gander at our where to buy the RTX 5090 page. I’ll be keeping both pages updated regularly up til launch day and beyond to help you find the card you want – and if you change your mind and want to opt for a more affordable card, we’ll be doing the same for the mid-range RTX 5070 and RTX 5070 Ti in February too.
2025-01-23T11:40:45.457Z
According to recent reports and rumors, RTX 5000 stock shortages are likely – but I could’ve told you that without needing to read anything. This happens every single time; why would this generation be any different?
Also as inevitable as death and taxes are the scalpers. Sadly, we’re almost certainly going to see some particularly scummy (sorry, ‘enterprising’) individuals snapping up these cards and trying to resell them at inflated prices. Even if you’ve got the cash, steer clear. These sellers are also known to pull scams on desperate shoppers, and if I’m being honest, we shouldn’t support this sort of behavior anyway. Stay strong, friends!
2025-01-23T11:29:13.738Z
One question many eager PC gamers will no doubt be asking right now is this: where are the pre-orders? And that’s a good question, since it appears that no retailers are offering any sort of pre-order system whatsoever, and it seems less and less likely that we’ll see any at all as launch day creeps closer.
This is a little unusual, but there’s a potential simple explanation: Nvidia and its retail partners are perfectly aware that the RTX 5090 and 5080 are likely to sell out near-instantly with demand remaining high for a while (as was the case with the RTX 4090), so implementing pre-orders systems might just not be worth the time and effort. If you know they’re going to sell like hot cakes anyway, why bother?
2025-01-23T11:03:59.633Z
One thing we can already talk about is the new physical design of Nvidia’s next-gen graphics cards. The high-end Founders Edition cards of the RTX 4000 generation rightly received some flak from gamers and reviewers alike for being… a little chunky, to say the least. Notably, only the 4070 FE and 4070 Super FE actually qualified for Nvidia’s own Small Form Factor certification.
That’s not the case this time around: every RTX 5000 card all the way up to the RTX 5090 will be small enough to fit inside a (relatively) compact case, something we’re very excited about. A smaller footprint also means a lighter GPU, since the previous RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 were very heavy and carried the risk of damaging your motherboard if not properly supported inside your PC.
2025-01-23T10:54:32.901Z
While our review of the RTX 5080 (and its big brother, the 5090) won’t be going live for a few hours – we’d rather not upset Nvidia today of all days – you can check out our RTX 5090 unboxing right now to see what’s included in the box.
Most notably, Nvidia has moved away from the problematic 12VHPWR power connector in favor of a new connector with additional sensor pins and a bundled in-box adapter, which should make fitting these new GPUs inside smaller cases easy – and prevent any danger of cable-melting fiascos.
2025-01-22T16:08:20.434Z
(Image credit: Future)
It’s that time of year again; Nvidia is taking the gaming world by storm with the release of its new RTX 5000 series GPUs, and I’ve got my eye set on the higher mid-range RTX 5080. I’m currently rocking an RTX 3080 Ti in my gaming rig, and while it’s served me well, the 5000 series looks to be an interesting value proposition – so I’m excited to see whether the late TI card release trend continues.
But for now, we have a release date of Thursday, January 30 for the Blackwell lineup, including the Nvidia RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 (check out our hub on where to find RTX 5090 stock if you’re after peak performance). We’ve already gotten our hands on a Blackwell card, but we can’t let you know what we think until the review embargo lifts this Friday, January 23 (keep an eye out for TechRadar’s in-depth review later today!)
That said, those release dates haven’t stopped loads of retailers from teasing their 5080 stock early. Some storefronts like Newegg have already created landing pages that group all of its 5080 stock in one place – perfect for comparing prices and delivery dates.
Make sure to bookmark this page for more updates – I’ll be scouring retailers for any updates as stock and availability moves, so you can be the first to know.
