Is an RTX 5060 Ti 16GB a worthwhile upgrade from an RTX 2080 Super with a Ryzen 7 3800X?

For gaming, expect a modest CPU limitation at 1080p, but much less at ultrawide 1440p. DaVinci Resolve can benefit from the GPU, especially for effects, GPU-accelerated processing, AI tools, and high-resolution timelines. Export performance depends heavily on the codec and whether the workload is CPU- or GPU-accelerated, so the improvement there may not match the gaming benchmark gains. The extra VRAM and newer feature support are also useful for Lightroom and Photoshop AI features.

The 700W Gold PSU should be more than adequate. The 5060 Ti uses around 180W, which is considerably less than the 2080 Super’s roughly 250W, so the salesperson may simply be trying to upsell you. The 3800X could limit performance somewhat at 1080p or in CPU-heavy games, but at 3440×1440 the pairing should be reasonably balanced. You should also gain better ray tracing, newer DLSS features, and substantially more VRAM.

The price is the bigger concern here. Around $950 for a 5060 Ti is extremely expensive in many markets, so I’d compare other retailers and alternative cards before committing. In raw performance, the upgrade is generally in the neighborhood of 30–40% over a 2080 Super, depending on the game or application, while the jump from 8GB to 16GB can help with larger projects and effects. Don’t rely on generic bottleneck calculators; check benchmarks for the specific games and workloads you use.

An alternative would be replacing the whole system with a newer platform, such as a compact Mac, since Lightroom performance is often more CPU-sensitive and newer processors can be much faster per core. However, that only makes sense if you are comfortable moving away from Windows and rebuilding your software and gaming setup. If you want to stay on Windows, the GPU upgrade is still viable, but I’d first make sure the unusually high price is justified.