I wasn’t surprised when Nvidia finally unveiled the GeForce RTX 50-series GPUs during CES 2025. Not only had I seen several upcoming PCs with “next-gen Nvidia” graphics cards at events before CES, but there had also been months of rumors and leaks—many of which were accurate. Yes, I knew RTX 50 cards were coming, but I didn’t know the reveal would convince me to upgrade my gaming PC.
I bought a gaming PC with an Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti almost three years ago, and it has done an excellent job of running the best PC games at 4K resolution and over 60 frames per second with settings set to High or even Max. I was so satisfied with the experience that I skipped the Nvidia RTX 40 series. However, I’ve had to lower graphical settings more frequently as games have become more graphically demanding. That’s a sign that it’s time for me to upgrade.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090, RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5070 graphics cards will be available soon. Of those four, I have my eyes on the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080. I’ll explain why below.
My PC is (kind of) ancient
My current gaming PC might not have impressive specs now but it was kind of a monster back when I had NZXT build it for me. It has an 11th Gen Intel Core i7 11700KF CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, 32GB of GDDR4 RAM, 1TB of SSD storage and an ROG Strix Z590-E motherboard.
In all fairness to my rig, it’s still quite capable of handling most games so long as I properly tweak the settings or let the Nvidia Experience app configure them. But with games becoming more demanding, my PC is showing its age. Given that and what the RTX 50-series promises to deliver, I think now is the best time for me to upgrade my gaming rig.
Balance of price and performance
I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m not eyeing the Nvidia RTX 5090 i.e. the king of the RTX 50-series lineup. Don’t get me wrong, the RTX 5090 is very tempting with its monstrous 32GB of VRAM and enhanced AI capabilities. However, if you’ve researched the RTX 5090 then I’m sure you already know why I’m opting for the RTX 5080. The RTX 5090 is one heck of an expensive GPU!
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| GPU name | Starting price | Graphics memory |
| RTX 5090 | $1.999 | 32GB GDDR7 |
| RTX 5080 | $999 | 16GB GDDR7 |
| RTX 5070 Ti | $749 | 16GB GDDR7 |
| RTX 5070 | $549 | 12GB GDDR7 |
At launch, the Nvidia RTX 5080 will cost an eye-watering $1,999. That’s almost half what I paid for my current rig back in 2022. Toss in other components I want, such as a 14th Gen Intel Core i9 14900K CPU, 64GB DDR5 RAM, 2TB of SSD storage — along with a motherboard, power supply, and PC case (among other things), and I’m likely to spend a small fortune on a new gaming rig.
If I can lower the cost of my next gaming PC by $1,000 by opting for an RTX 5080 instead of a 5090, that seems like the smarter play.
Outlook
While I’m excited about the new Nvidia GeForce RTX 50-series cards, I won’t make a final purchasing decision until we’ve tested the new GPUs ourselves. Not only do I want raw performance metrics, but I also want to see how graphically demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077 benefit from DLSS4 — especially at high graphical settings.
The Nvidia RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 arrive on January 30. If the former card lives up to the hype, then it’ll be time for me to build an all-new rig. If not, perhaps I’ll save some extra money and buy its more powerful sibling. Either way, 2025 should be the year when I upgrade to a new PC — and it’s all due to Nvidia and its impressive (on paper) graphics cards.
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