I've been using an RTX 4070 Super with a 4K monitor for about a year. It handles 4K reasonably well, but I've had several situations where I wished for more GPU performance. I'm considering upgrading to an RTX 5080 and would like to hear from anyone who has made a similar move. How noticeable was the improvement, and did it feel worth the cost? My main concern is that the RTX 5080 only has 16GB of VRAM. I'm tempted to wait for a possible 5080 Super with more memory, but there doesn't seem to be a clear release timeline, and I'm not sure I want to wait another couple of years. What would you recommend?
4 Answers
The 16GB VRAM is frustrating, but it’s still enough for most current 4K gaming situations. The bigger question is whether the games you play are actually running into performance limits on your 4070 Super. If you’re mostly happy with it, waiting may be sensible; if you’re already lowering settings or struggling to maintain your target frame rate, the 5080 should feel worthwhile.
I use a 5080 at 4K and it performs very well. If additional VRAM is your priority, waiting for a Super model is the obvious choice, but leaked product listings don’t prove that it will actually launch. Even if it does, pricing could put it close to 5090 territory, so the value may not be much better.
For some newer or especially demanding games, VRAM can already matter. For example, certain titles may allow maximum settings at 1440p but require dropping to a slightly lower preset at 4K because of memory limits. That said, the 5080 may eventually run into the same issue if future games become even more demanding, so buying it mainly for long-term VRAM headroom isn’t guaranteed to pay off.
The jump can be larger than you might expect, especially at 4K. It’s worth checking benchmarks for the specific games you play rather than relying only on average performance numbers. If you want the extra performance now, the 5080 is a reasonable upgrade, but a higher-memory refresh isn’t guaranteed to arrive soon—or at all.
That’s what makes the decision difficult. I could wait if a higher-memory model were expected early next year, but there’s no reliable release window, and I don’t want to wait indefinitely.