Best value showdown: 5080 vs. 5070 Ti

      The Nvidia RTX 50-series has sparked considerable debate during its launch, yet the top models remain some of the finest options available—provided you can acquire them at a reasonable price. Two leading choices are the RTX 5080 and the RTX 5070 Ti: both powerful GPUs featuring ample fast memory, numerous CUDA cores, and the newest generations of RT and tensor cores.

      But how do these two cards compare? Given the volatile pricing, here’s how to determine which graphics card suits your needs best.

      **Pricing and Availability**

      The RTX 5080 and RTX 5070 Ti are technically available since they have been officially launched with their suggested retail prices of $1,000 and $750, respectively. However, these prices are unrealistic due to third-party control on the pricing of the 5070 Ti, which has significantly increased; additionally, ongoing Trump tariffs are raising prices across the board.

      Stock levels are nearly non-existent due to ongoing production issues—resulting in some cards being shipped without the correct internal components—leading to wildly fluctuating prices on top of manufacturer-imposed price hikes.

      As of now, the RTX 5070 Ti sometimes can be found for around $800, but it is more commonly priced around $1,000. The RTX 5080 can reach up to $2,000, though occasionally it is available for between $1,400 and $1,800.

      **Specs**

      | Feature | Nvidia RTX 5080 | Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti |

      |-----------------------|---------------------|----------------------|

      | CUDA Cores | 10,752 | 8,960 |

      | RT Cores | 84, 4th generation | 70, 4th generation |

      | Tensor Cores | 336, 5th generation | 280, 5th generation |

      | Boost Clock | 2.6GHz | 2.45GHz |

      | Memory Size | 16GB GDDR7 | 16GB GDDR7 |

      | Memory Bus | 256-bit | 256-bit |

      | Memory Speed | 30Gbps | 28Gbps |

      | Memory Bandwidth | 960GBps | 896GBps |

      | TBP | 360W | 320W |

      The specifications indicate relatively minor differences between the two graphics cards, suggesting they deliver quite similar real-world performance. The RTX 5080 sports about 20% more CUDA cores, RT cores, and Tensor cores, yet maintains similar clock speeds. Both cards have the same memory size, with only a slight advantage in memory speed for the GDDR7 impacting the overall bandwidth, which is minimal.

      Power consumption differences are not extreme, with the RTX 5080 requiring about 13% more power. If your power supply unit (PSU) can accommodate the RTX 5070 Ti, it should also handle the 5080.

      **Performance**

      We evaluated the RTX 5080 upon its initial release and found it to be a competent graphics card—though it does lag behind both the RTX 5090 and RTX 4090 by enough of a margin to leave 4090 owners satisfied with their previous-generation purchase.

      While we have yet to test the RTX 5070 Ti, it can easily be compared to the RTX 4080 Super, which is slightly faster in certain scenarios. The added multi-frame generation support of the RTX 50-series does offer it an edge in specific games.

      The 7900 XTX serves as a reasonable comparison for the 5070 Ti in non-ray-tracing games, although it falls short significantly when ray tracing is enabled, so this analogy isn't perfect.

      Nvidia's own data suggests that the 5070 Ti is roughly 20% faster than the 4070 Ti (non-Super), which aligns with broader third-party testing.

      Though the RTX 5080 is the more powerful card, it only outperforms the 5070 Ti by approximately 10-15% while requiring more power and costing at least 50% more.

      **Conclusion**

      In an ordinary graphics card generation with strong competition from AMD and previous-generation stock still available, we would almost certainly advise against the RTX 50-series—and you may want to hold off for now until prices stabilize. However, this generation is far from typical; it’s one of the most challenging we’ve seen in years.

      If you plan to purchase one of these cards, it's clear where your money should go: the RTX 5070 Ti. While it doesn't outperform the last-generation 4070 Ti Super by a wide margin, it is indeed faster. While it won’t match the RTX 5080’s performance, it comes close, particularly with overclocking, and is often found for approximately two-thirds of the price—this is significant.

      It hardly just