Overdue for a refresh — no successor announced yet. Prices should be at their lowest
Superseded by RTX 5090
Best for: 4K enthusiasts who can find the RTX 4090 at a significant discount and don't need DLSS 4 or GDDR7.
Full details →Early in cycle — strong buy, no urgency to wait
Best for: 4K gamers and creators who want Blackwell performance without the 5090's price and power demands.
Full details →| NVIDIA RTX 4090 | NVIDIA RTX 5080 | |
|---|---|---|
| Tier | Enthusiast | Enthusiast |
| Generation | RTX 4000 | RTX 5000 |
| VRAM | 24 GB | 16 GB |
| Memory Type | GDDR6X | GDDR7 |
| TDP | 450W | 360W |
| Upscaling | DLSS3 | DLSS4 |
| Ray Tracing | ✅ | ✅ |
| Launch MSRP | $1599 | $999 |
| Released | Oct 12, 2022 | Jan 30, 2025 |
| Cycle length | ~840 days | ~850 days |
| Cycle advice | Wait | Buy |
| Deals advice | Buy | Caution |
| Successor | RTX 5090 | — |
More VRAM than the RTX 5080 (16GB), making it relevant for AI workloads and 4K texture packs.
Street prices have dropped significantly below $1599 MSRP, offering 5090-adjacent performance for less.
Over 2 years of driver optimizations make this one of the most stable GPUs available.
Delivers excellent 4K frame rates at a lower TDP and price than the 5090 — the practical enthusiast choice.
Same DLSS 4 technology as the flagship, dramatically boosting frame rates in supported titles.
Runs on a 750W PSU comfortably, unlike the 5090's 1000W recommendation.