Nvidia RTX 5080 Review: Efficiency Gains, Performance Letdown

1. Introduction2. Meet the RTX 5080 Founders Edition3. Testing Methodology4. Alan Wake II5. Black Myth: Wukong6. Cyberpunk 20777. Final Fantasy XVI8. Forza Horizon 59. Ghost of Tsushima10. Horizon Forbidden West11. The Last of Us Part 112. A Plague Tale: Requiem13. Senua's Saga: Hellblade 214. Starfield15. Total War: Warhammer III16. Performance Summary (12-Game Average)17. Cost Per Frame Analysis18. Ray Tracing: Alan Wake II19. Ray Tracing: Black Myth: Wukong20. Ray Tracing: Cyberpunk 207721. Ray Tracing: F1 2422. Ray Tracing: Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart23. Ray Tracing: Returnal24. Ray Tracing: Shadow of the Tomb Raider25. Ray Tracing: Star Wars Outlaws26. Ray Tracing Performance Summary27. DLSS Testing28. AI & Productivity Benchmarks29. Clock Speed30. GPU Temperatures31. Acoustics32. Power Draw: 1080p33. Power Draw: 1440p34. Power Draw: 2160p (4K)35. Performance per Watt: 1080p36. Performance per Watt: 1440p37. Performance per Watt: 2160p (4K)38. Total System Power Draw39. Closing Thoughts40. View All Pages

The MSRPs

Using the average frame rate data presented earlier in the review, here we look at the cost per frame using the UK MSRP launch prices for each GPU. Please note this only compares rasterised performance and value.

While the overall performance may not be mind-blowing, there is at least the positive point that the RTX 5080 has not increased its price over the 4080 Super, and that means a small improvement to cost per frame – 9%, to be exact, when using the MSRP data. It's hardly a revolution and still lags behind other GPUs like the RTX 4070 Super and RX 7800 XT, but it's, at least, a step in the right direction.

Current retail pricing

Calculating cost per frame based on current street pricing is another matter however, and we can see the RX 7900 XTX does technically offer better value with a couple of choice deals on at the minute – though, it has to be said general availability of that GPU is drying up fast and I don't expect it to last much longer. Still, cost per frame remains improved compared to the 4080 Super, which I wasn't able to find cheaper than £970 here in the UK.

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