NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Specifications Reference: Blackwell, 16 GB GDDR7, PCIe 5.0, Displays, and Power

NVIDIA identifies the GeForce RTX 5080 as a Blackwell-generation GeForce GPU. Its official reference specification lists 10,752 CUDA cores, fifth-generation Tensor Cores, fourth-generation Ray Tracing Cores, a 2.62 GHz boost clock and a 2.30 GHz base clock. These are vendor specifications, not Core Tech Tips benchmark measurements.

Use this page to establish the GPU-level and NVIDIA reference-design specification before checking a specific graphics card. Add-in-card partners can change clocks, cooler dimensions, slot thickness, BIOS behavior and other board details, so the exact shipping model remains the authority for physical fit and implementation details.

NVIDIA specifies 16 GB of GDDR7 memory and a 256-bit memory interface for the RTX 5080. Capacity, memory type and bus width are separate properties: none of them alone establishes real application or gaming performance.

The 16 GB capacity is the physical VRAM pool exposed by the card, but actual workload suitability depends on the application, resolution, assets, rendering features and software behavior. This reference does not infer a universal resolution or texture-setting limit from capacity alone.

NVIDIA lists PCI Express Gen 5 and Resizable BAR support for the RTX 5080. PCIe generation describes the host interface capability; it should not be converted into a claim that a particular game becomes faster merely because the card is installed in a Gen 5 slot.

For an upgrade, verify the motherboard slot's electrical wiring, firmware support and physical clearance. PCIe is backward-compatible across common desktop generations at the protocol level, but the negotiated link and platform implementation determine the actual connection.

NVIDIA's reference specification lists three DisplayPort connectors and one HDMI connector. It identifies DisplayPort 2.1b with UHBR20 and HDMI 2.1b support, with Display Stream Compression used for some of the highest advertised resolution and refresh-rate combinations.

NVIDIA lists up to four independent displays at 4K 165 Hz using DisplayPort or HDMI, or two independent displays at 4K 360 Hz or 8K 100 Hz with DSC, while noting that other configurations can depend on available bandwidth. Display capability is therefore a bandwidth and configuration question, not simply a count of four connectors.

NVIDIA specifies 360 W Total Graphics Power and 850 W required system power for the RTX 5080 reference design. Its footnote says the minimum system-power guidance is based on a PC configured with a Ryzen 9 9950X and recommends a PCIe CEM 5.1-compliant power supply.

That 850 W figure is guidance for NVIDIA's stated reference system, not a universal PSU calculator result. CPU choice, transient behavior, overclocking, other devices, PSU quality and connector implementation all matter. NVIDIA lists either three PCIe 8-pin cables through the supplied adapter or one 450 W-or-greater PCIe Gen 5 cable as the supplementary power connection for the reference specification.

CUDA-core count, Tensor and RT Core generations, clock specifications, memory width, PCIe generation and TGP describe hardware resources and operating boundaries. They do not establish a frame rate, efficiency ranking or performance delta against another GPU without controlled measurement.

For a build, combine this reference with the exact card specification, case clearance, PSU and cable requirements, motherboard slot layout and the display interfaces you actually need. For performance comparisons, use benchmark evidence collected under comparable workloads and settings rather than deriving a winner from specification-sheet numbers.