I get excited every time a new graphics card launches, and even more so when Nvidia revealed the RTX 5080 and its latest DLSS 4 technology, which uses AI to amplify visuals and frame rates beyond what was previously possible. But I took one look at my grandpa-build of a gaming PC and hesitated for a moment
My RTX 3080 served me well throughout the years, getting a steady 60 fps at 4K, max settings in my favorite games, but that honeymoon era didn’t last very long. It began a steady decline down to 30 fps until I had to eventually turn down settings. I hated that – I live to experience the full breadth of art in video games. Those beautiful artists put so much into their work, and I just wanted to see it. But could my PC even handle it?
Well, as it turned out, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 does work with my aging build. I even have a 1000-watt PSU to accommodate the power shift from my RTX 3080.
However, I ran into some snags. My overall setup was less than optimal and the raw performance especially seemed… lackluster. Yet, despite that and my criticisms of DLSS 4, its multi frame generation technology left one heck of an impression. One that may have finally sold me on the tech.
Installing the RTX 5080 – 4 Hours Later
I say grandpa-build, but it’s not actually that old. My PC has an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X processor and 32GB of RAM, both of which are slotted into a Gigabyte X570 Aorus Master motherboard (trust me, that’s important). I’d argue that the graphics card may be one of the easier parts to swap out of a custom PC build, but the gods smote me for my hubris.
I falsely assumed that the same power cables that powered my RTX 3080 would work on the RTX 5080, so I plugged the two PCIe 8-pin cables into the RTX 5080’s two out of three adapters. I assumed this was not going to work, but I didn’t want to do more work than this. When I turned my PC on, the RTX 5080’s LEDs did not show signs of life. Ugh.
At this point, I had already popped open my PC and its guts were laid strewn about. So naturally, I looked up where to get PCIe 12-pin cables, and to my genuine surprise, I saw DoorDash. Yep, I DoorDashed a set of Corsair PCIe Gen 5 Type 4 600-watt power cables from a Best Buy in a different state for a total of $44. Man gets hungry for power, what can I say?
It took about an hour to arrive, and then I raced upstairs to plug everything in and voilà! The GPU sprang to life… kind of. It flickered hesitantly and, of course, my PC didn’t activate the monitors. Instead, there was a lovely red light on my motherboard where the VGA symbol is. It took me another hour before I figured out what was wrong. You see, the X570 Aorus Master’s chipset fan is a chunky monkey, and the RTX 5080 also happens to be quite chunky itself. The card wasn’t fully plugged into the PCIe x16 slot because the X570’s dump truck of a fan was in the way. And no matter how hard I tried to shove it in, it would not budge. Sigh.
And so, after all of this, I was forced to plug the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080, one of the best Nvidia GPUs currently available, into a measly PCIe x8 slot. Okay, so between the old CPU and the downgraded PCIe x8 slot, what did that do to performance?
RTX 5080 Running on My Grandpa-Build
After running a total of 30 benchmarks through five different games, the RTX 5080 managed overall middling raw performance on my PC. However, with DLSS 4 enabled, I saw those ridiculous numbers that Nvidia wanted me to see. As I’ve said, I want to experience the vision that artists set to create in their games, but DLSS 4 complicates that. It is unfortunately the only path forward for PCs like mine.
For those that are unaware, DLSS 4 is a super sampling technology that can increase performance and sharpen image quality. What’s unique to the RTX 50-series cards, however, is Multi Frame Generation, which uses AI to generate up to three frames per true frame. It works only in supported games, however. And some games that support frame generation might not support Multi Frame Generation, though you can override that in the Nvidia app.
With the RTX 5080 as my sword, I chose Monster Hunter Wilds as my first boss. This poorly optimized nightmare made me realize my RTX 3080 wasn’t quite up to snuff anymore. And so vengeance was nigh. However, at 4K, with the Ultra preset and RT High settings, my PC could not break 60 fps. Instead it stopped at 51 fps… with DLSS disabled. When I flipped the switch to DLAA (native resolution) and enabled regular frame generation (2x), it jumped to 74 fps. Getting max settings at above 60 fps is all I wanted with Monster Hunter Wilds, so I’d call this a boss slain. But if you wanted more, flipping to Ultra Performance netted me 124 fps. (At the time of writing, Multi-frame Generation (4x) doesn’t work natively in the Nvidia app, although there is a workaround people have found.)
When I previously traversed the Living Lands in Avowed, I could not get close to 60 fps without turning down half the settings. But now… well, it still hurts. At Ultra, 4K, RT on with DLSS disabled, my PC sputtered out a measly 35 fps. The gods of Eora laughed at me and my $1K+ GPU. Then I revved up my anime sword (enabled DLAA and MFG) and cut down a camp of Xaurips at 113 fps. That is a 223% increase in frame rate. My jaw dropped when I saw that number. And the DLSS Ultra Performance number is literally double those frames.
If you thought Avowed was chunky, guess again. I have never struggled more with performance than in Oblivion: Remastered. Yes, the remaster of the near twenty-year old game gave even my RTX 5080 a stomach ache. At Ultra, 4K, RT Ultra with DLSS disabled, I couldn’t climb down the mountains near Bryma without first climbing down to 20 fps. It occasionally flickered up to 40 fps and averaged about 30 fps total. It ran like how it did when Oblivion originally launched. But following the pattern of jumping to DLAA with MFG, my PC achieved 95 fps. And with Ultra Performance, I got 172 fps. Those Daedra are so toast.
One game I never had trouble with was Marvel Rivals (thanks, NetEase). However, in a competitive title like this, a single frame can throw you off your game, and as a Magik main, I am hyper-focused on hitting my dash right on time. I measured both fps and latency (in milliseconds), and at Ultra, 4K with DLSS disabled, the RTX 5080 performed that Umbral Incursion at 65 fps with a 45ms latency. I set DLSS to Native with MFG and got 182 fps and 50ms. Those are my ideal visuals, but the latency was actually the worst among the seven tests. The lowest latency was on Performance with standard frame generation (2x), netting me 189 fps with a 28ms latency, which matched the latency performance without frame generation. I can’t say that DLSS 4 put my Eldritch Armor Magik up on that MVP slot, but I’m not not saying it.
I saved Black Myth Wukong for last because I ran only the benchmark tool, which limited me to standard frame generation, but the numbers were still solid. At Cinematic, 4K, DLSS 40% with RT Very High, the RTX 5080 scraped by with 42 fps. However, flipping on frame generation scored me 69 fps. That’s a nice effort, and more than enough frames to enjoy the game (which I will play eventually, as a lover of simulated suffering). Multi-frame Generation would roughly double the added frames. So on my hardware, if I gained 27 fps on a x2 jump, then x4 could theoretically give me a total of 123 fps.
Needless to say, I was quite distraught when I tried to run my favorite games on raw GPU performance alone. The result is a mixture of my old PC components and the fact that the RTX 50-series didn’t see a huge leap in raw performance this generation. Despite that, DLSS 4 quite literally changed the game for me.
You Don’t Need a New PC for a New GPU
Again, there are some caveats with relying on DLSS 4 and Multi-Frame Generation. The software is literally creating art that never existed before, and the technology definitely isn’t perfect. Whether I was running around Cyrodiil or the Living Lands, I noticed some fuzziness in environmental textures and even some artifacts while scrolling through inventory screens. That’s because DLSS 4 isn’t magic. You’re sacrificing raw fidelity for increased frame rates and an optimized visual experience that can enhance or imitate the real thing. It’s great for the occasionally poor quality port, but I continue to hope that developers don’t rely on this kind of technology to optimize games.
However, if you take anything away from my journey, it should be that new GPUs can get a heck of a lot of work done even in an inefficient situation. I’ll admit, I was tempted to rip off my motherboard fan just so I could get the RTX 5080 into the PCIe x16 slot, but it seemed unnecessary after discovering what DLSS 4 could do in these conditions.
So no, you don’t need to upgrade everything to take advantage of a new graphics card. You might need a new power supply (RTX 5080 requires 850W) and power cables (like I did), but that’s it. GPUs are expensive enough, let alone hard to find, so don’t go spamming PC parts in your Newegg cart. You’re probably fine.
Now, I’m not sure how long my setup will last before I need to fully upgrade my gaming PC, but I think DLSS 4 and Multi-Frame Generation bought me at least seven minutes to say hello to Wesker.
Rami Tabari is a contributing writer at IGN with over 9 years of experience in the tech and gaming industry. You can find his bylines at Laptop Mag and Tom's Guide (and on a random Predator review at Space.com). When Rami isn't wading through a sea of the latest gaming tech, he's agonizing over the worldbuilding in his upcoming novella.
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