You may not be able to buy an NVIDIA RTX 5080 right now, which is poor, but that doesn’t change just how good it is. I’ve just installed our RTX 5080 Founders Edition into my gaming PC, replacing a much loved, but struggling (in some titles) ASRock Intel Arc A770.
I’ve read our review of the RTX 5080, of course, but from the first second, I was amazed by something I wasn’t expecting; The size.
It’s a complete reversal of my thoughts when the RTX 40 series came out, and I first opened the obscenely large RTX 4090. I am actually shocked. Probably more shocked that it’s smaller, even, than my outgoing Arc A770.
Wait, it’s smaller than an Arc A770?!
I should point out that the ASRock Phantom Gaming Arc A770 to give the full title is not the same as the Intel-released Arc A770 Limited Edition. While the latter was a sleek, compact design, ASRock went bananas and stacked an absurdly large heatsink and three fans on top of their version. It’s still a two slot card, at least, but it’s HUGE. Especially considering the mediocre performance compared to what’s replacing it.
I simply couldn’t believe that the RTX 5080 Founders Edition is a hair shorter and a decent amount thinner than this significantly less powerful graphics card. But it is, and while it’s still a snug fit in my fairly small case, it fits well, and there’s even a little more clearance for the other PCIe cards I have in there compared to before.
I’m also pleasantly surprised by how rigid it is. It’s a heavy graphics card, but there’s absolutely no sign of sag. I’m not brave enough yet to remove my GPU support, but I don’t think it’s needed.
It’s a shame that the OEM cards won’t be as small, with gigantic heatsinks and extra fans and let’s not forget about the RGB! Smaller PCs are increasingly desirable, and I’m impressed that with the 50 Series NVIDIA has made positive strides. I couldn’t even put the side on my PC case when I had to review the RTX 4090, and the case I had then was larger than the one I use now.
I also want to shout out the decision to flip the power connector from horizontal to vertical. It has made it so much easier to connect without worrying whether the power cable is bent too much, or under stress, because, you know, I don’t want it to catch fire.
NVIDIA needs to get these things back on store shelves
I’ve only had 24 hours with the RTX 5080 so far, but it’s only taken that time to know that NVIDIA has really screwed up by not having a healthy supply of these things. I jokingly sent a message to a friend earlier saying that I’d figured out how to make Monster Hunter: Wilds look better — using an RTX 5080.
I still don’t love that game developers are relying on upscaling technology way too much, but the truth is that the RTX 5080 is an absolute beast. Not only that, but it’s fairly quiet while doing it.
DLSS is still the best of the upscalers out there, but at least with the horsepower on tap here, the quality setting can be used and still get some crazy high frame rates and great looking games. The new Dune: Awakening benchmark looks phenomenal, giving me a nice 140 FPS average maxed out at 1440p, and I can finally play Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone without turning all the settings down to preserve those valuable frames.
It’s almost like looking at a different game with all the graphics settings turned back up. I think I’m now finally equipped to play Spider-Man 2 and Indiana Jones, as well, because I’d been holding off convinced that my Arc A770 would start to choke, and I want to enjoy those titles at their best.
NVIDIA also needs to worry about AMD, with the newest Radeon cards finally becoming available soon, and at some pretty eyebrow raising prices. For all I love about the RTX 5080, I do not like the price. Sure, it’s crazy powerful, but it’s a little insulting how expensive these graphics cards are getting.
But the Founders Edition at least gets a big thumbs up. It’s an outlier, but it’s the best design of them all in my eyes, and a marvel that this much performance has been squeezed inside a normal-sized graphics card.
