I recently helped my brother build his first gaming PC, and now I'm getting the upgrade itch myself. I mainly want higher frame rates at ultra settings with ray tracing, and I'm looking for a jump I'll clearly notice rather than a small improvement. The RTX 4090 and 5090 are outside my budget, so I'm wondering whether an RTX 5080 would be a substantial upgrade from my RTX 4070 Super, or if I should consider something cheaper or simply wait.
3 Answers
Before upgrading, check your resolution, monitor refresh rate, games, and CPU. A 4070 Super is already a strong card for 1440p, and many CPU-heavy games won’t benefit much from a faster GPU. If you’re mostly playing demanding titles at 4K with ultra settings and ray tracing, the 5080 makes sense; otherwise, keeping the 4070 Super and waiting for a better-priced next generation may be the smartest move.
The RTX 5070 Ti may be the better value. It should offer around 20–30% more performance and additional VRAM, while the 5080 costs substantially more for another roughly 10–15% on top of that. If you want the biggest possible jump below a 5080, compare current prices carefully, but don’t expect the 5070 Ti to feel as dramatic.
The RTX 5080 should be a clearly noticeable upgrade, especially at 4K or in demanding single-player games with ray tracing or path tracing. Depending on the game and resolution, roughly 45–60% more performance is a reasonable expectation, along with improved features and more VRAM. It won’t match the jump to a 5090, but it’s much less expensive and has more manageable power requirements.
I made that exact jump from a 4070 Super to a 5080, and the difference was very noticeable at 4K. The improvement will be smaller in CPU-limited multiplayer games, though.
That’s the problem for me—the 5080 is the performance level I actually want, but its current price makes waiting seem more sensible than settling for a smaller upgrade.