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The RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 are some of the most powerful gaming graphics cards ever made, offering top-tier rendering prowess and significant performance improvements over the last-gen 40-series counterparts. These GPUs support the latest DLSS 4 technologies, including multi-frame generation and neural rendering to further improve visual fidelity. However, both cards are extremely pricey and could drill a solid hole in your pocket if there's no use for the added features.
Now that independent reviewer benchmarks of the 5090 and 5080 are out, we can have a look at how the two-pixel pushers compare in terms of rendering performance.
Note: Some aspects of this article contain the personal and subjective opinions of the writer.
The Nvidia RTX 5090 and 5080 are some of the most powerful gaming GPUs today
The RTX 5090 and the 5080 are designed for halo-tier performance without compromises. Both GPUs are built from the ground up to handle the latest titles without major issues. Additionally, they have received significant rendering hardware bumps from the last generation, with up to 30% more CUDA cores on the 5090.
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Specs comparison
Coming to the specs of the GPUs, both the RTX 5090 and 5080 are filled to the brim with graphics hardware. While the 5090 is powered by the flagship GB202 graphics chip, the 5080 packs the slightly cut-down GB203. Both these chips will rank among the fastest in the consumer GPU market this generation given AMD doesn't have any plans for flagships.
The 5090 packs a mind-boggling 21,760 CUDA cores, 32 GB of GDDR7 video memory, and a TDP of 575W. Most of the framerate gains the 90-class card pulls off are because of the extra hardware that it now packs. However, the card is also quite power inefficient, as compared to the 4090's 450W rating.
The RTX 5080 doesn't try to punch above its weight class. Unlike the 5090, the card maintains a profile akin to its Ada Lovelace counterpart. You get 10,752 CUDA cores and 16 GB of GDDR7 VRAM with this GPU.
Here's a detailed specs comparison of the 5090 and the 5080:
In terms of pricing, both Blackwell GPUs will drill a hole in your pocket. However, the 5080 takes the lead with its $999 price tag. The 5090 costs double that at $1,999.
Performance comparison
In terms of gaming performance, the RTX 5080 and 5090 bring incremental uplifts over the last generation with a major focus on how AI and DLSS can improve framerates. While Nvidia marketing claims that real and AI-generated frames aren't that different, this doesn't hold in practice. While DLSS 4 has gotten significantly better than the last-gen, thanks to the new Transformer model and multi-frame generation, visual artifacts continue to be a part of the upscaling tech.
Here are some benchmarks with the two cards and their last-gen counterparts. The numbers are sourced from the YouTube channel ElAnalistaDeBits.
Native rendering performance hasn't improved much this generation. Even with all the extra hardware, the new 90-class video cards struggle to deliver gains that were commonplace just a few generations back.
Nvidia RTX 5090 vs RTX 5080: Final thoughts
There's no denying that the RTX 5090 and 5080 are some of the most powerful gaming video cards on the market. However, if you compare them to last-gen offerings, they appear underwhelming.
You'll also have to shell out twice as much to get your hands on the Blackwell flagship, the 5090. This makes the 5080 better suited for most gamers — the same DLSS 4 magic (with performance figure scaling that looks pretty similar to the 5090), the same driver support, and beastly 4K capabilities. This makes the $999 card our recommendation for gaming.
However, if you're an AI enthusiast and want to run LLMs on your system, a media professional with use for the 4:2:2 encoding, or just someone looking for the absolute best, there's nothing shinier than the latest 5090.
