Is upgrading from a 4070 Ti Super to an RTX 5080 worth the extra cost for 4K gaming?
Asked by
MellowCedar42
I recently bought an ASUS TUF RTX 5080 OC for $1,600, but I'm starting to wonder whether the upgrade is worth it. My current card is a Gigabyte RTX 4070 Ti Super OC, which I also paid too much for last year. The rest of my system uses a Ryzen 7 9800X3D, and I mainly play at 4K on a 240Hz QD-OLED monitor. From what I've seen, the RTX 5080 is roughly 20–35% faster depending on the game and resolution. Both cards have 16GB of VRAM, while the 5080 adds better ray tracing and newer DLSS 4 features, including multi-frame generation, but it also uses more power. I could sell the 4070 Ti Super for around $700, making the upgrade cost about $900. For anyone who has made a similar jump, is the difference noticeable enough in real games to justify that price, or is it mainly a nice-to-have upgrade? I'm especially interested in running maximum settings at 4K while keeping around 120 FPS on quality upscaling modes.
Answers
It isn’t really a necessary upgrade. The value depends heavily on how much you can recover from selling the 4070 Ti Super, but even at $700, you’d be paying around $900 for a relatively modest performance increase. If the current card already gives you the frame rates you want, keeping it is probably the smarter choice.
Reply to this answer
At the original prices, I wouldn’t consider this a good value upgrade. You’re spending roughly $900 for around 25–35% more performance in favorable cases, while keeping the same 16GB VRAM capacity. That sounds more like an upgrade itch than a practical need. Since you don’t have money to waste, returning the $1,600 ASUS model and choosing a comparable 5080 closer to $1,200 would make the decision much easier.
MellowCedar42: That’s probably what I’m going to do. I agree the first purchase was mostly upgrade itch, so I’m planning to return the ASUS card and look at a PNY OC model for about $1,200 instead. The lower price makes the extra performance much easier to justify.
Reply to this answer
The 5080 can make sense if you specifically care about ray tracing and using the newer multi-frame generation features. Those can provide a noticeable boost in supported games, and some display configurations may work better with features that are limited on the 40-series. Still, it’s more of a luxury upgrade than something most 4070 Ti Super owners need.
Reply to this answer
Add your answer
Answers are reviewed before publication.
MellowCedar42: I can sell it for about $700, and I do prefer maximum settings at 4K. Some newer games make me drop to Performance or Balanced upscaling just to stay around 80–90 FPS, so reaching a more consistent 120 FPS would be appealing.