Nvidia's GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card is exceptionally powerful but forbiddingly expensive. (You could build a complete RTX 5080-based gaming PC for the money.) But this top-tier GPU lives on a whole other planet of performance.

Positioned as a 4K card at an MSRP of $999, the RTX 5080 Founders Edition aims to be a viable 4K upgrade for those who can't necessarily plunk down the $2K it costs for the more expensive 90-class card.

The RTX 5080 Founders Edition at $999 makes far more sense for enthusiasts targeting max-setting gaming and ultra-HD resolutions if you can find it at MSRP.

The NVIDIA RTX 5090 is the most powerful consumer GPU ever made, but its $2,000 price tag makes it a luxury for only the most demanding users.

It’s disappointing to see Nvidia has stuck with 16GB of VRAM on the RTX 5080. AMD’s RX 7900 XTX offers 24GB, and while the RTX 5080 delivers better performance for now, it may well hit video memory limits in 4K gaming in the future.

But then, neither is it a blood-boiler like the RTX 4080, nor a largely aspirational show-off piece like the RTX 5090. By maintaining the 4080 Super’s course correction on price while tooling up on compelling DLSS 4 improvements,

The RTX 5080 is the best $999 GPU on the market, offering high-end performance at a fraction of the cost of the 5090.