Versus Engine
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 (16GB) vs Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 (32GB)
Specs, price and the one trade-off that actually decides it — Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 (16GB) against Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 (32GB), side by side.
Cheaper to start
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 (16GB)
Starts about $1,000 lower.
Rated higher
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 (32GB)
9.7 vs 9.1 on our design scale.
Standout
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 (16GB)
Solid generational gain over the 4080
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 (16GB)
A solid generational step over the 4080 at $999, still capped at 16GB of VRAM.
Where it wins, where it doesn't
Pros
- Solid generational gain over the 4080
- Much better cost per frame than the 5090
- Strong for rendering and video work
Cons
- 16GB VRAM — no more model headroom than a 5070 Ti at two-thirds the price
- Cannot run 70B-class inference
- Expensive for what it adds over the tier below
Specifications
- architectureBlackwell
- Card Dimensions / SFF-Ready Enthusiast GeForce CardFounders Edition Yes Varies by manufacturer
- Card Dimensions / Width137 mm
- cuda_cores10752
- Display Support / HDCP2.3
- Display Support / Multi Monitorup to 4 (4)
- Display Support / Standard Display Connectors3x DisplayPort (2), 1x HDMI (3)
- GPU Engine Specs / Base Clock (GHz)2.30
- GPU Engine Specs / NVIDIA CUDA™ Cores10752
- GPU Engine Specs / Ray Tracing Cores4th Generation 171 TFLOPS
- GPU Engine Specs / Shader CoresBlackwell
- GPU Engine Specs / Tensor Cores (AI)5th Generation 1801 AI TOPS
- memory16GB GDDR7
- Memory Specs / Memory Interface Width256-bit
- Memory Specs / Standard Memory Config16 GB GDDR7
- memory_bandwidth960 GB/s
- memory_bus256-bit
- Technology Support / AV1 DecodeYes
- Technology Support / AV1 EncodeYes
- Technology Support / Game Ready DriversYes
- Technology Support / NVIDIA AppYes
- Technology Support / NVIDIA ArchitectureBlackwell
- Technology Support / NVIDIA BroadcastYes
- Technology Support / NVIDIA Decoder (NVDEC)2x Sixth Generation
- Technology Support / NVIDIA Encoder (NVENC)2x Ninth Generation
- Technology Support / NVIDIA FreeStyleYes
- Technology Support / NVIDIA G-SYNC™Yes
- Technology Support / NVIDIA GPU Boost™Yes
- Technology Support / NVIDIA HighlightsYes
- Technology Support / NVIDIA NVLink™ (SLI-Ready)No
- Technology Support / NVIDIA OmniverseYes
- Technology Support / NVIDIA ShadowPlayYes
- Technology Support / PCI Express Gen 5Yes
- Technology Support / Photo ModeYes
- Technology Support / Ray TracingYes
- Technology Support / RTX RemixYes
- Technology Support / VR ReadyYes
- Technology Support / Vulkan 1.4, OpenGL 4.6Yes
- Thermal and Power Specs / Maximum GPU Temperature (in C)88
- Thermal and Power Specs / Required System Power (W) (5)850
- Thermal and Power Specs / Supplementary Power Connectors3x PCIe 8-pin cables (adapter in box) OR 1x 450 W or greater PCIe Gen 5 cable
- total_graphics_power360W
- Card Dimensions / Length—
- Card Dimensions / Slot—
- Card Dimensions / Slots2-Slot
- Display Support / Maximum Digital Resolution4K at 480Hz or 8K at 165Hz with DSC
- recommended_psu—
- Technology Support / CUDA Capability—
- Technology Support / DLSSDLSS 4 Super Resolution DLAA Ray Reconstruction Frame Generation Multi Frame Generation
- Technology Support / Microsoft DirectX ® 12 UltimateYes
- Technology Support / NVIDIA DLSS—
- Technology Support / NVIDIA ReflexReflex 2 Low Latency Mode Frame Warp (Coming Soon)
- Technology Support / NVIDIA Studio Drivers—
- Technology Support / Resizable BARYes
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 (32GB)
The fastest consumer card available, with 32GB of GDDR7 — and the power bill to match.
Where it wins, where it doesn't
Pros
- 32GB GDDR7 — runs 70B-class models quantised on a single card
- Fastest consumer silicon available
- Avoids the complexity of a multi-GPU build
Cons
- Roughly double the 5080's price for far less than double the performance
- 600W-class power delivery dictates case and PSU choices
- Poor value for anything that is not memory-bound
Specifications
- architectureBlackwell
- Card Dimensions / SFF-Ready Enthusiast GeForce CardFounders Edition Yes Varies by manufacturer
- Card Dimensions / Width137 mm
- cuda_cores21760
- Display Support / HDCP2.3
- Display Support / Multi Monitorup to 4 (4)
- Display Support / Standard Display Connectors3x DisplayPort (2) , 1x HDMI (3)
- GPU Engine Specs / Base Clock (GHz)2.01
- GPU Engine Specs / NVIDIA CUDA™ Cores21760
- GPU Engine Specs / Ray Tracing Cores4th Generation
- GPU Engine Specs / Shader CoresBlackwell
- GPU Engine Specs / Tensor Cores (AI)5th Generation
- memory32GB GDDR7
- Memory Specs / Memory Interface Width512-bit
- Memory Specs / Standard Memory Config32 GB GDDR7
- memory_bandwidth1792 GB/s
- memory_bus512-bit
- Technology Support / AV1 DecodeYes
- Technology Support / AV1 EncodeYes
- Technology Support / Game Ready DriversYes
- Technology Support / NVIDIA AppYes
- Technology Support / NVIDIA ArchitectureBlackwell
- Technology Support / NVIDIA BroadcastYes
- Technology Support / NVIDIA Decoder (NVDEC)2x Sixth Generation
- Technology Support / NVIDIA Encoder (NVENC)3x Ninth Generation
- Technology Support / NVIDIA FreeStyleYes
- Technology Support / NVIDIA G-SYNC™Yes
- Technology Support / NVIDIA GPU Boost™Yes
- Technology Support / NVIDIA HighlightsYes
- Technology Support / NVIDIA NVLink™ (SLI-Ready)No
- Technology Support / NVIDIA OmniverseYes
- Technology Support / NVIDIA ShadowPlayYes
- Technology Support / PCI Express Gen 5Yes
- Technology Support / Photo ModeYes
- Technology Support / Ray TracingYes
- Technology Support / RTX RemixYes
- Technology Support / VR ReadyYes
- Technology Support / Vulkan 1.4, OpenGL 4.6Yes
- Thermal and Power Specs / Maximum GPU Temperature (in C)90
- Thermal and Power Specs / Required System Power (W) (5)1000
- Thermal and Power Specs / Supplementary Power Connectors4x PCIe 8-pin cables (adapter in box) OR 1x 600 W PCIe Gen 5 cable
- total_graphics_power575W
- Card Dimensions / Length304 mm
- Card Dimensions / Slot2-Slot
- Card Dimensions / Slots—
- Display Support / Maximum Digital Resolution—
- recommended_psu1000W
- Technology Support / CUDA Capability12.0
- Technology Support / DLSS—
- Technology Support / Microsoft DirectX ® 12 Ultimate—
- Technology Support / NVIDIA DLSSDLSS 4 Super Resolution DLAA Ray Reconstruction Frame Generation Multi Frame Generation
- Technology Support / NVIDIA Reflex—
- Technology Support / NVIDIA Studio DriversYes
- Technology Support / Resizable BAR—