ASUS TUF Gaming RTX 5080 OC Review

The second launch of the RTX 5080 has arrived, with AIB cards from other manufacturers officially hitting the shelves. So far, the reception of the RTX 5080 is a bit of a mixed bag. Following the launch of the Founders Edition card available at MSRP, some reviewers have described the RTX 5080 as an RTX 4080 Ti. In contrast, others have been slightly more positive, indicating that the RTX 5080, despite not offering huge gains, is still the superior option compared to the RTX 4080 SUPER, primarily based on it sitting at the same MSRP.

This does put the alternative model cards in a somewhat compromising position, as the price of the RTX 5080 is one of the key factors that puts it in direct competition with the RTX 4080 SUPER. Additionally, the Founders Edition card offers a solid value proposition due to its size and cooling capabilities, which means manufacturers like ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte, Zotac, Palit, and more have their work cut out for them to offer qualities or features that make the price increase worth it.

In today’s review, we’re looking at the ASUS TUF Gaming OC variant of the RTX 5080. TUF cards are a mainstay of any graphics card launch. They offer a unique industrial aesthetic that we’re all familiar with, and their triple-fan shrouding assists thermals, ensuring the card doesn’t throttle during intense workloads. This card is also an OC model, so it has a slightly higher boost clock speed than the Founders Edition version, increasing performance in certain games and applications.

In this article, we’ll explore the specs, design, architecture, and, critically, some performance benchmarks to determine whether the TUF Gaming RTX 5080 OC is worth buying compared to the MSRP cards.

Specification

One of the main selling points of the RTX 5080 is that it shares the same MSRP as the RTX 4080 SUPER, which is $999.99. The original RTX 4080 was priced at $1199.99, so the RTX 5080 is in a considerably better position in contrast. This price point is significant because it allows gamers to build a 4K-capable gaming PC below the $2000 mark, whereas with a card like the RTX 5090, $3000 or even $4000 is a much more likely budget. Unfortunately, straight out of the gate, the TUF Gaming OC version of the RTX 5080 isn’t in the best position as it’s priced above MSRP, which is a factor that may make some buyers think twice.

Regarding the rest of the specs, the RTX 5080 has 16GB of GDDR7 VRAM, a 256-bit memory bus, 10752 CUDA cores, 336 Tensor cores, and 88 RT cores. Regarding the hardware, the RTX 5080 hasn’t received a massive upgrade compared to the RTX 4080 SUPER, bar the type of VRAM that’s being used with the RTX 5000 series, which is GDDR7 instead of GDDR6. This means the new generation of graphics cards can utilise the PCI-E 5.0 slots on modern motherboards that have saturated the market over the past couple of years.

Additionally, because the TUF Gaming RTX 5080 OC is an AIB card, it has a slightly higher boost clock speed, which, as we’ve alluded to, will push performance somewhat higher than cards with a base boost clock speed.

As we mentioned in our review of the Founders Edition RTX 5080, the AI TOPS performance is another significant change. The RTX 5000 range can reach new heights regarding AI performance, which powers the latest iteration of DLSS, DLSS 4. Additionally, with the introduction of DLSS 4, the RTX 5000 range has access to the newest version of Frame Generation, known as Multi Frame Gen, which pushes performance in games even further.

Design

One of the unique qualities of ASUS TUF graphics cards is that they utilise an industrial grey shrouding that covers the entire card. This particular TUF model is similar to its predecessors but features a slightly lighter grey that wraps around the card. It’s nice to see some contrast, but the TUF RTX 5080 doesn’t quite blend in fully with dark and light components. This may be a deal-breaker for some, but pairing up this graphics card with other TUF-themed parts will work as a compromise.

The TUF version of the RTX 5080 is a reasonably chunky 3.6-slot graphics card, so it’ll take up a fair amount of space inside a case. It’s also on the larger side in terms of length, sitting at 346mm long, so you’ll need to ensure your case choice offers plenty of additional clearance.

There isn’t much more to cover in terms of the design. This is a triple-fan card, so thermals are decent across the board. Still, as mentioned earlier, NVIDIA’s Founders Edition GPUs are extremely strong regarding temperatures, so this triple-fan model has its work cut out. Overall, I like the TUF aesthetic; it pairs up nicely with TUF motherboards, and the minimalist theme won’t take away from other components in your build. The card feels sturdy and robust and will slot nicely into most builds.

It’s worth noting that we recommend using the included GPU support bracket. While it won’t be necessary in all cases, this card’s weight and length make it likely to sag without one.

Architecture

The RTX 5080 uses the Blackwell architecture, which has introduced a new generation of DLSS, version 4.0. DLSS 4.0 is exclusive to RTX 5000-series graphics cards, similar to DLSS 3, which was also exclusive to RTX 4000 GPUs. DLSS 4 is limited to RTX 5000 cards because of the AI TOPS performance we mentioned earlier. The latest upscaling technology is far too intensive for older GPUs.

To avoid copying what we’ve said in our Founders Edition review of the RTX 5080, we recommend checking out that review, which goes into greater detail about Frame Generation and DLSS. Essentially, with DLSS 4, NVIDIA has introduced a tech known as Multi Frame Generation, which uses AI to aggressively generate more frames that can double frame rates in modern games.

Doing this adds latency to the game, but the significantly increased number of frames improves performance and makes games feel smoother. The latency isn’t always dreadful. In our testing, we’ve found that certain games experience less latency than others.

For example, in the Hogwarts Legacy system, latency hovered around 2ms, whereas in Cyberpunk 2077, it was 16ms. Multi Frame Generation is less of an issue in these particular games because latency isn’t as important, but in FPS titles where responsiveness is key, this is likely a technology you’ll want to avoid switching on. We’ve provided a list of select games below that use Frame Generation:

While the introduction of Multi Frame Generation is a significant advancement for NVIDIA cards, this tech isn’t a way to increase framerates. When Multi Frame Gen is switched on, it artificially adds more frames, resulting in better motion and smoothness. I disagree that these are fake frames, but Multi Frame Gen does not operate the same way DLSS does, so you’re not gaining extra performance because of reduced overhead.

Performance

As always, all of our benchmarking and testing is done by our in-house benchmarker, Harry Coleman, who has worked tirelessly to gather all the data needed for our RTX 5000 series content. The RTX 5080 and a range of competitor graphics cards have been tested in our primary benchmarking system paired up with the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D to provide the best framerates possible across all of the titles we tested. The games featured in this benchmarking section provide a mix of AAA games and modern Esports titles to see how the RTX 5080 holds up in a range of games.

Cyberpunk 2077

Settings: 4K, Shadow Quality High, Indirect Lighting High, Reflections High, Crowd Density High, Particle Quality High, Volumetric Lighting High, Motion Blur off, GTAO Quality High, Grass Quality High, Contact Shadows High VSync Off, DLSS: On/Off, Ray Tracing: On/Off, Textures: High

In Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K with no additional settings, so rasterised gameplay only, the RTX 5080 offered a strong showing of 91FPS on average, with 1% lows hovering around the 63FPS mark. This is about a 20% gain versus the RTX 4080 SUPER, which held firm at 75FPS. In rasterised gameplay, we’re not going to see a huge performance difference, as the hardware is, for the most part, relatively similar across these two card generations.

With DLSS, ray tracing, and Frame Generation switched on, the RTX 5080 sees a slight gain versus the rasterised benchmark, up to 107FPS, with a 99FPS average on the RTX 4080 SUPER. Frame Generation and DLSS are doing some work here, but with the addition of ray tracing, the performance overhead is slightly restricted.

Switching on Frame Gen 4x, we see performance skyrocket. The RTX 5080 jumps to a whopping 190FPS, leaving the RTX 4080 SUPER in the dirt. While this point of comparison isn’t entirely fair, as the RTX 4080 SUPER can’t use 4x Frame Gen, it serves as a reminder that this technology creates a pretty huge gap compared to the previous generation, which is a strong selling point for the RTX 5000 series of cards.

Alan Wake 2

Settings: 4K, Post-Processing High, Texture Resolution High, Texture Filtering High, Volumetric Lighting High, Global Illumination Quality High, Shadow Detail High, Terrain Quality High, Ray-Tracing: Enabled, Ray Tracing Preset High, DLSS: On/Off, Frame Generation: On/Off

In Alan Wake 2 at 4K high settings, the RTX 5080 outputs 60FPS. While this is playable, it demonstrates the intensity of Alan Wake 2 and that playing without DLSS for NVIDIA cards or FSR for AMD will be a struggle. The RTX 5080, 5090, and 4090 are the few cards that can cope with this title in pure rasterised gameplay, with the RTX 4080 SUPER offering a 53FPS average, which is teetering into the realm of choppy.

Enabling Frame Gen and ray tracing boosts the performance by a fair margin in Alan Wake 2. The RTX 5080 in this benchmarking run held firm at 91FPS, compared to the RTX 4080 SUPER at 83FPS. Both gameplay runs here were reasonably smooth, even with the visual fidelity increased by introducing ray tracing. Again, this test shows the strength of Frame Generation and why it’s worth turning on where available if you’re willing to sacrifice latency.

Marvel Rivals

Settings: 4K, Graphics Quality High, Global Illumination Lumen GI- High Quality, Reflection Quality Screen Space Reflections, Model Detail High, Post-Processing High, Shadow Detail High, DLSS On/Off, Frame Gen On/Off

Unsurprisingly, in Marvel Rivals, the performance of all of the graphics cards we tested was pretty strong across the board. The RTX 5080 offered a healthy 95FPS compared to the 89FPS on the RTX 4080, SUPER showing a 6FPS gain. Again, rasterised gameplay isn’t a massive indicator of generational performance improvements, especially in this Esports title, where graphics aren’t as intense as some AAA titles in our benchmarking suite.

With Frame Generation turned on, the RTX 5080 leaps to 163FPS, with the RTX 4080 SUPER sitting reasonably close behind, outputting an average of 141FPS. The framerates of the RTX 5000 series indicate that they can implement DLSS better when utilised, as they are higher than the previous generation.

COD Black Ops 6

Settings: 4K, Graphics Preset Custom, Texture Resolution High, Depth of Field On, Detail Quality High, Particle Resolution High, Shader Quality High, Shadow Quality High, Screen Space Shadows High, DLSS On/Off, Frame Gen On/Off

In COD Black Ops 6 at 4K high settings, the RTX 5080 outputs an average of 112FPS, which is solid considering this is a rasterised benchmarking run. Again, the RTX 4080 SUPER wasn’t outpaced massively, with an average framerate of 106FPS. We did test DLSS in this benchmark, but the difference in performance is so minuscule that it isn’t worth covering in vast amounts of detail. I think the RTX 5080 performed adequately in this game, but the RTX 4080 SUPER kept up the pace, demonstrating its strength as a top-end GPU.

Apex Legends

Settings: 4K, Anti-aliasing TSAA, Texture Filtering 8X, Model Detail High, VSync Disabled, Effects High, Ambient Occlusion Quality High

In Apex Legends, at 4K high, the RTX 5080 outputs an average of 266FPS, which is solid. Apex Legends is optimised, so most GPUs we benchmark can handle this resolution without any problems. The RTX 4080 SUPER in this benchmark held firmly at 239 FPS, around a 30FPS loss. A 30FPS loss won’t make a huge difference at framerates this high, but it’s great to see some gains from the RTX 5080.

Fortnite

Settings: 1080p, Competitive, View Distance Far, FPS Unlimited, VSync Off, Anti-Aliasing TAA, Shadows Off, Reflections Off, Textures Low

Our last benchmarking run was Fortnite, in which we dialled the resolution down to 1080p and turned all settings to low apart from View Distance. This benchmark isn’t designed to test the mettle of the cards we have access to; it provides a visual aid of generational improvements over the years. Strangely, the RTX 4080 SUPER beats the RTX 5080 with an average of 448FPS versus 440FPS. We did some retests, and the RTX 4080 SUPER performs well in this benchmark.

Conclusion