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Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5080 Gaming OC Review

  • Apr 26
  • 7 min read

Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5080 Gaming OC Review


Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5080 Gaming OC Review
Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5080 Gaming OC Review

Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5080 Gaming OC Review
Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5080 Gaming OC Review

The Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5080 Gaming OC is a custom design graphics card from NVIDIA's new enthusiast GPU lineup, positioned just below the flagship RTX 5090 released last week. The Gaming OC series is known for being priced slightly above the base level, offering a modern and effective cooling solution along with a factory overclock.


This card is less flashy than Gigabyte's renowned AORUS Gaming series and is aimed at users who want an RTX 5080 for gaming without investing heavily in aesthetics. The GeForce RTX 5080 is designed for gaming at 4K Ultra HD with maximum settings, including ray tracing, similar to the RTX 5090. However, the RTX 5090 delivers higher performance and supports additional uses like AI development due to its extensive video memory.




The GeForce RTX 5080 is priced at exactly half of what the RTX 5090 costs. It offers a well-rounded option for 4K Ultra HD gaming, game streaming, and content creation. As the second GPU to utilize the GeForce Blackwell graphics architecture, it introduces Neural Rendering, a new concept in consumer 3D graphics. This feature allows the GPU to use generative AI to create certain 3D scene elements and merge them with traditional raster 3D, similar to how RTX combines real-time ray-traced objects with raster 3D. The potential of generative AI to produce photorealistic images and videos is significant. NVIDIA collaborated with Microsoft to standardize this technology at the API level, enabling 3D applications to directly access the GPU's Tensor cores. Blackwell GPUs can simultaneously handle AI acceleration and graphics rendering tasks, thanks to a new hardware scheduling component called the AI Management Processor (AMP).


The new Blackwell streaming multiprocessor supports concurrent FP32 and INT32 execution on all CUDA cores (Ada only supported INT32 on half of its cores). It also includes shader execution reordering for neural shaders. The 5th generation Tensor core features FP4 data format capability for increased throughput. The 4th generation RT core introduces new components for Mega Geometry, which involves ray-traced objects with much higher polygon counts. Blackwell also debuts DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation. DLSS 4 uses a new Transformer-based AI model instead of the older CNN-based one, enhancing super resolution, ray reconstruction, and frame generation for better image quality. Multi Frame Generation allows for up to four AI-generated frames after a traditionally rendered one, significantly boosting frame rates. This is supported by the new Display Engine's flip metering capability, offering DisplayPort 2.1b with UHBR20 for high refresh rates at resolutions up to 8K. Combined with DLSS 4 MFG, this enables 8K 60 Hz gaming.


The GeForce RTX 5080 is built on the new GB203 silicon, NVIDIA's second gaming GPU with Blackwell. It fully utilizes the GB203, activating all 84 SMs on it. It pairs a 256-bit GDDR7 memory interface with 30 Gbps GDDR7 memory, achieving 960 GB/s of memory bandwidth, a 34% increase over the RTX 4080. This bandwidth supports Neural Rendering and DLSS 4 MFG. With 84 SMs, the RTX 5080 boasts 10,752 CUDA cores, 336 Tensor cores, 84 RT cores, 336 TMUs, and 112 ROPs, along with a fully utilized 64 MB on-die L2 cache.


Gigabyte introduces its new WindForce cooling system with this card, featuring a substantial aluminum fin-stack heatsink that dissipates heat via a vapor chamber. Three 100 mm fans, equipped with wingtips for improved axial airflow, provide ventilation. The PCB is two-thirds the card's length, allowing airflow from the third fan to pass through the heatsink and exit through a large cutout in the backplate. The RGB lighting includes illumination around the fan intakes, and the card comes with a factory overclock of 2730 MHz (compared to the 2617 MHz reference). Gigabyte has priced this card at $1200.




Price

Cores

ROPs

Core


Clock

Boost


Clock

Memory


Clock

GPU

Transistors

Memory

RTX 3080

$420

8704

96

1440 MHz

1710 MHz

1188 MHz

GA102

28000M

10 GB, GDDR6X, 320-bit

RTX 4070

$490

5888

64

1920 MHz

2475 MHz

1313 MHz

AD104

35800M

12 GB, GDDR6X, 192-bit

RX 7800 XT

$440

3840

96

2124 MHz

2430 MHz

2425 MHz

Navi 32

28100M

16 GB, GDDR6, 256-bit

RX 6900 XT

$450

5120

128

2015 MHz

2250 MHz

2000 MHz

Navi 21

26800M

16 GB, GDDR6, 256-bit

RX 6950 XT

$630

5120

128

2100 MHz

2310 MHz

2250 MHz

Navi 21

26800M

16 GB, GDDR6, 256-bit

RTX 3090

$900

10496

112

1395 MHz

1695 MHz

1219 MHz

GA102

28000M

24 GB, GDDR6X, 384-bit

RTX 4070 Super

$590

7168

80

1980 MHz

2475 MHz

1313 MHz

AD104

35800M

12 GB, GDDR6X, 192-bit

RX 7900 GRE

$530

5120

160

1880 MHz

2245 MHz

2250 MHz

Navi 31

57700M

16 GB, GDDR6, 256-bit

RTX 4070 Ti

$700

7680

80

2310 MHz

2610 MHz

1313 MHz

AD104

35800M

12 GB, GDDR6X, 192-bit

RTX 4070 Ti Super

$750

8448

96

2340 MHz

2610 MHz

1313 MHz

AD103

45900M

16 GB, GDDR6X, 256-bit

RX 7900 XT

$620

5376

192

2000 MHz

2400 MHz

2500 MHz

Navi 31

57700M

20 GB, GDDR6, 320-bit

RTX 3090 Ti

$1000

10752

112

1560 MHz

1950 MHz

1313 MHz

GA102

28000M

24 GB, GDDR6X, 384-bit

RTX 4080

$940

9728

112

2205 MHz

2505 MHz

1400 MHz

AD103

45900M

16 GB, GDDR6X, 256-bit

RTX 4080 Super

$990

10240

112

2295 MHz

2550 MHz

1438 MHz

AD103

45900M

16 GB, GDDR6X, 256-bit

RX 7900 XTX

$820

6144

192

2300 MHz

2500 MHz

2500 MHz

Navi 31

57700M

24 GB, GDDR6, 384-bit

RTX 5080

$1000

10752

112

2295 MHz

2617 MHz

1875 MHz

GB203

45600M

16 GB, GDDR7, 256-bit

Gigabyte RTX 5080


Gaming OC

$1200

10752

112

2295 MHz

2730 MHz

1875 MHz

GB203

45600M

16 GB, GDDR7, 256-bit

RTX 4090

$2400

16384

176

2235 MHz

2520 MHz

1313 MHz

AD102

76300M

24 GB, GDDR6X, 384-bit

RTX 5090

$2000

21760

176

2017 MHz

2407 MHz

1750 MHz

GB202

92200M

32 GB, GDDR7, 512-bit











NVIDIA Blackwell Architecture



NVIDIA does not provide a block diagram for the GB203 GPU (we asked), so we had to quickly hack one out from the GB202 diagram. This is accurate just not as pretty.
NVIDIA does not provide a block diagram for the GB203 GPU (we asked), so we had to quickly hack one out from the GB202 diagram. This is accurate just not as pretty.

The GeForce Blackwell graphics architecture marks NVIDIA's 4th generation of RTX, a late-2010s reimagining of the modern GPU that combines real-time ray tracing with traditional raster 3D graphics. With Blackwell, NVIDIA introduces neural rendering, enabling the GPU to use generative AI to create parts of a frame. This differs from DLSS, where an AI model reconstructs details in an upscaled frame using its training data, temporal frames, and motion vectors. Today, we're examining NVIDIA's second-largest silicon from this generation, the RTX 5080. At the core of this graphics card is the new 5 nm GB203 silicon. This chip closely resembles the previous generation AD103, which powers the RTX 4080, in terms of die size and transistor count, as both are built on the same process—TSMC's "NVIDIA 4N," or 5 nm EUV with NVIDIA-specific features—but it is based on the newer Blackwell graphics architecture. The GB203 has a die area of 378 mm² and contains 45.6 billion transistors (compared to the AD103's 378.6 mm² die area and 45.9 billion transistors). Here is where the similarities end.




The GB203 silicon is organized in a similar component hierarchy as previous NVIDIA GPU generations, with a few notable changes. The GPU includes a PCI-Express 5.0 x16 host interface. PCIe Gen 5 has been available since Intel's 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake" and AMD's Ryzen 7000 "Zen 4," providing a substantial install base of compatible systems. The GPU is also backward compatible with older PCIe generations. The GB203 introduces the new GDDR7 memory interface debuting with this generation. It features a 256-bit wide memory bus, half the width of the GB202 powering the RTX 5090. NVIDIA uses this to support 16 GB of memory at 30 Gbps, achieving 960 GB/s of memory bandwidth, a 34% increase over the RTX 4080 with its 22.5 Gbps GDDR6X.




The GigaThread Engine is the primary graphics rendering workload allocation logic on the GB203, with a new addition: a dedicated serial processor for managing all AI acceleration resources on the GPU, which NVIDIA calls AMP (AI management processor). Other global components include the Optical Flow Processor, involved in previous DLSS frame generation versions and video encoding, and an updated media acceleration engine with two NVENC encode accelerators and two NVDEC decode accelerators. The new 9th Gen NVENC video encode accelerators support 4:2:2 AV1 and HEVC encoding. The central region of the GPU houses the largest common component, the 64 MB L2 cache, which the RTX 5080 fully utilizes.



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Each graphics processing cluster (GPC) is a section of the GPU containing almost all the components necessary for graphics rendering. On the GB203, a GPC includes 12 streaming multiprocessors (SMs) distributed across 6 texture processing clusters (TPCs), along with a raster engine featuring 16 ROPs. Each SM is equipped with 128 CUDA cores. Unlike the Ada generation SM, which had 64 FP32+INT32 and 64 purely-FP32 SIMD units, the new Blackwell generation SM offers concurrent FP32+INT32 capability on all 128 SIMD units. These 128 CUDA cores are organized into for slices, each equipped with a register file, a level-0 instruction cache, a warp scheduler, two sets of load-store units, and a special function unit (SFU) for handling specific math functions like trigonometry, exponents, logarithms, reciprocals, and square-root. The four slices share a 128 KB L1 data cache and four TMUs. The most advanced components of the Blackwell SM are the four 5th Gen Tensor cores and a 4th Gen RT core.



Blackwell SM improves SER by 2X
Blackwell SM improves SER by 2X

Perhaps the biggest change to the way the SM handles work introduced with Blackwell is the concept of neural shaders—treating portions of the graphics rendering workload done by a generative AI model as shaders. Microsoft has laid the groundwork for standardization of neural shaders with its Cooperative Vectors API, in the latest update to DirectX 12. The Tensor cores are now accessible for workloads through neural shaders, and the shader execution reordering (SER) engine of the Blackwell SM is able to more accurately reorder workloads for the CUDA cores and the Tensor core in an SM.


Blackwell SM improves SER by 2X


















The Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5080 Gaming OC is a custom design graphics card from NVIDIA's new enthusiast GPU lineup, positioned just below the flagship RTX 5090 released last week. The Gaming OC series is known for being priced slightly above the base level, offering a modern and effective cooling solution along with a factory overclock. 



This card is less flashy than Gigabyte's renowned AORUS Gaming series and is aimed at users who want an RTX 5080 for gaming without investing heavily in aesthetics. The GeForce RTX 5080 is designed for gaming at 4K Ultra HD with maximum settings, including ray tracing, similar to the RTX 5090. However, the RTX 5090 delivers higher performance and supports additional uses like AI development due to its extensive video memory. 







The GeForce RTX 5080 is priced at exactly half of what the RTX 5090 costs. It offers a well-rounded option for 4K Ultra HD gaming, game streaming, and content creation. As the second GPU to utilize the GeForce Blackwell graphics architecture, it introduces Neural Rendering, a new concept in consumer 3D graphics. This feature allows the GPU to use generative AI to create certain 3D scene elements and merge them with traditional raster 3D, similar to how RTX combines real-time ray-traced objects with raster 3D. The potential of generative AI to produce photorealistic images and videos is significant. NVIDIA collaborated with Microsoft to standardize this technology at the API level, enabling 3D applications to directly access the GPU's Tensor cores. Blackwell GPUs can simultaneously handle AI acceleration and graphics rendering tasks, thanks to a new hardware scheduling component called the AI Management Processor (AMP).



The new Blackwell streaming multiprocessor supports concurrent FP32 and INT32 execution on all CUDA cores (Ada only supported INT32 on half of its cores). It also includes shader execution reordering for neural shaders. The 5th generation Tensor core features FP4 data format capability for increased throughput. The 4th generation RT core introduces new components for Mega Geometry, which involves ray-traced objects with much higher polygon counts. Blackwell also debuts DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation. DLSS 4 uses a new Transformer-based AI model instead of the older CNN-based one, enhancing super resolution, ray reconstruction, and frame generation for better image quality. Multi Frame Generation allows for up to four AI-generated frames after a traditionally rendered one, significantly boosting frame rates. This is supported by the new Display Engine's flip metering capability, offering DisplayPort 2.1b with UHBR20 for high refresh rates at resolutions up to 8K. Combined with DLSS 4 MFG, this enables 8K 60 Hz gaming.



The GeForce RTX 5080 is built on the new GB203 silicon, NVIDIA's second gaming GPU with Blackwell. It fully utilizes the GB203, activating all 84 SMs on it. It pairs a 256-bit GDDR7 memory interface with 30 Gbps GDDR7 memory, achieving 960 GB/s of memory bandwidth, a 34% increase over the RTX 4080. This bandwidth supports Neural Rendering and DLSS 4 MFG. With 84 SMs, the RTX 5080 boasts 10,752 CUDA cores, 336 Tensor cores, 84 RT cores, 336 TMUs, and 112 ROPs, along with a fully utilized 64 MB on-die L2 cache.



Gigabyte introduces its new WindForce cooling system with this card, featuring a substantial aluminum fin-stack heatsink that dissipates heat via a vapor chamber. Three 100 mm fans, equipped with wingtips for improved axial airflow, provide ventilation. The PCB is two-thirds the card's length, allowing airflow from the third fan to pass through the heatsink and exit through a large cutout in the backplate. The RGB lighting includes illumination around the fan intakes, and the card comes with a factory overclock of 2730 MHz (compared to the 2617 MHz reference). Gigabyte has priced this card at $1200. 















Price



Cores



ROPs



Core



Clock



Boost



Clock



Memory



Clock



GPU



Transistors



Memory





RTX 3080



$420



8704



96



1440 MHz



1710 MHz



1188 MHz



GA102



28000M



10 GB, GDDR6X, 320-bit





RTX 4070



$490



5888



64



1920 MHz



2475 MHz



1313 MHz



AD104



35800M



12 GB, GDDR6X, 192-bit





RX 7800 XT



$440



3840



96



2124 MHz



2430 MHz



2425 MHz



Navi 32



28100M



16 GB, GDDR6, 256-bit





RX 6900 XT



$450



5120



128



2015 MHz



2250 MHz



2000 MHz



Navi 21



26800M



16 GB, GDDR6, 256-bit





RX 6950 XT



$630



5120



128



2100 MHz



2310 MHz



2250 MHz



Navi 21



26800M



16 GB, GDDR6, 256-bit





RTX 3090



$900



10496



112



1395 MHz



1695 MHz



1219 MHz



GA102



28000M



24 GB, GDDR6X, 384-bit





RTX 4070 Super



$590



7168



80



1980 MHz



2475 MHz



1313 MHz



AD104



35800M



12 GB, GDDR6X, 192-bit





RX 7900 GRE



$530



5120



160



1880 MHz



2245 MHz



2250 MHz



Navi 31



57700M



16 GB, GDDR6, 256-bit





RTX 4070 Ti



$700



7680



80



2310 MHz



2610 MHz



1313 MHz



AD104



35800M



12 GB, GDDR6X, 192-bit





RTX 4070 Ti Super



$750



8448



96



2340 MHz



2610 MHz



1313 MHz



AD103



45900M



16 GB, GDDR6X, 256-bit





RX 7900 XT



$620



5376



192



2000 MHz



2400 MHz



2500 MHz



Navi 31



57700M



20 GB, GDDR6, 320-bit





RTX 3090 Ti



$1000



10752



112



1560 MHz



1950 MHz



1313 MHz



GA102



28000M



24 GB, GDDR6X, 384-bit





RTX 4080



$940



9728



112



2205 MHz



2505 MHz



1400 MHz



AD103



45900M



16 GB, GDDR6X, 256-bit





RTX 4080 Super



$990



10240



112



2295 MHz



2550 MHz



1438 MHz



AD103



45900M



16 GB, GDDR6X, 256-bit





RX 7900 XTX



$820



6144



192



2300 MHz



2500 MHz



2500 MHz



Navi 31



57700M



24 GB, GDDR6, 384-bit





RTX 5080



$1000



10752



112



2295 MHz



2617 MHz



1875 MHz



GB203



45600M



16 GB, GDDR7, 256-bit





Gigabyte RTX 5080



Gaming OC



$1200



10752



112



2295 MHz



2730 MHz



1875 MHz



GB203



45600M



16 GB, GDDR7, 256-bit





RTX 4090



$2400



16384



176



2235 MHz



2520 MHz



1313 MHz



AD102



76300M



24 GB, GDDR6X, 384-bit





RTX 5090



$2000



21760



176



2017 MHz



2407 MHz



1750 MHz



GB202



92200M



32 GB, GDDR7, 512-bit

NVIDIA Blackwell Architecture









NVIDIA does not provide a block diagram for the GB203 GPU (we asked), so we had to quickly hack one out from the GB202 diagram. This is accurate just not as pretty.

The GeForce Blackwell graphics architecture marks NVIDIA's 4th generation of RTX, a late-2010s reimagining of the modern GPU that combines real-time ray tracing with traditional raster 3D graphics. With Blackwell, NVIDIA introduces neural rendering, enabling the GPU to use generative AI to create parts of a frame. This differs from DLSS, where an AI model reconstructs details in an upscaled frame using its training data, temporal frames, and motion vectors. Today, we're examining NVIDIA's second-largest silicon from this generation, the RTX 5080. At the core of this graphics card is the new 5 nm GB203 silicon. This chip closely resembles the previous generation AD103, which powers the RTX 4080, in terms of die size and transistor count, as both are built on the same process—TSMC's "NVIDIA 4N," or 5 nm EUV with NVIDIA-specific features—but it is based on the newer Blackwell graphics architecture. The GB203 has a die area of 378 mm² and contains 45.6 billion transistors (compared to the AD103's 378.6 mm² die area and 45.9 billion transistors). Here is where the similarities end.







The GB203 silicon is organized in a similar component hierarchy as previous NVIDIA GPU generations, with a few notable changes. The GPU includes a PCI-Express 5.0 x16 host interface. PCIe Gen 5 has been available since Intel's 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake" and AMD's Ryzen 7000 "Zen 4," providing a substantial install base of compatible systems. The GPU is also backward compatible with older PCIe generations. The GB203 introduces the new GDDR7 memory interface debuting with this generation. It features a 256-bit wide memory bus, half the width of the GB202 powering the RTX 5090. NVIDIA uses this to support 16 GB of memory at 30 Gbps, achieving 960 GB/s of memory bandwidth, a 34% increase over the RTX 4080 with its 22.5 Gbps GDDR6X.







The GigaThread Engine is the primary graphics rendering workload allocation logic on the GB203, with a new addition: a dedicated serial processor for managing all AI acceleration resources on the GPU, which NVIDIA calls AMP (AI management processor). Other global components include the Optical Flow Processor, involved in previous DLSS frame generation versions and video encoding, and an updated media acceleration engine with two NVENC encode accelerators and two NVDEC decode accelerators. The new 9th Gen NVENC video encode accelerators support 4:2:2 AV1 and HEVC encoding. The central region of the GPU houses the largest common component, the 64 MB L2 cache, which the RTX 5080 fully utilizes.



























Each graphics processing cluster (GPC) is a section of the GPU containing almost all the components necessary for graphics rendering. On the GB203, a GPC includes 12 streaming multiprocessors (SMs) distributed across 6 texture processing clusters (TPCs), along with a raster engine featuring 16 ROPs. Each SM is equipped with 128 CUDA cores. Unlike the Ada generation SM, which had 64 FP32+INT32 and 64 purely-FP32 SIMD units, the new Blackwell generation SM offers concurrent FP32+INT32 capability on all 128 SIMD units. These 128 CUDA cores are organized into four slices, each equipped with a register file, a level-0 instruction cache, a warp scheduler, two sets of load-store units, and a special function unit (SFU) for handling specific math functions like trigonometry, exponents, logarithms, reciprocals, and square-root. The four slices share a 128 KB L1 data cache and four TMUs. The most advanced components of the Blackwell SM are the four 5th Gen Tensor cores and a 4th Gen RT core.









Blackwell SM improves SER by 2X

Perhaps the biggest change to the way the SM handles work introduced with Blackwell is the concept of neural shaders—treating portions of the graphics rendering workload done by a generative AI model as shaders. Microsoft has laid the groundwork for standardization of neural shaders with its Cooperative Vectors API, in the latest update to DirectX 12. The Tensor cores are now accessible for workloads through neural shaders, and the shader execution reordering (SER) engine of the Blackwell SM is able to more accurately reorder workloads for the CUDA cores and the Tensor core in an SM.
Blackwell SM improves SER by 2X

One of the most significant changes brought by Blackwell to the SM's work handling is the introduction of neural shaders—where parts of the graphics rendering workload are managed by a generative AI model as shaders. Microsoft has initiated the standardization of neural shaders with its Cooperative Vectors API in the latest DirectX 12 update. Tensor cores are now available for workloads via neural shaders, and the shader execution reordering (SER) engine of the Blackwell SM can more precisely rearrange workloads for the CUDA cores and the Tensor core within an SM.













 
 
 

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