13 specifications

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080

On paper, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 has more shading units. Shading-unit counts are not directly comparable across different architectures, so read that row as context rather than a verdict. Specifications describe what each card is designed to do; how much of that either one holds under continuous load is a separate question.

10 specifications · 3 with a higher side

Full specifications

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080

NVIDIA · GeForce RTX 40 · Desktop

Full specifications

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080

NVIDIA · GeForce RTX 50 · Desktop

Compute

Architecture

Ada Lovelace

Blackwell (GB203)

Shading units

9,728

10,752

Base clock

2210 MHz

2300 MHz

Boost clock

2510 MHz

2620 MHz

Memory

16 GB

Memory type

GDDR6X

GDDR7

Memory bus

256-bit

Power and platform

TDP

320 W

360 W

Process

Not verified

5 nm

Launched

2022-11-16

2025-01-30

A check marks the higher figure only on rows where higher is unambiguously better. Rows without one are not ties; they are specifications where “better” has no meaning.

Reading the table

What the difference means.

3 years apart

The RTX 5080 (Blackwell (GB203), 2025) is 3 years newer than the RTX 4080 (Ada Lovelace, 2022). A newer architecture brings more than speed: newer video encoders and decoders, newer upscaling and frame generation, and a longer run of driver updates ahead of it.

Video memory

Both carry 16 GB, so neither has the advantage where memory is the limit: high resolutions, heavy textures and local AI models fill both at the same point.

Memory bus

The RTX 4080 moves data over a 256-bit bus of GDDR6X; the RTX 5080 uses 256-bit GDDR7. The bus width and the memory type together set how fast the chip can reach its own memory, which shows at high resolutions where every frame moves more data. A narrow bus with fast memory can match a wide one with slow memory, so neither figure settles it alone.

Shading units

The counts differ, 10,752 against 9,728, but these are different designs, and a shading unit on one is not the same amount of work as on the other. The row cannot be used to rank this pair.

Board power

The RTX 5080 draws up to 360 W against 320 W. That is heat the case has to exhaust and current the power supply has to deliver: allow a supply of about 800 W for the RTX 5080 with a typical processor, and check the card's power connectors against the supply's. A card that cannot shed its heat does not fail. It lowers its clocks after a few minutes, which is the frame rate that falls the longer you play.

Which to pick, on paper

A small case or a modest power supply: RTX 4080; 320 W against 360 W: less heat, fewer power connectors, quieter fans.

What no table says

How much of its speed a graphics card keeps after the first minute depends on the cooling and the power limit of the machine it is in. If you own one of these, measure it: the test is free and runs in this browser.

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Questions

Is the RTX 4080 better than the RTX 5080?: By need, on the specifications: a small case or a modest power supply: the RTX 4080. They are different designs, so the raw counts cannot rank them. Frame rates depend on the game and its settings, and how much speed either card keeps after ten minutes depends on its cooling, which is what a sustained test measures.
What power supply does the RTX 5080 need?: Allow about 800 W with a typical processor, and make sure the supply has the power connectors the card uses. The RTX 4080 at 320 W is easier on both.

More comparisons

Every figure on this table is a design target. None of it is a measurement.

Nothing above describes how a graphics card behaves twenty minutes into a sustained workload, which is where two chips with nearly identical specifications routinely diverge. A boost clock is a ceiling the vendor permits, not a rate the chip sustains, and whether it holds depends on the cooling, the case, the power profile and the room. None of those appear on a specification sheet.

We deliberately do not reduce these figures to a single score. A composite invented from specifications would look authoritative and measure nothing, and choosing the weights would be choosing the winner.

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