I recently upgraded from an ASUS X570E system with a Ryzen 9 3900X, RTX 3090, 32GB of DDR4, a basic cooler, and inexpensive case fans. My main reason for upgrading was poor performance in CPU-heavy games such as Arma 3 and Arma Reforger, where a few CPU cores were doing most of the work. The old system also ran hotter than I expected, with the CPU around 70°C at idle and the GPU around 60°C.
My new system has an MSI X870E Tomahawk, a Ryzen 7 9850X3D, 32GB of DDR5-6000 CL36 memory, a Noctua NH-D15 G2 cooler, Arctic P12 Pro fans, and the same RTX 3090. The upgrade has worked extremely well: temperatures are stable below 70°C, and the games I care about now run smoothly. Arma Reforger holds around 120–140 FPS at 1440p, and I am happy with anything above 100 FPS.
I am considering replacing the RTX 3090 with an RTX 5080. Money is not a major concern, but where I live the cheapest RTX 5080s cost roughly $1,400, while my RTX 3090 would probably sell for only $900–$1,000. That makes the upgrade cost around $400–$500. Since the 3090 still performs well and has 24GB of VRAM, would it be smarter to keep it for another couple of years and wait for a newer generation, or is the 5080 a worthwhile upgrade now?
5 Answers
I would keep the 3090 for now. If your games are already running at 120–140 FPS at 1440p and you are not targeting 4K with heavy ray tracing, the 5080 probably will not transform your experience. The price difference is also fairly large for an upgrade that may not feel substantial in everyday gameplay.
If money genuinely has no bearing and you want the newest features, there is nothing wrong with buying the 5080. It is a meaningful performance and efficiency improvement. But based on your resolution, frame-rate target, and current results in Arma Reforger, I would personally keep the 3090 and spend the money later on a card that offers a much bigger leap.
A 5080 is definitely faster, especially for ray tracing, newer upscaling, and frame generation. However, those gains come with a poor value proposition in your situation. If you can sell the 3090 for close to the price of the new card, it becomes more attractive, but a $400–$500 out-of-pocket upgrade is difficult to justify when your current card already meets your target frame rate.
The 3090 has aged unusually well because of its 24GB of VRAM. That extra memory gives it plenty of room for high-resolution textures and demanding mods, while newer cards do not always offer more VRAM. I would wait until the 3090 actually becomes the bottleneck rather than replacing it simply because newer hardware exists.
I would wait for the next major GPU generation or at least for prices to improve. The current market makes high-end upgrades expensive, and future cards should raise the performance ceiling substantially. Your 3090 is still powerful enough that there is no urgency unless you move to 4K, want consistently higher refresh rates, or start using demanding ray-traced settings.
Exactly. The 3090 may not be the fastest card anymore, but it is still producing serious frame rates and has more VRAM than many newer options. Waiting lets you make a larger upgrade later instead of paying a lot for a moderate one now.
That is mostly how I am looking at it too. The 5080 is faster, but I am using 1440p monitors and do not currently need more performance. The 24GB of VRAM is also reassuring for future games and large texture packs.