NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 FE Review: A Power-Hungry Creative’s Dream
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 FE review: Key specifications
| Specification | 4070 Ti Super | 4080 | 4090 | 5080 FE | 5090 FE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Release date | January 2024 | November 2022 | October 2022 | January 2025 | January 2025 |
| Approx. price | $799/£769 | $999/£949 | $1,499/£1,499 | $999/£979 | $1,999/£1,939 |
| CUDA cores | 8448 | 9728 | 16384 | 10752 | 21760 |
| Tensor (AI) | 706 | 780 | 1321 | 1801 | 3352 |
| Base clock (MHz) | 2340 | 2210 | 2230 | 2300 | 2010 |
| Bus width | 256 | 256 | 384 | 256 | 512 |
| Effective mem speed | 21 GB/s | 22.4 GB/s | 21 GB/s | 30GB/s | -5x increase in speed here, which should vastly speed up work for many video editors. |
Performance and Benchmarks
When it comes to Procyon Flux testing, we finally see a marked difference between the models. The 5080 FE took more than twice as long to generate images using the memory-demanding FP4 test than the 5090 FE did, but it was still impressively fast in its own right.
There’s also about a 15% reduction in performance from the 5090 to the 5080 in both the PugetBench DaVinci test and the Topaz Video AI upscaling test. Both figures still reside firmly in the ‘staggering’ category though.
Gaming and Professional Applications
Gaming is also truly spectacular here, especially when I can make use of features like DLSS 4. I ran Cyberpunk 2077, EA FC 24 and more games on this card, and the step up from 4070 Ti Super I had previously is not only noticeable, it’s staggering. Go to one of our gaming-focused sister sites for a full breakdown of the card for gamers if you’re interested to know more about that.
Conclusion
At under a grand at launch, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 FE isn’t exactly cheap, but while it’s only half the price of the 5090 FE, it provides a heck of a lot more than half the performance. With DLSS 4 support, neural rendering, RTX Mega Geometry and a host of other innovations on board, 3D modellers, animators and perhaps most importantly game developers will be looking for the most bang for their buck when it comes to the 50-series. And the 5080 might be that card.
Who is it for?
At under a grand at launch, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 FE isn’t exactly cheap, but while it’s only half the price of the 5090 FE, it provides a heck of a lot more than half the performance. With DLSS 4 support, neural rendering, RTX Mega Geometry and a host of other innovations on board, 3D modellers, animators and perhaps most importantly game developers will be looking for the most bang for their buck when it comes to the 50-series. And the 5080 might be that card.
Buy it if
- You are a pro game dev, animator or 3D artist
- You need near-top-level performance but your budget isn’t unlimited
- You want the best card for video editing
Don’t buy it if
- A 40 (or 30) series card will do the job
