The RTX 5080 may not be the dream card for gamers, but content creators may want a card that in many workflows is only slightly slower than the RTX 5090 and may offer the best bang for the buck.

As happened with the NVIDIA RTX 5090, it’s difficult to find news online about the advantages – and pitfalls – of the RTX 5080 for content creators, so we picked some of the sources you should read and watch to know what this new card does. One of the sources of information is Puget Systems, which is now the “go-to” website for many creators looking for answers regarding computer builds. Puget Systems is no longer just building workstations for professionals, they also compile some of the best hardware suggestions for content creators, have their own software to test computer builds – which is available for users to do their own tests – and… can build you the dream system you want.

As we wrote when the new graphics cards were first introduced, the NVIDIA RTX 50 series is built for advanced video editing.  As we noted then, ”the cards feature ninth-generation NVIDIA encoders for advanced video editing and livestreaming, and come with NVIDIA DLSS 4 and up to 32GB of VRAM to tackle massive 3D projects. These GPUs come with various software updates, including two new AI-powered NVIDIA Broadcast effects, updates to RTX Video and RTX Remix, and NVIDIA NIM microservices — prepackaged and optimized models built to jumpstart AI content creation workflows on RTX AI PCs.”

For video, one important aspect of the new GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs is that they deliver a generational leap in NVIDIA encoders and decoders with support for the 4:2:2 pro-grade color format, multiview-HEVC (MV-HEVC) for 3D and virtual reality (VR) video, and the new AV1 Ultra High Quality mode.

RTX 5080: two encoders and two decoders for video

NVIDIA noted, at launch, that “most consumer cameras are confined to 4:2:0 color compression, which reduces the amount of color information. 4:2:0 is typically sufficient for video playback on browsers, but it can’t provide the color depth needed for advanced video editors to color grade videos. The 4:2:2 format provides double the color information with just a 1.3x increase in RAW file size — offering an ideal balance for video editing workflows.”

According to NVIDIA, “decoding 4:2:2 video can be challenging due to the increased file sizes. GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs include 4:2:2 hardware support that can decode up to eight times the 4K 60 frames per second (fps) video sources per decoder, enabling smooth multi-camera video editing.”

For video, the GeForce RTX 5090 GPU is equipped with three encoders and two decoders, the GeForce RTX 5080 GPU includes two encoders and two decoders, the 5070 Ti GPUs has two encoders with a single decoder, and the GeForce RTX 5070 GPU includes a single encoder and decoder. These multi-encoder and decoder setups, paired with faster GPUs, enable the GeForce RTX 5090 to export video 60% faster than the GeForce RTX 4090 and at 4x speed compared with the GeForce RTX 3090.

GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs also feature the ninth-generation NVIDIA video encoder, NVENC, that offers a 5% improvement in video quality on HEVC and AV1 encoding (BD-BR), as well as a new AV1 Ultra Quality mode that achieves 5% more compression at the same quality. They also include the sixth-generation NVIDIA decoder, with 2x the decode speed for H.264 video.

A solid upgrade for those on older cards

NVIDIA is collaborating with Adobe Premiere Pro, Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve, Capcut and Wondershare Filmora to integrate these technologies, and we’re seeing, through the first reviews of the RTX 5090, and now the reviews of the RTX 5080, what content creators can expect from the new cards. We suggest readers to read the whole article published by Puget Systems about the RTX 5080, but we publish here some excerpts from the conclusion, with information that those building a new system or updating from an older card may want to know.

According to Puget Systems, “in video editing and motion graphics, the RTX 5080 is about 5-10% faster than the RTX 4080 SUPER and 20-30% faster than the 3080 Ti. There were some standout areas, such as 3D performance in After Effects, with gains double those. DaVinci Resolve is largely the same, with the stand-out areas being the improved LongGOP processing and GPU Effects, but otherwise modest performance improvements. Still, for new-to-PC users or those on even older cards, it offers a solid upgrade.”

Puget Systems also notes that “in rendering applications, the 5080 manages better, with a 10-20% lead over the 4080 SUPER and a 55% to 188% lead over the 3080 Ti” and adds that “this is definitely a performance jump that may be worth upgrading for even from the 40-series card, and it offers a great value for those using older generation cards.”

RTX 5080 is only slightly slower than 5090

For those still undecided between the more expensive RTX 5090 and the RTX 5080, Puget Systems concludes that “in many workflows” the RTX 5080 “is only slightly slower than the RTX 5090, so it may end up being one of the better price-to-performance cards of this generation. If you are on a 30-series card or older, it offers a great upgrade, but less so for users on a 40-series card. Especially given the dwindling supply of those previous-generation cards, we expect the RTX 5080 to be an incredibly popular GPU.”

The website Tech Notice, which we also used as a reference for the RTX 5090, published a video titled “RTX 5080 for Creative Professionals – Better option than RTX 5090?!” and concluded that “the 5080 makes more sense than the 5090 unless you need the VRAM capacity and so on 3D applications. If you need a good render the 5080 is a better buy for half the price than the 5090.”

Tech Notice tested different apps but spent some time with DaVinci Resolve, which offered some interesting numbers, 23.30% faster than the 4080 Super in standard use, but reaching a value of 67.74% in LongGOP when compared to the RTX 4080 Super. To fully understand why, you’ll need to watch the video, which is a nearly 20-minute voyage of discovery that, as Tech Notice notes, “in terms of DaVinci Resolve the 5080 makes a ton of sense… the scores are amazing and in terms of the 5090 you’re not going to get that much more performance… and the 5080 looks like a lot better bang for the buck, unless you need more than 16GB of VRAM.”