RTX 5080 Roundup: MSI, Gigabyte, and Palit

1. Introduction2. Gigabyte RTX 5080 Gaming OC3. MSI RTX 5080 Suprim SOC4. Palit RTX 5080 GamingPro OC5. Testing Methodology6. Game Benchmarks7. Clock Speed8. GPU Temperatures9. Acoustics10. Noise-Normalised Temperatures11. Power Draw and Efficiency12. Overclocking13. Closing Thoughts14. View All Pages

Today we have put no less than three RTX 5080 partner cards through their paces and I have to say, I'd be happy to own any of the three here.

Palit's RTX 5080 GamingPro OC may be the least interesting from a visual perspective, but that's just my personal opinion and you could prefer something like this that's a bit less flashy. It also has the benefit of being the smallest of the three cards tested, while still producing solid thermal results, though it did run the hottest in our noise-normalised test, barely beating the Nvidia Founders Edition.

The Gigabyte RTX 5080 Gaming OC strikes arguably a better balance of aesthetics and performance, given it is a larger cooler but packs in more RGB lighting and an arguably more stylish backplate. Its heft also means it delivers slightly more eye-catching thermal results, this time dropping VRAM temperatures by 10C over the Founders Edition in our noise-normalised test.

It's the MSI RTX 5080 Suprim SOC that is hands-down the best from a thermal perspective, given it ran almost 8C cooler than the Gaming OC when noise-normalised. It is comfortably the biggest card on test today, however, and actually uses the same cooler as the RTX 5090 Suprim SOC, so it will take up four slots in your system and it weighs over 2.5Kg.

Pricing is another hugely important angle to consider though, and one where the more premium models may flatter to deceive. After all, the MSRP is meant to be £979, yet the Suprim is listed for pre-order at nearly £1400, while the Gaming OC is up for £1250. That means the MSI card is actually a staggering 41% price premium over the MSRP, while the Gaming OC is looking at a 28% premium – slightly more palatable but still very high.

As such, I actually think its the Palit GamingPro OC I'd recommend first. It's not the flashiest card, or the best from a technical perspective, but at £1115, it's only a 14% premium over the MSRP. In fact, if you get the non-OC model, the difference is just 8%, which is a lot more like it.

Overall then, pricing is clearly a  real and significant issue for the RTX 5080. The GPU as a whole only makes sense considering its meant to be the same price as the out-going RTX 4080 Super, given the performance gains are underwhelming at best. But, considering the RTX 4090 is always the fastest card, some of these prices are at the point where a used model of the 40 series flagship actually makes a lot more sense to me – and that is a worrying time for the RTX 5080 indeed…

Gigabyte RTX 5080 Gaming OC

Pros

• Reasonable performance gains over the RTX 5080 Founders Edition.
• Competitive thermal performance.
• Our sample hit 3.2GHz when overclocking with relative ease.
• DLSS 4 has improved Ray Reconstruction and Super Resolution scaling.
• Multi Frame Generation enables higher frame rates than would otherwise be possible.

Cons

• £1250 asking price is a 28% premium over the MSRP.
• Can't match the Suprim SOC in terms of thermals.
• It's pretty large.

MSI RTX 5080 Suprim SOC

Pros

• Reasonable performance gains over the RTX 5080 Founders Edition.
• Clearly offers best-in-class thermal performance.
• Our sample hit 3.2GHz when overclocking with relative ease.
• DLSS 4 has improved Ray Reconstruction and Super Resolution scaling.
• Multi Frame Generation enables higher frame rates than would otherwise be possible.

Cons

• £1380 asking price is an eye-watering 41% premium over the MSRP.
• Used RTX 4090 arguably makes more sense considering the 5080 is slower.
• It's absolutely enormous!

Palit RTX 5080 GamingPro OC

Pros

• Reasonable performance gains over the RTX 5080 Founders Edition.
• Easily the best value of the three models tested.
• Our sample hit 3.15GHz when overclocking.
• Smallest card we tested today.
• DLSS 4 has improved Ray Reconstruction and Super Resolution scaling.
• Multi Frame Generation enables higher frame rates than would otherwise be possible.

Cons

• Not the most eye-catching design.
• Thermal performance isn't as good as the Gaming OC or Suprim SOC.
• Still very expensive at £1115.

KitGuru says: RTX 5080s definitely need to get cheaper to make any sense. As it is, the GamingPro OC is probably the way to go given it has the smallest price hike over the £979 MSRP.

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