Nvidia RTX 5080 gaming benchmarks: How does the GPU perform at 4K?

The Nvidia RTX 5080 is designed to play the latest video games at 4K resolutions. The GPU has been upgraded with more capable rendering and AI hardware. It improves upon the last-generation 4080 Super with more CUDA and Tensor cores and support for multi-frame generation. This helps the card boast 2-4x gains in framerates over native resolution, which is massive for demanding titles and path-tracing-heavy games at 4K.

We tested the card in detail across a variety of video games — both old and new. In this article, we will outline the kind of performance you can expect from the new 80-class video card.

---

How does the RTX 5080 perform in the latest video games?

The Nvidia RTX 5080 is a serious workhorse at high resolutions (Image via Sportskeeda)

The RTX 5080 is designed for 4K gaming without compromises. On paper, the last few generations have all been capable of running the latest titles at UHD with playable framerates. However, the promise of Blackwell is a high refresh rate experience with some AI-powered goodies.

---

Gaming benchmarks

For a baseline test, let's start with benchmarks at 1080p. At this framerate, we expect the card to deliver sky-high framerates across the board irrespective of how demanding the workloads are. Given the 10,240 CUDA cores that the RTX 5080 packs, 120+ FPS wasn't a problem in all the games we tested. While the card is overkill for 1080p gaming — we don't recommend buying it for this purpose — the GPU can be a viable option for competitive gamers looking for high FPS.

Next up, we tested 4K, the resolution the RTX 5080 is built for. The GPU delivered high FPS across the board without any hiccups. However, in certain titles, the card struggled to hit 60 FPS. Given we weren't relying on any form of upscaling, the numbers are a testament to the GPU's rendering potential. It goes on to show that UHD continues to be unconquered and we might need another generation to get 4K 60 FPS consistently.

---

Ray tracing and path tracing

Ray tracing is one of the strong suits of Nvidia RTX cards. We tested a few games with the highest RT settings to check where Blackwell stands in this regard. The results are a mixed bag — while ray tracing is fully conquered at lower resolutions, running a game at native 4K with the highest visual quality applied continues to be problematic.

We didn't get more than 40 FPS in Cyberpunk 2077 or Spider-Man 2, some of the more recent titles. Only Shadow of the Tomb Raider managed to squeeze out 85 FPS at 4K with RT. Do note that this game is pretty old now and only implements ray tracing in shadows.

In path tracing at native 4K, the RTX 5080 continues the trend we observed with the 40 series. The GPUs still aren't powerful enough to handle this setting at native resolutions. However, with frame generation turned on (and upscaling turned off, which is an option), you can get a taste of what the fully ray-traced experience would look like.

---

Upscaling and frame generation tests

Upscaling has been vastly expanded and improved with the latest generation — it is now one of the primary features packed with the cards rather than being a patch to heal framerate losses with ray tracing turned on. With the 5080, Nvidia launched DLSS 4, which introduced transformer-based upscaling, a better technology that reduces artifacts and inconsistencies while being a bit more demanding to handle.

Below is a list of framerates achieved by the card with DLSS turned on. You can compare them with native 4K numbers to gauge the performance. Generally, it is about 20-30% across the board.

Frame generation has also been improved with the RTX 5080. The cards can now generate multiple frames at once (up to three synthetic frames in between two rendered by the GPU), which delivers a much higher framerate gain than the last generation. However, the support for DLSS 4 continues to be limited and we have listed games that support both DLSS 3 (classic frame generation) and the new tech stack in our benchmarks list.

Multi-frame generation, the highlighted new feature of 50 series GPUs, is available in three settings: 2x, 3x, and 4x. Below is the list of framerates achieved with each of the settings in Cyberpunk 2077. Do note the monikers may be misleading as the base framerate to multiply from is often lower than native 4K given the added workload of managing multiple AI models. However, the numbers are pretty impressive.

---

Overall, the RTX 5080 is among the fastest graphics cards when it comes to 4K gaming. It delivers high framerates across the board with the highest settings applied without failing playable performance in any of our benchmarks (other than path tracing, which still is an unconquered mountain). However, as outlined in our review, the GPU isn't much faster than the last generation and qualifies as a good buy only if you're coming from an older or lower-tier card.