[nextpage title=”Introduction:”]
This is it, D-Day, the end of the NDA for the NVIDIA RTX 5080 customs graphics cards announced at CES 2025. We’ve already had the opportunity to test the NVIDIA RTX 5090 Founders Edition on January 23. Yesterday, we tested the Founders Edition version of NVIDIA’s RTX 5080, and today we’ll be taking a look at the three custom models we’ve received: the ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition, the PNY RTX 5080 and the AORUS RTX 5080 Master.
You’ll finally be able to find out where the performance of this new ROG RTX 5080 ASTRAL OC Edition stands in relation to the previous generation and the potential of DLSS 4 on this model. We’ll also be looking to see whether a card with factory overclocking can do even better than the NVIDIA RTX 5080 Founders Edition, and how much better it can do.
ASUS took advantage of CES 2025 in Las Vegas to unveil this new, top-of-the-range Astral series, which moves above the Strix series in the hierarchy. Although the Matrix series remains the very top of the range, it is no longer systematically produced with each generation.
Thank you to ASUS France for making this copy of the ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition available to us, and see you in a few weeks’ time to discover the ROG Astral RTX 5090 Liquid Edition.
[nextpage title=”The ROG RTX 5080 ASTRAL:”]
Architecture :
As a reminder, this ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition is a custom model, in other words, a card offered by an NVIDIA partner and which benefits from a PCB and cooling system specific to the brand, in this case ASUS. NVIDIA partners offer their own models.
This RTX 5080 benefits from the Blackwell architecture and retains a 4-nanometre engraving finesse, but switches to the TSMC N4P process, enabling greater transistor density and improved energy efficiency. This architecture features new 5th generation Tensor Cores and 4th generation Ray Tracing Cores. The 5th generation Tensor Cores will provide support for the FP4 (Floating Point 4 bits) format, which will double the computational performance of neural models while halving the memory footprint. We’ll be coming back to this development during our tests, in particular with the UL Procyon software that we’ve been using for several weeks now.
Of course, DLSS 4 support cannot be overlooked. This new RTX 5080 is equipped with 10,752 CUDA Cores, compared with 21,760 for the RTX 5090 version.
There’s also something new on the memory front, with 16GB of GDDR7 memory (30 Gbps). But let’s move on to the new packaging for this ASTRAL series.
The ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition bundle:
As ASUS says, this new ROG Astral range has been inspired by the limitless expanse and beauty of the cosmos, and shows an unwavering dedication to exploring and defining new frontiers. The box therefore offers a new identity as a new series, and in the end is not as imposing as we might have thought. The front panel is fairly sober, with a visual of the graphics card on a black background. The green NVIDIA colour code is repeated, along with the model number, GeForce RTX 5080.
The bundle includes a quick start manual, a ROG graphics card holder, ROG Velcro to attach the cables together, a ROG magnet, a ROG ruler, a thank you card, a keyboard key in the shape of a graphics card and a 3 x PCIe 8-pin power adapter.
Cooling :
Let’s start with the size of our sample of the day, which is 357.6 x 149.3 x 76 mm and will therefore occupy a width of 3.8 slots. You can see straight away that ROG has pulled out all the stops to offer a card with impressive cooling. This is the first time we’ve had a graphics card from the ROG Astral series in our hands, and our initial impressions are fairly positive.
This is the first ROG model with quad fans. As you can see, this ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition is equipped with three 105mm Axial-tech fans on the front and a fourth on the rear. As we’ll see later, the PCB is actually shorter than the cooling system, which makes it possible to add this extra fan. ROG claims up to 20% more throughput and pressure.
Each fan has 7 blades that are welded to a plastic ring. The fans stop when the GPU temperature drops below 50°C and restart at 55°C with a balanced speed curve to produce as little noise as possible. The charcoal grey casing encloses the shorter PCB and is combined with the backplate that encloses the fourth fan. The card also features a dual BIOS: Pmode (performance) and Qmode (quiet).
The imposing backplate ensures the rigidity of the PCB and prevents it from bending when the card is straddled horizontally. As a reminder, the bundle also includes a support if you opt for traditional horizontal installation in your case. We often forget to mention it, and yet it’s an excellent idea, but Asus has provided two 4-pin connectors for connecting two fans to your graphics card, located next to the BIOS switch. The fans connected to these connectors will act like the fans on your graphics card: if the GPU temperature rises, they will switch on to optimise the cooling inside your case. Finally, the card has a customisable ARGB backlight that is, for once, judiciously positioned.
The PCB of this ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition :
Due to lack of time, we didn’t dismantle our example to reveal its PCB. But we do know that it has received special treatment, with a coating applied to protect it from moisture and dust.
It also benefits from a new steam chamber where the heat pipes are inserted directly. No more thermal paste, Asus is using a thermal pad on this series, which should improve heat exchange and, above all, will not disintegrate over time. We’ve already had the opportunity to test this type of product and we were quite satisfied.
Connectors :
To power this ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition, there’s a single 12V-2×6 connector, but you can use the 3 x PCIe 8-pin adapter supplied in the bundle if your power supply doesn’t have this connector. Finally, the card has three DisplayPort 2.1b and two HDMI 2.1b video outputs.
[nextpage title=”Which power supply for this RXT 4080 SUPER:”]
It’s perfectly logical to ask yourself the question of the power supply you’ll need to build a new configuration around this ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition graphics card. To do this, there are several solutions, such as referring to NVIDIA‘s recommendations. In this case, NVIDIA recommends a minimum 850 watt power supply. On the Asus website, you can also find an online tool that lets you calculate the power you need to supply your configuration. All you need to do is specify the model of your processor and graphics card. This will give you a recommended power rating, as well as the option of indicating that you intend to overclock your configuration, which will increase the power of the power supply.
We’ve calculated the power required and this ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition combined with our Intel i9-14900K processor requires a 850 watt power supply. If you want to overclock your system, Asus recommends a 1000-watt model.
What about with start with a 1000 watt ROG Thor III power supply? Clearly, with this series, we’re at the top end of the market, with 1000W, 1200W and 1600W power supplies. Efficiency is very good, with the 1000W and 1200W units certified 80 Platinum. The 1600W version goes even further: 80 Titanium.
With this, these units benefit from a particularly meticulous design. As you can see, they also have a small OLED display on the side that can be repositioned according to the orientation of the block.
Internally, the brand relies on quality components such as gallium nitride MOSFETs, which are claimed to be more efficient. Otherwise, GPU-FIRST technology will enable the block to supply power according to GPU activity rather than CPU activity. This allows better anticipation of power consumption peaks, for example. Naturally, cable management is entirely modular, with connectors featuring high-quality copper contacts.
[nextpage title=”Full of new technologies:”]
DLSS4: what’s new?
With the announcement of its new range of graphics cards, the GeForce RTX 5090, RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5070, it was also an opportunity for the Greens to announce the arrival of DLSS 4, the fourth generation of Deep Learning Super Sampling combined with Multi Frame Generation (MFG). As a reminder, the Blackwell architecture features new 5th generation Tensor Cores and 4th generation Ray Tracing Cores. It is these hardware innovations from Blackwell and DLSS that will enable MFG, which would have been technically impossible on the previous generation ADA Lovelace.
According to NVIDIA, Multi Frame Generation will deliver up to 8 times better performance in games such as Cyberpunk 2077 compared with raw image rendering. Up to 15 of the 16 pixels per frame are generated by the AI. It will also be possible to reach 240 FPS in 4K ray tracing, and to use path tracing in compatible games.
So what will this new generation bring compared with the previous one? The main difference lies in Frame Generation. Whereas with the RTX 4000, DLSS 3 was able to insert an additional frame between two native frames, DLSS 4 will be able to insert up to three, hence the addition of the term Multi FG. This means you can choose to generate a single image (x2) for the RTX 40 and RTX 50 series, two images (x3) for the RTX 50 series or three images (x4) for the RTX 50 series.
The AI will generate up to three images, which will increase the number of FPS, resulting in smoother gameplay and lower memory consumption thanks to the RTX Neural Shaders , which can be used to compress textures. This new AI model is 40% faster, uses 30% less VRAM and only needs to run once per rendered image to generate multiple images. The only downside is that these AI-created images will add latency due to the creation process, but NVIDIA will be introducing Reflex 2, which we’ll come back to later in this article.
One thing is certain, NVIDIA is reaping the benefits of having jumped on the AI bandwagon very quickly and is now benefiting from its many years of research in the face of the competition. It’s important to realise that it’s no longer possible to increase raw performance by 25-30% with each generation of graphics cards – it’s the same problem faced by processors, for example. So it was NVIDIA’s choice to integrate AI into its cards in order to offer upscaling.
DLSS 4 is only compatible with this new generation of RTX 5000, but the other accompanying technologies will have a positive impact on previous generations. The RTX 5000 and 4000 will also benefit from the improved Frame Generation, with a gain of between 5 and 10% according to NVIDIA, and with lower memory consumption.
As soon as the RTX 5000s arrive, i.e. at the end of January, on the 30th to be precise, 75 games and applications will be compatible with DLSS 4 at launch, including Alan Wake 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and Star Wars Outlaws.
The new ‘Transformer’:
DLSS 4 features an updated architecture for DLSS Ray Reconstruction, DLSS Super Resolution and DLAA. Previously, DLSS used convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to generate new pixels, and this has now been replaced by the new Transformer. This should offer greater stability, fewer ghost images, more detail on moving objects and smoother edges.
This could translate into the possibility of using a Performance mode for the DLSS, which would no longer be visually average, but could approach the Balanced/Quality mode on the previous-generation CNN model. Of course, this will have to be tested and compared in terms of image quality between the RTX 4000 and RTX 5000. It will also be relevant to compare the different DLSS modes in terms of image quality.
The new Transformer will offer improved image quality in Ray Reconstruction, such as the image on the left in Alan Wake 2 with the chain-link fence. The image on the right shows the improvement in detail between the CNN model and this new generation model.
Reflex 2 technology:
As we said earlier, Multi Frame Generation will allow you to increase the number of FPS, but will add latency because of the creation process. NVIDIA will therefore be offering its version 2 for Reflex, which we have already had the opportunity to present to you here. It’s especially in competitive games that these few milliseconds will really make a difference.
NVIDIA Reflex 2 will combine Reflex Low Latency mode with Frame Warp technology and will be compatible with all RTXs. The idea, of course, is to reduce latency, i.e. the time that elapses between the moment you click your mouse button and its appearance on the screen, by displaying a predictive image that is as close as possible to reality. Reflex 2 will be available in the coming weeks.
Override DLSS or the replacement for DLSS :
NVIDIA’s latest application, NVIDIA App, will allow games that have not yet been updated to the latest DLSS models and features to enable support via a DLSS override. The version of the app we will be testing is a press version, and the DLSS replacement options are available in the Graphics > Program Settings screen under Driver Settings.
We will of course be testing Override DLSS during this test to see how easy it is to use. We’ve taken a first look at these new technologies, even if we haven’t gone into detail about everything this new RTX 5080 has to offer. You should know that it has three 9th-generation encoders and a new 6th-generation decoder. The three encoders should logically accelerate rendering speed.
[nextpage title=”Technical specifications:”]
A quick trip to GPU-Z to check that the information read is correct. As you can see, this is not yet entirely the case. A new version of GPU-Z will almost certainly be posted on January 30, the day the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 are launched. In the meantime, we can still learn a few things from our copy of the ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition.
In terms of frequency, GPU-Z has announced a base frequency of 2295 MHz and a boost frequency of 2760 MHz for this ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition. The card has 16 GB of GDDR7 memory (480 GB/s) on a 256-bit bus. This model has factory overclocked frequencies, since the NVIDIA RTX 5080 Founders Edition offers a Boost frequency of 2617 MHz (5.46%). This increase in frequency should bring some gains in terms of FPS, or so we hope. More on this later in the article.
Don’t forget that the GPU frequency could be higher in benchmarks, depending on the quality of your chip and the cooling system used. In fact, we carried out a test using 3DMark Time Spy to observe the GPU boost frequency. We can see that it reaches the maximum frequency of 2977 MHz at certain times. The memory frequency remains unchanged, which is perfectly normal.
As far as temperatures are concerned, it climbs to 63.8°C and the memory to 62°C. At the time of this first test, it was 19°C in the lab. We’ll have to check the temperatures during our more in-depth tests. The fans are far from running at maximum speed and the card is fairly silent. What really stands out is the max TDP, which is only 91.4%, whereas we should have seen it close to 100% since there’s nothing to prevent it from being increased. As a reminder, we’re on a bench and not inside a case. Let’s get testing!
[nextpage title=”The test configuration: “]
As we said in the introduction, we’ve updated all our graphics using the latest drivers from NVIDIA, AMD and, of course, INTEL. We also took the opportunity to slightly modify our test configuration and add some new games to our protocol. So here we go again, with a new series of tests and graphics on this slightly modified configuration:
- Motherboard: ROG Maximus Z790 APEX Encore
- Processor : Intel Alder Lake i9-14900K delid
- Cooling system: EK-Nucleus AIO CR360 Direct Die D-RGB – 1700
- Memory: 48 GB Corsair Dominator Titanium 8000 MT/s CL38
- Graphics card: ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition, NVIDIA RTX 5080 FE, NVIDIA RTX 5090 FE, ASUS RTX 4090 TUF OC, NVIDIA RTX 4080 Super FE, NVIDIA RTX 4080 FE, AMD RX 7900 XTX and AMD RX 7900 XT
- SSD: Western Digital Black SN750 2 TB EKWB radiator
- Power supply: Corsair AX1600i
- Operating system: Windows 11 64-bit 24H2 (26100.2894)
For this test, we used a fairly high-end configuration based on an i9-14900K delid processor and DDR5 memory. Depending on the definition tested, we used either an MSI Oculux NXG253RÂ or a ROG Strix XG27UCS on loan from Asus France.
Our test protocol:
All the cards are tested at stock frequencies and without any optimisation. For the various benchmarks, whether for synthetics or games, we will opt for 1080p, 1440p and 2160p resolutions depending on the card’s performance.
Here, with this ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition model, there’s no doubt about the definition: it’ll be 2160p! We’ll be using DLSS Super Resolution in Performance mode, with image generation and ray tracing where available.
As you can see, we’re now running Windows 11 and we’ve activated the ReSize BAR in the BIOS, which can be seen in GPU-Z. Now that you know everything about our test configuration, it’s time to get started!
[nextpage title=”3DMark benchmarks: “]
Our first series of tests will be dedicated to synthetic benchmarks. These are very often used for overclocking competitions , but are also very interesting for comparing different GPUs. So we’ll be focusing on benchmarks from the 3DMark series. For this new version of our graphics, and for the 3DMark tests, we have also isolated the GPU score. So you’ll find, where stipulated in the benchmark, the overall score and the GPU score.
3DMark Fire Strike and Fire Strike Ultra :
Let’s start with 3DMark Fire Strike, which is one of the most widely used benchmarks today. It consists of two graphics tests, a CPU test and a fourth test that combines GPU and CPU. Don’t forget to disable the demo, which makes no difference to the final score and (unnecessarily) prolongs the benchmark. The version used for these tests is, of course, the latest.
We kick off our tests with the two Fire Strike and Fire Strike Ultra benchmarks, and to say the least, we’re off to a strong start. Although we’d have liked to see the ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition closer to the RTX 4090, it’s well ahead of the RTX 4080 Super. Compared with the RTX 5080 FE, the gain is 4 to 5%.
3DMark Time Spy and Time Spy Extreme :
The second test is 3DMark Time Spy. Although this one is run in 1440p, its main feature is that it uses DirectX 12. It consists of two graphics tests and a CPU test. As with Fire Strike, don’t forget to disable the demo. These first two benchmarks are provided by UL Benchmark.
We continue with Time Spy, where the results are still very high. Our ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition remains in third place, ahead of the RTX 4080 Super but behind the RTX 4090. Time Spy often gives an initial idea of in-game performance, so we should have our RTX 5080 behind the RTX 4090 in rasterisation, but it remains to be seen by how many percent, especially with a model featuring factory overclocking.
3DMark Speed Way :
This is the latest benchmark from Ulbenchmark, and it’s great to be able to say that we’re going to have a good go at this Speed Way. It uses DirectX 12 and is set to 1440p by default. We haven’t changed anything, so we’re using the original benchmark.
In Speed Way, our sample of the day once again takes third place with a score of 9407 points, leaving the RTX 4080 at 2017 points behind.
3DMark Port Royal:
This is a benchmark that we left out last year, but which you were keen to see again in our tests. It’s still widely used, particularly in the overclocking community . So we’ve decided to add it to our tests.
The result remains the same: third place for our ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition. The gain with the RTX 5080 Founders Edition is 4%.
3DMark Steel Nomad :
The latest benchmark in the 3DMark suite, Steel Nomad will replace Time Spy as the most recent benchmark in the 3DMark suite. However, the good news is that it will be free for users who already have a key. The programme includes a test bench based on Microsoft’s DirectX12 API. However, there will be no ray tracing, but the scene will use an ‘extreme’ level of geometry and rasterised light.
Finally, the penultimate benchmark in the 3DMark series, Steel Nomad, which has just arrived, keeps our ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition in third place.
3DMark NVIDIA DLSS :
We’ve added this benchmark here, which highlights the potential of DLSS, as it will now be compatible with DLSS 4, giving us the opportunity to test it with this ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition.
Finally, the last benchmark in the 3DMark series, the NVIDIA DLSS feature test will allow us to highlight, for the first time, the contribution of DLSS 4 technology. As a reminder, Frame Generation on the RTX 5000 can be selected as x2 (one frame), x3 (two frames) or x4 (three frames). This refers to the number of additional images that can be added between two native images.
Above are the parameters in the benchmark that allow us to choose the number of images generated.
[nextpage title=”Cinebench 2024 and V-Ray 6:”]
Following on from the 3DMark series of benchmarks, let’s tackle a series of tests for productive tasks. Even if this isn’t the primary function we’ll be attributing to the graphics card, we couldn’t do without offering you a small panel of tests, especially concerning AI, which is becoming more and more present.
Cinebench 2024 GPU :
This is a benchmark that we won’t be introducing again, as it’s used so often for our CPU tests, but here, with the 2024 version, it’s our graphics card that we’re going to put to the test. Please note that the version included in BenchMate will not work for this GPU test, so you’ll need to download the full version from the Maxon website.
No results in Cinebench 2024, which will no doubt need updating, as our ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition is not recognised.As you may remember from previous tests, Intel graphics cards are still not compatible with this benchmark either.
V-Ray 6:
A new benchmark to add to those we use to test our graphics cards. The V-Ray 6 benchmark is produced by the Chaos company to enable users to quickly assess the rendering speeds of both your processor and your graphics card, which is why we’re adding it today. The great thing is that it’s free and can be downloaded directly by following this link. You can then compare your score directly with those below, or directly online on the Chaos page.
Here, for our tests, we’re going to opt for the ‘RTX’ rendering and not the ‘CUDA’ rendering for NVIDIA’s RTX graphics cards. As with the 3DMark benchmarks, the results remain the same: we’re in third place, between the RTX 4090 and the RTX 4080/4080 Super. The score against the Founders Edition is virtually the same.
[nextpage title=”UL Procyon AI Image / Text Generation:”]
UL Procyon AI Image Generation:
UL Benchmark not only offers its 3DMark benchmark suite but also, UL Procyon, to meet the demand for Artificial Intelligence evaluation. This benchmark was chosen for its ease of implementation. The benchmark will generate 4 x 4 images and provide us with a score as well as a result in the form of the time, in seconds, required to generate an image. The software supports several AI inference engines depending on the GPU used.
We will therefore use the benchmark in Stable Diffusion 1.5 (FP16) mode. It is intended for mid-range GPUs. The test will create 16 images at a resolution of 512 x 512 in batches of 4. There is a test called Stable Diffusion XL (FP16), where 16 images will be created, at 1024 x 1024, in batches of 1.
Unfortunately, our ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition is not recognised by the software and should be updated as soon as the cards are released. However, here are the performances of our other cards and we will update both graphics as soon as our ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Editionis supported.
On the other hand, the 5th generation Tensor Cores provide support for the FP4 (Floating Point 4 bits) format, which will double the calculation performance of neural models while halving the memory footprint. This improvement is based on an essential compromise: FP4 uses less precision than traditional formats such as FP16 or FP32. However, for many deep learning models, this precision is sufficient to maintain reliable results while considerably reducing the load on memory and computing units. So we carried out the test with our ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition and here’s the result.
These two FP8 and FP4 tests are based on a beta version that we have received from NVIDIA. We have a licence for UL Procyon, but these tests are not yet available and will probably be as of January 30. As soon as the software is up to date, we’ll run the tests again.
UL Procyon AI Text Generation :
The latest benchmark added to this test suite, AI Text Generation. The Procyon AI Text Generation Benchmark provides a more compact and easier way to repeatedly and consistently test AI performance with multiple LLM AI models. UL says it has worked closely with many AI software and hardware leaders to ensure that the benchmark tests take full advantage of the local AI accelerator of the systems used.
We can see that the differences are smaller between this new ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition and the RTX 4090, while AMD is a long way behind.
[nextpage title=”2160p gaming rasterisation performance: “]
Let’s get on with the gaming tests. We’ve used all the graphics cards we thought would be interesting to compare with this ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition in 2160p definition. In the coming weeks, we’ll be offering you a new type of article, retesting graphics cards from previous generations to find out what they’re still worth in 2025. Our games panel currently consists of 11 titles, and will be growing over the coming weeks.
We have chosen to use the benchmarks built into these different games.
Why have we done this? Quite simply to allow you to compare your results with ours if you also have a copy of one of these games. It’s a thought-provoking idea that will allow you to compare your results with ours. The number and titles selected have changed slightly, and will increase again over the coming weeks as we get our hands on new games.
What is rasterisation?
Before we start, a quick word about ‘rasterisation’, which is currently the subject of much discussion. Rasterisation is the evaluation of the performance of our graphics cards without using upscaling technologies . We choose a graphics quality, often the highest, and test it. The advantage of these tests is that we can quantify the gains made by the architecture between different generations. In our case, to be able to judge the gains obtained between the architecture of the RTX 4090 (ADA Lovelace) and that of the new RTX 5080 (Blackwell).
Borderlands 3 :
It’s off to the gaming part with Borderlands 3 to kick things off. This first game seems to confirm our feelings about our ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition, which can’t match the performance of the RTX 4090, which comes close, but is well ahead of the previous generation of RTX 4080s.
Cyberpunk 2077:
A new game and the same findings for Cyberpunk 2077, but with smaller differences. This custom version, which benefits from factory overclocking, makes up a little more of the ground lost to the RTX 4090 and is virtually on a par.
COD Modern Warfare III:
We’re not really changing the shape of our chart, but for the first time, the RX 7900 XTX model comes in second place. We didn’t mention it until now, but the ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition was still ahead of the RX 7900 XTX.
Forspoken :
Forspoken is a fairly demanding game, and this ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition model is one of only four cards capable of breaking the 100 FPS barrier.
Horizon Zeron Dawn Remastered:
One of the new games we’ve added to our comparison, and where the gaps are smaller than usual between the RTX 5080 and RTX 4080s.
Shadow Of The Tomb Raider:
With Shadow Of The Tomb Raider, the 150 FPS mark is easily passed by our ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition. The RTX 4090 performed almost 13% better.
Black Myth: Wukong Benchmark Tool :
This new game also seems to be very greedy, and doesn’t do NVIDIA graphics cards any favours.
Far Cry 6:
The performance is still identical under Far Cry 6, but here the custom model of our RTX 5080 manages to get the better of the RX 7900 XTX.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage:
Here, there’s less performance and a nice marked difference between the new generation and the previous one.
Red Dead Redemption II:
Under Red Dead Redemption II, the ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition manages to do almost as well as the RX 7900 XTX. Our custom version is almost 14% ahead of the RTX 4080.
F1 2024 :
Last game and nothing will have changed during this series of 11 games, with a high-performance ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition that just can’t match the RTX 4090, despite the fact that we’re on an overclocked custom model.
2160p rasterised games average :
In the end, it wasn’t too much of a surprise to see the average performance of this ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition. It lags behind the RTX 4090 by 9.5% in 2160p rasterisation. As our RTX 4090 model was an ASUS TUF OC, it’s easy to imagine that if we’d had an RTX 4090 Founders Edition, we’d have had a smaller gap of 6 or 7%, which is good performance in itself. This new RTX 5080 outperforms the RTX 4080 by almost 14%, but here again we’re talking about an ultra-overclocked model, as this is the ZOTAC RTX 4080 AMP Extreme AIRO. The difference should therefore have been greater, which also explains the small difference with the RTX 4080 Super Founders Edition. Now, when we come to a conclusion, we’ll have to take into account the current price of the RTX 4090.
Let’s move on to the tests with upscaling activated and see how this ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition will benefit from DLSS 4.
[nextpage title=”2160p upscaling gaming performance:”]
In this section, we’re going to test our graphics cards by activating ray tracing, if available, and upscaling depending on the graphics card used. As a reminder, there are currently three upscaling technologies . NVIDIA has DLSS, which can only be activated with NVIDIA cards. Depending on the generation of your GPU, you may or may not be able to take advantage of all the technologies offered by the Greens. At AMD, it’s FSR, which is also evolving and also benefits from Frame Generation for certain games.
Finally, Intel’s in-house upscaling is called XeSS, and with the arrival of this new generation of graphics cards, Intel has taken the opportunity to announce the arrival of XeSS 2, which will introduce two new features to compete with NVIDIA and AMD, who are already ahead of the game in this area. Intel will be offering Xe Frame Generation (XeSS-FG) and XeSS Low Latency (XeLL).
Today sees the arrival of DLSS 4, and in our comparative tests, only Cyberpunk 2077 is already compatible. On the next page, we’ll be showing you a selection of other games compatible with DLSS 4. Finally, it’s important to point out that some games don’t have ray tracing, but only anupscaling solution. We’ll make this clear in the games below. For 2160p definition, upscaling in either DLSS or FSR will always be in Performance mode.
Cyberpunk 2077:
Here we go again, with Cyberpunk 2077as our first game. It’s our NVIDIA cards that are out in front, thanks to DLSS 3. Please note that here, for the purposes of comparison, DLSS 3 is used with our ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition. DLSS 4 will be discussed on the next page. Our sample of the day remains behind the RTX 4090 and takes full advantage of Frame Generation.
COD Modern Warfare III:
No worries in Call Of Duty Modern Warfare III, where upscaling still allows you to gain FPS, even if our ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition doesn’t really need it, with an average of 124 FPS when rasterised.
Forspoken :
While the ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition has no trouble with rasterisation, with an average of 109 FPS, it’s the AMD RX 7000 that benefits from upscaling. Of course, you’ll have to pay close attention to image quality, but as we said, there’s no need to resort to upscaling when you see the average you get.
Horizon Zeron Dawn Remastered:
The same applies to Horizon Zeron Dawn Remastered, with our ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition coming in third place.
Black Myth: Wukong Benchmark Tool :
Here we go again with Black Myth: Wukong, a very demanding game that benefits from ray tracing. And it’s in this very type of case that upscaling is useful, as our average with ray tracing activated is 31 FPS and soars to 92 FPS when we use DLSS Performance combined with Frame Generation. This game will benefit from DLSS 4 in the near future.
Far Cry 6:
No DLSS here, we’re using AMD’s upscaling, which explains the very low gain between DXR and upscaling mode.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage :
The same applies to Assassin’s Creed Mirage, with our sample in third place and still lagging behind the RTX 4090.
F1 24 :
The last game on our test panel, DLSS Performance combined with Frame Generation enabled our model of the day to achieve an average of 207 FPS.
What about upscaling with the ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition?
While the RTX 5090 didn’t really need upscaling in the end, as performance was so good without it, this is no longer the case with the ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition. It won’t always be necessary to use it, but each time we activated it, it enabled us to have a comfortable average FPS in order to enjoy the game. Now that we’ve finished presenting all the cards that were in the lab, we’re going to turn our attention to overclocking and the quality of the images offered by Multi Frame Generation.
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A series of games are already compatible with DLSS 4, on the day of the launch of the RTX 5080/5090. We’ve been able to get hold of them in order to begin a series of tests and highlight the performance achieved thanks to DLSS 4. We’ll be coming back to the qualitative side of rendering in detail in the coming weeks. Of course, the upscaling principle here will be to support our NVIDIA RTX 5080 against 2160p performance with graphics options at maximum and ray tracing or path tracing if available.
To measure our FPS, we had access to a beta version of CapFrameX v1.7.5. This measurement tool is certainly one of the best and most intuitive when the game doesn’t have an integrated benchmark. If you’re interested, we can come back to the details in an article on how to use it.
Cyberpunk 2077:
In this well-known first game, and with the arrival of DLSS 4, we’re going to opt for the ultra graphics options with path tracing enabled. Here are the graphics options available in Cyberpunk 2077. So we have path tracing, DLSS in Performance mode and Frame Generation in x2, x3 or x4. The idea is to measure the differences in performance between DLSS OFF, one generated frame (x2), two generated frames (x3) and three generated frames (x4). It’s important to understand that you can choose the number of images with Multi Frame Generation.
Here’s the performance we obtained between our ASUS RTX 4090 TUF OC, the NVIDIA RTX 5090 Founders Edition and, of course, our ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition.​
As you can see, from the moment you decide to use DLSS 4 x3, i.e. two AI-generated images between two native ones, our RTX 5080 takes the lead over the RTX 4090. The lead will be even more comfortable with x4 and three generated images. With Overdrive mode, for any graphics card, DLSS is mandatory. It will also be important to assess how it feels to play, and we hope to find some time this weekend, after these two weeks of testing, to get back into it.
Hogwarts Legacy: The Hogwarts Legacy
Hogwarts Legacy doesn’t have a built-in benchmark, so we’re going to use CapFrameX to take our various readings. In terms of graphics options, there’s no ray tracing in this game, but we have enabled ray reconstruction. As far as DLSS 4 is concerned, we have all the options at our disposal.
In terms of performance, we’re starting from an average of 92.5 FPS in 4K DLSS OFF to an average of 428.4 FPS in 4K DLSS Performance x4. Of course, the average can vary from one scene to another, so the results will differ from one site to another, depending on the scene you choose to reproduce.
The same applies to Hogwarts Legacy, where we were unable to achieve an average of 60 FPS when rasterised. Everything improved with DLSS 4, which enabled our RTX 5080 to get ahead of the RTX 4090.
Alan Wake 2:
From January 30, Alan Wake 2 will also benefit from the DLSS 4 option, as well as RTX Mega Geometry. But what exactly is Mega Geometry? RTX Mega Geometry allows developers to offer up to 100X more triangles in ray tracing. RTX Mega Geometry will reduce processor overload and increase ray tracing performance and image quality.
Now it’s time for the graphics options, and the least we can say is that Alan Wake 2 is surely one of the most comprehensive games to showcase NVIDIA’s technologies(ray tracing, path tracing, ray reconstruction, direct lighting, transparency, etc.). So, of course, we activated all these options.
As far as performance is concerned, we start with an average of 32.4 FPS in 4K DLSS OFF to reach an average of 265 FPS in 4K DLSS Performance x4. Of course, the average can vary from one scene to another, so the results will differ from one site to another, depending on the scene you choose to reproduce.
Once again, DLSS 4 gives our RTX 5080 the edge over the RTX 4090. I hope you now understand the irrelevance of the NVIDIA slide that talked about RTX 5070 = RTX 4090. Of course, this is possible in a scenario where the RTX 5070 will be in DLSS 4 x4 against an RTX 4090 DLSS 3.
Star Wars Outlaws :
Star Wars Outlaws is the third game to be supported directly. There’s no ray tracing in this game, so we’re using DLSS Performance in 2160p with Multi Frame Generation. We’ve also activated ray reconstruction and NVIDIA Direct Lighting.
In terms of performance, we start from an average of 25.9 FPS in 4K DLSS OFF and end up with an average of 233.2 FPS in 4K DLSS Performance x4. Of course, the average can vary from one scene to another, so the results will differ from one site to another, depending on the scene you choose to reproduce.
All our cards suffer and the DLSS 3 or DLSS 4 are there to help you get the most out of your game. Despite factory overclocking on the ROG RTX 5080 Astral, the differences between our two RTX 5080s are quite small.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Finally, our last game on this panel: Dragon Age: The Veilguard. So here, no DLSS 4 available within the game’s graphics options. So we’re going to force DLSS using NVIDIA’s new application. To do this, launch the application and go to Graphics > Program Settings screen under Driver Settings.
This will allow you to make the following changes. Firstly, in DLSS Override – Model Presets, select the ” Latest ” option, which will activate DLSS Super Resolution Transformer. Then go to DLSS Override – Frame Generation to choose between two or three images, and finally, you can also make a change in DLSS Override – Super Resolution. We’re not going to touch that, as we’re going to choose Performance in the game’s graphics options.
NVIDIA has provided a small overlay in the game so that we can check the settings we’ve chosen. There’s no ray tracing here, just DLSS 4 Performance upscaling and Frame Generation.
Here’s the performance we obtained according to our choice of parameters.
Here we can really see the contribution of DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation when a game benefits from the various NVIDIA technologies: ray tracing, path tracing, ray reconstruction, direct lighting, transparency, etc. … . On the other hand, you don’t have to activate DLSS if you don’t need it, and you can always opt to generate a single frame and not necessarily three, since you can choose the number you want to activate.
[nextpage title=”Energy consumption and efficiency:”]
We finally have the means to effectively monitor the power consumption of our graphics cards thanks to the Benchlab telemetry system. We’ll now be able to carry out a complete analysis of our graphics card’s total power consumption via the dedicated 3 x PCIe and 2 x 12VHPWR power cables. But that’s not all, because we also need to be able to measure the power supplied via the PCIe slot. So we’re going to use a PCI-E PMD adapter from the ElmorLabs shop. This will give us the overall power consumption of the graphics card under test, completely independently. Here’s a series of photos of our Benchlab installation, to which we’ll be devoting a dedicated test in a few weeks’ time.
These various readings will be taken via Benchlab’s dedicated application. The photos below were taken with the NVIDIA RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB FE graphics card to illustrate our power consumption readings.
To get the total power consumption, we’ll read the 12VHPWR Power consumption, which corresponds to the power supply to the card via its 16-pin mini-connectors, and the EPS1 reading, which supplies the adapter. We export the readings, which are taken every 500 ms, and calculate the average power consumption in the Cyberpunk 2077 game in 4K rasterisation with the graphics options in Ultra and in 4K with ray tracing in Ultra, DLSS Performance x2 and path tracing.
Power consumption in Cyberpunk 2077 :
We were very pleased with the RTX 5080 Founders Edition’s power consumption, which was fairly close to that of the RTX 4080 Super. The FPS/consumption ratio is in favour of the latter. This controlled power consumption means that our Founders Edition model heats up very little and makes very little noise.
But with the ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition, things get a little more complicated. In 2160p rasterisation, our model of the day saw its power consumption increase by 40 watts. We found that this factory overclocked model delivered a 3.8% gain in gaming performance, while at the same time power consumption increased by more than 12%. The ratio is therefore more unfavourable for our model of the day.
As a reminder, ASUS recommends an 850-watt power supply with a ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition, but if you’re planning to overclock, you’ll need 1,000 watts.
[nextpage title=”The last word:”]
So, what do you think of this ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition?
One thing’s for sure, as with the RTX 5090, there’s a lot to say. Ever since NVIDIA announced its new range of RTX 5000 graphics cards at CES 2025, social networking sites have been abuzz with tension between green fans and those who are not at all keen on this new architecture. The majority are criticising the RTX 5090’s lack of gain over the previous generation and its exploding power consumption, but what about this ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition, is the situation the same?
Performance:
We’re in a similar situation to the RTX 5090; performance isn’t going through the roof, but it’s still pretty good. We’re more or less 17/18% ahead of an RTX 4080 FE and 7/8% behind the RTX 4090. As a reminder, the MSRP of the RTX 5080 FE is announced at 1,190 euros and the launch price of the RTX 4090 was 1,959 euros, later reduced to 1,779 euros. The MSRP of our ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition is €1,549.90. While the performance/price ratio is still in the ROG’s favour, it has been considerably reduced compared with the Founders Edition model. Let’s not forget that the RTX 5080 retains the advantage of the new technology that accompanies it. Now, you have to bear in mind that the RTX 4090 has 24 GB of GDDR6, compared with 16 GB of GDDR7 on the RTX 5080.
We have to admit that we were disappointed, and this is a general comment concerning the three custom models tested today and which have factory overclocking, as far as performance is concerned. Without being able to explain why, we have the impression that they are limited, with a TDP that is not fully exploited. To make matters worse, the ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition has no margin for power limit. Now that our comparative tests are over and done with, we’re going to test the overclocking of these different models.
EDIT: yesterday we received a new version of GPU Tweak III that unlocks the power limit. We’ll be testing it this weekend to give you our impressions.
The DLSS 4 :
Highlighted by NVIDIA, DLSS 4 is the big new feature of this Blackwell architecture. Here again, some people, like myself, activate DLSS in certain games and others will never do so, oh God, never, not wanting to use ‘fake’ FPS. It’s true that these are additional images created by the AI, but as the name suggests, anything created by Artificial Intelligence will always have this ‘artificial’ side. Now, we have to admit that it works well, even better than before. We’ve had the opportunity to spend a little more time in the game with this new series of tests, and our opinion remains pretty much the same. Of course, it’s possible to notice a few faults at times, but you really have to have fun looking for most of them, by making movements that you don’t really do when you’re playing. As for the games that benefit from DLSS 4, visually it’s very difficult to see any difference in quality when it’s activated.
If you want to take advantage of ray tracing and path tracing, you can activate them while still enjoying 4K definition (2160p) and retaining a more than sufficient number of FPS. You also have the option of choosing the number of extra frames with DLSS 4. We’ll be coming back to the fluidity of the game once we’ve received a 240Hz 4K screen to see what impact it has.
A word about NVIDIA’s new DLSS Override application. This will allow games that have not yet been updated to the latest DLSS models and features to activate support via a DLSS override. We’ve tested this with Dragon Age: The Veilguard and it’s very effective!
Consumption :
Where the RTX 5090 Founders Edition blew everything away, that’s not the case with the ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition! Compared to a custom RTX 4080, power consumption increases by around sixty watts, which is not insignificant. The ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition doesn’t heat up, which is a good thing given its size, but the fans can be noisy in certain situations.
The price :
ASUS has announced an MSRP of 1,549.90 euros for its ROG RTX 5080 Astral model, compared with 1,179 euros for the Founders Edition and 1,959 euros for the RTX 4090 FE when it was launched and now at 1,779 euros. That’s still a substantial budget, but it’s logical in the sense that custom cards are always more expensive than FE models. The ASUS TUF RTX 4080 Super, for example, is currently priced at 1,439 euros. We hope, though we don’t hold out much hope, that online shops will respect the prices quoted by ASUS, bearing in mind that stocks will certainly be affected by the approach of the Chinese New Year.
What’s more, the performance of this ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition further confirms that the RTX 5090 will be dedicated to a niche audience and that it is first and foremost a PRO card, particularly with its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory. As you can see, this RTX 5080 is much more interesting.
Should you sell your RTX 4080?
Not yet! Your RTX 4080 or RTX 4080 Super still have some good days ahead of them. Granted, you won’t be able to take advantage of Multi Frame Generation, but there’s nothing to suggest that NVIDIA won’t be offering it on the RTX 4000 in a few months’ time. What’s more, we could still be in for some pleasant surprises with the other two models announced, the RTX 5070 Ti at €884 and the RTX 5070 at €649. So don’t rush, and wait. Now, if you have a slightly older configuration and want to take advantage of all the NVIDIA technologies, then yes, this could be an interesting upgrade for 2160p gaming. In fact, we’re preparing a series of new articles based on older graphics cards. The other alternative is to keep an eye on the second-hand market, where you could pick up a bargain on an RTX 4080 Super, for example.
Creators will also be able to take advantage of the 9th generation encoder and a new 6th generation decoder.
While we didn’t give the RTX 5090 Founders Edition an award or a rating, we were much more excited by the performance of this RTX 5080 model, but less so by its price, which is likely to soar if stocks are low, as seems to be confirmed, at least for a few weeks. No revolution in terms of performance, but we’re getting closer to the RTX 4090.
Thanks to ASUS France for making this copy of the ROG RTX 5080 Astral OC Edition available.
