ASUS ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 OC Edition Review - Impressive Performance, Steep Price

TweakTown's Rating: 90%

The Bottom Line

ASUS's new flagship ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 delivers incredible performance, with double-digit gains over the Founder Edition model in 4K gaming. However, this premium performance commands a pretty sizable price premium.

Pros

• 4K 120FPS performance
• DLSS 4 is a game-changer for image fidelity and performance
• Multi Frame Generation is impressive technology
• 'OC Mode' delivers 10% more performance over Founder Edition model
• ASUS's new ROG ASTRAL design is just, wow

Cons

• One of the biggest and heaviest GPUs we've encountered
• Audible fans when running in 'OC Mode'
• Expensive

Should you buy it?

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Introduction

ASUS's new ROG Astral GPUs, currently available in GeForce RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 form, are the company's new flagship models for the GeForce RTX 50 Series. They represent the next step above the already impressive ROG STRIX cards we've seen in previous generations and feature one of the most remarkable designs we've ever seen for a GPU. Sporting four fans and a rugged all-metal exterior and shell inspired by the "limitless expanse and beauty of the cosmos," the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 OC Edition is also one of the largest and heaviest GPUs we've encountered. It truly is something to behold.

A quick look at the ASUS ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 OC Edition

The thermals design is second to none in terms of build quality and technology, and with that, the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 OC Edition ships with the fasted, out-of-the-box overclock of all the GeForce RTX 5080 models we've tested. Based on what we've seen, the GeForce RTX 5080 is one of the best straight-up OC cards you can get. Gaming in 4K using the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080's 'OC Mode' sees a 10% performance improvement in most gaming workloads compared to the GeForce RTX 5080 Founders Edition. A remarkable result that sees the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 close the gap between the RTX 5080 and the RTX 4090, offering better generational gains over the GeForce RTX 4080 and RTX 4080 SUPER.

Great stuff, but there's a catch. It is the fastest GeForce RTX 5080 we've tested, and it is a GPU that offers enough headroom to push performance even higher using ASUS's fantastic GPU Tweak III software. But, it's expensive. And that's putting it mildly; the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 OC Edition's $1499.99 price point is 50% higher than the $999 MSRP set by NVIDIA. Unfortunately, this does add a little rain to the 4K gaming performance parade. This is a shame because the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 is a beast for gaming, from playing competitive games like Counter-Strike 2 to cinematic titles with Full Ray Tracing like Alan Wake 2.

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It also benefits from RTX Blackwell's efficiency, where even though the price and performance enter GeForce RTX 4090 territory, it's a GPU that draws much less power when gaming. Even with four fans. It's a card that also benefits from the new suits of DLSS 4 technologies and the arrival of RTX Neural Shaders, where that additional OC boost to performance can be felt in games with cutting-edge Path Tracing effects.

Best Deals: ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4060 OC Edition

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RTX Blackwell - NVIDIA's Gaming Architecture for the AI Era

Below is a summary of NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 50 Series and RTX Blackwell architecture, applicable to all models.

NVIDIA describes 'Neural Rendering,' which includes all previous versions of DLSS and the brand-new DLSS 4, as the 'next era for computer graphics.' They're not alone; the Lead System Architect for the PlayStation 5 Pro console, Mark Cerny, recently said that ray-tracing is the future of games and that AI will play an integral role in making that happen. DOOM: The Dark Ages developer id Software shared a similar sentiment, adding that the arrival of DLSS was an 'inflection point' for PC game visuals and performance and on par with the arrival of dedicated GPUs and programmable shaders.

With the arrival of the Blackwell generation and the GeForce RTX 50 Series, AI is now being used to accelerate programmable shaders with the brand-new RTX Neural Shaders. Yes, these are actual neural networks that use live game data, and the power of Tensor Cores to do everything from compress textures, render lifelike materials with a level of detail impossible to match using traditional rendering methods, and even use AI to partially trace rays and then infer "an infinite amount

of rays and bounces for a more accurate representation of indirect lighting in the game scene."

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RTX Mega Geometry is incredible in its own right; it essentially increases a scene's geometry detail and complexity (triangles or polygons) by up to 100x. 100 times the detail, it's hard to wrap your head around - but the added benefit in a game like Alan Wake 2 is dramatically improving the performance of the game's Full Ray Tracing or Path Tracing mode. With DLSS 4 and RTX Neural Shaders, NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 50 Series and RTX Blackwell architecture (which includes the same AI optimizations as data center Blackwell) can be viewed as the turning point for PC gaming - the moment when AI becomes integral to everything from designing a game to programming and then finally rendering it on a 4K display to play.

DLSS 4 includes more goodies than NVIDIA's highly touted new Multi Frame Generation technology, but let's start there. DLSS 3's version of Frame Generation has evolved with DLSS 4, powered by Blackwell hardware and software, and an innovative use of AI to generate frames 40% faster while using 30% less VRAM. Switching to a new model also means that Frame Generation and Multi-Frame Generation could soon come to GeForce RTX 20, 30, and RTX 40 Series owners. DLSS 4 benefits all GeForce RTX gamers.

However, with the 5th Generation of Tensor Cores in the GeForce RTX 50 Series delivering 2.5X more AI performance, NVIDIA's latest GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs can execute five complex AI models - covering Super Resolution, Ray Reconstruction, and Multi Frame Generation in a couple of milliseconds. Part of the reason it happens so quickly is the addition of hardware Flip Metering, which shifts frame pacing to the Blackwell display engine - the result is frame rates of up to 4K 240 FPS and higher without stuttering issues. With up to 15 of every 16 pixels generated by AI, the result is up to 8X the performance when compared to native rendering or rasterized performance.

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DLSS Super Resolution and Ray Reconstruction are also switching to a new 'Transformer' model, with over double the parameters and four times the compute requirement. This is one of the most exciting aspects of the GeForce RTX 50 Series, as it pushes DLSS into a new realm of image quality and performance. The best part is that it will work on all GeForce RTX GPUs; however, there will be a performance hit compared to running it on an RTX 50 Series GPU. Already available in games, DLSS 4's Transformer model is another DLSS 2.0-like moment for the technology, and the results speak for themselves.

Even better, DLSS 4 is being integrated into the NVIDIA App with a new 'DLSS Override' feature that allows users to experience the latest tech without waiting for a path or game update. DLSS 4 is built to be backward compatible, with 75 games and apps supported at launch.

It doesn't stop there, as the new AI Management Processor (AMP) allows AI models to share the GPU with graphics workloads. As a result, expect to see digital humans in games alongside AI assistants like NVIDIA's Project G-Assist become more prevalent in the coming years. This filters down to the creator side, with AI assistants for streamers, who will also benefit from the GeForce RTX 50 Series' expanded creator features.

RTX Blackwell introduces 4:2:2 chroma-sampled video encoding and decoding. The ninth-generation NVENC encoder also improves AV1 and HEVC quality. The flagship GeForce RTX 5090 supports up to three encoders and two decoders to deliver a 50% gen-over-gen improvement in speed compared to the GeForce RTX 4090. The GeForce RTX 5080 adds a second decoder compared to the GeForce RTX 4080. The RTX Blackwell is a game changer for creators and editors, especially with the new low-voltage and cutting-edge GDDR7 memory that dramatically improves memory bandwidth and speed.

Specs and Test System

Specifications

Here's a look at the specs for the flagship GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs, the GeForce RTX 5080 and GeForce RTX 5090, compared to the previous Ada generation.

The GeForce RTX 50 Series, powered by NVIDIA's new Blackwell architecture, features several improvements and changes to the underlying hardware - mainly to improve and enhance AI performance and accelerate technologies like DLSS and RTX Neural Shaders for the next generation of games with cutting-edge visuals. The good news is that outside of DLSS 4's Multi Frame Generation, all of the new AI goodness will run on all GeForce RTX GPUs, but just that little bit faster and more efficient on the GeForce RTX 50 Series. However, when it comes to the actual silicon and specs, the GeForce RTX 50 Series and the GeForce RTX 5080 are similar to the GeForce RTX 40 Series in that the DPUs are built using the same or similar custom TSMC 4N process.

This is one reason why the RTX Blackwell line-up is more power-hungry than the previous Ada line-up, which sees the new flagship's power draw increase to a whopping 575W. Part of that comes from the insane 21760 CUDA Core count of the GeForce RTX 5090. However, it's not something that you'll find with the GeForce RTX 5080. The 360W power rating of the RTX 5080 is higher than the RTX 4080's 320W rating; however, when it comes to specs and hardware, you're looking at a modest 11% increase in CUDA, Tensor, and RT Core counts.

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Of course, with RTX Blackwell, you've got next-gen Tensor Cores and RT Cores, efficiency improvements, and other changes. This means it can do more with less. The ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 OC Edition's Boost Clock speed of 2790 MHz is 173 MHz higher than the Founder Edition and reference design - a 6.6% increase. Although the specs are similar to the GeForce RTX 4080 and RTX 4080 SUPER, 4K gaming performance on the ROG Astral is 27% and 22% faster, respectively. This points to clock speeds being a factor in GeForce RTX 5080 performance and that the modest generation uplift we saw with the Founders Edition model wasn't indicative of all GeForce RTX 5080 cards.

The significant hardware change with the new GeForce RTX 5080 comes via the move to faster GDDR7 memory. The memory bandwidth for the 16GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus reaches an impressive 960 GB/sec, which is 35% faster than the GeForce RTX 4080's memory.

Kosta's Test System

Physical Design and Cooling

The ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 OC Edition is the only GeForce RTX 5080 featuring a quad-fan design, which ASUS says improves airflow and pressure by up to 20%. These are premium fans, too, like everything else in ASUS's flagship ROG Astral design. From the metal casing that adds quite a bit of weight to the GPU to the stainless steel I/O and precise machine-driven manufacturing process, you can feel the quality the moment you pick up the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080. It's also a looker, sporting a clean, impressive sci-fi, cosmic design with a brilliant LED strip.

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It's the stuff you don't see where the ROG Astral design impresses. The patented vapor chamber features milled pathways so the heat pipes effectively "sink into" the vapor chamber to boost heat dissipation. According to ASUS, this innovation alone improves thermal performance by 10%. ASUS also leverages its high-tech manufacturing to create a GPU heat spreader that is so flat that it microscopically increases the surface area by 5%. The shift to a phase-change thermal pad over traditional thermal paste increases thermal performance and the longevity of the GPU.

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The list includes premium power delivery for overclocking, PCB coating for protection, and a dual BIOS switch to switch between Performance and Quiet modes. This is all backed up by ASUS's excellent GPU Tweak III software, which has been updated for the GeForce RTX 50 Series to provide easy one-click overclocking, detailed performance monitoring, and even a handy visual that shows you the temperatures of each GPU component. How does this all factor into the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 OC Edition's thermal performance when gaming? The GPU temperature rarely exceeds 62 degrees Celsius in 'OC Mode.'

The Games and Tests

PC gaming not only covers a wide range of genres and styles, from indie games with simple 2D graphics to massive 3D worlds lit by cutting-edge real-time ray tracing technology. With that, the needs and requirements of each gamer vary. High refresh rates and latency reduction become more important than flashy visuals or playing at the highest resolution possible for those who live and breathe fast-paced competitive games. For those who want to live in a cinematic world and become a key player in an expansive narrative, ray-tracing, and high-fidelity visuals are a stepping stone toward immersion.

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Our chosen benchmarks cover various games, engines, APIs, and technologies. For the GeForce RTX 5090, all tests are run at 4K and 1440p and include results for performance-boosting Super Resolution technologies like NVIDIA DLSS 4 - including Frame Generation and the new Multi Frame Generation. In many ways, DLSS numbers are more important in 2025 than native rendering - a title with ray tracing isn't meant to be played without Super Resolution. Also, DLSS technologies like Ray Reconstruction and the new RTX Mega Geometry dramatically improve visual fidelity and detail compared to native rendering. However, our benchmark results are still sorted using 'raw performance' or native rendering.

Here's the breakdown of games, settings, and what's being tested.

Games and Settings Benchmarked

Path Tracing Games and Settings Benchmarked

Gaming Performance Analysis

Average Gaming Performance - 4K Results

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One of the main criticisms we had when we reviewed the GeForce RTX 5080 Founders Edition model was the generational raw performance increase over the GeForce RTX 4080, which was decent but not "drop everything and check this out." It meant that for the first time, we saw an 80-Class GeForce card fall behind the previous-gen flagship, which was disappointing when the expectation was that the GeForce RTX 5080 could have been a more affordable GeForce RTX 4090. However, now that we've tested and reviewed more cards, faster clock speeds deliver impressive gains. When it comes to 4K gaming, the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 is 27% faster than the GeForce RTX 4080, 22% faster than the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER, and a whopping 96% faster than the GeForce RTX 3080.

This brings its performance within 10% of the GeForce RTX 4090. In a couple of games, Cyberpunk 2077 and Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2, performance is roughly on par. Compared to AMD's RDNA 3 flagship, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX, the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 is 34% faster and more efficient for 4K gaming. Outside of manually overclocking another model, the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 is easily the fastest GeForce RTX 5080 card currently available. It is an impressive upgrade over the GeForce RTX 4080, and if you're in the market for something to replace the GeForce RTX 3080 or RTX 3090 - it presents a massive all-around improvement.

The real-world number that needs to be highlighted is the DLSS Super Resolution performance of 121 FPS across our 14-game benchmark suite running titles with max settings and ultra-quality ray-tracing where available. This figure makes the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 only 8% slower than the GeForce RTX 4090 and 23% slower than the GeForce RTX 5090. Where the RTX 4090 pulls ahead is in games with a heavy dose of ray-tracing, which makes sense when you factor in the RTX 4090's RT Core count compared to the GeForce RTX 5080.

Average Gaming Performance - 1440p Results

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Lowering the resolution to 1440p and the impressive overclocking gains seen in 4K evaporate as the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080's lead over the GeForce RTX 4080 drops to around 16%. At this resolution, every GPU from the GeForce RTX 4080 on up is essentially overkill - as you'll more often than not run into CPU bottlenecks or other limitations. That said, at least for the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 OC Edition, the exception comes with ray-tracing. Cyberpunk 2077 with the RT Ultra preset is 20% faster here than on the GeForce RTX 4080. Likewise, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is 19% faster.

This is not to say that the GeForce RTX 5080 and the overclocked brilliance of the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 are wasted at this resolution. You're still getting excellent performance, but it's a card better suited for 4K or pairing with an Ultrawide display with a high refresh rate and a pixel count that sits between 1440p and 4K.

Benchmarks - 3DMark Synthetic Tests

3DMark offers a suite of synthetic benchmarks built to test GPUs in various scenarios. 3DMark Steel Nomad is a cutting-edge DirectX 12 benchmark with newer, modern rendering techniques designed to push GPUs to their limit. The 'Light' version tests at 1440p, while the main Steel Nomad benchmark tests pure native 4K rendering. Port Royal is a benchmark focusing exclusively on real-time ray tracing for lighting effects like reflections, shadows, and more.

As the successor to 3DMark's iconic Time Spy benchmark, Steel Nomad is built to test modern GPUs using the cutting-edge rendering techniques seen in Unreal Engine 5. Looking at the 1440p-based Steel Nomad Light, the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 delivers a score that is 25% higher than the GeForce RTX 4080. Moving to the 4K-based Steel Nomad synthetic benchmark lead increases to 33%, which doesn't accurately reflect the actual in-game performance you can expect in most titles. However, in games like Dragon Age: The Veilguard and Horizon Forbidden West, we see a 30% generational improvement, so perhaps future titles will also favor RTX Blackwell.

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Looking at the synthetic ray-tracing Port Royal benchmark, the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 delivers a score that is 32% higher than the GeForce RTX 4080. However, this is also higher than the performance uplift you can expect to find in several games with ray-tracing. But, fire up Alan Wake 2, with its hardware-intensive Path Tracing mode with DLSS 4 and RTX Mega Geometry, and the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 is 30% faster than the GeForce RTX 4080.

Benchmarks - 4K Gaming

Benchmarks - 1440p Gaming

DLSS 4, Frame Generation, and the new Multi-Frame Generation

DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation are impressive bits of technology, thanks mainly to the overall improvements to performance and latency on the Frame Generation side and the new 'Transformer' model for Super Resolution and Ray Reconstruction. We used the DLSS 'Quality' mode preset for these benchmarks, often delivering better-than-native image quality.

With DLSS 4, AI-powered Frame Generation for the GeForce RTX 40 and GeForce RTX 50 Series has been improved - it now runs on a more efficient AI model that improves performance and lowers the VRAM footprint by 30%. This paves the way for the brand-new Multi Frame Generation, exclusive to the GeForce RTX 50 Series, and it's a game changer when paired with the correct title. Cyberpunk 2077 + DLSS 4 + Multi Frame Generation is a sight to behold as not only do you get the improved image fidelity of the new Transformer model for Super Resolution and Ray Reconstruction, but the increased smoothness and responsive controls make it one of those "seeing is believing" moments.

The image quality of the AI-generated frames isn't perfect, and if you move the camera fast, you can start to see behind the curtain, but for the most part, it looks and feels excellent. The main reason to enable Frame Generation or the new Multi Frame Generation is to make the most out of your display, which, in our case, is the 4K 240 Hz OLED panel in our test bench. Although NVIDIA Reflex improves latency, the real benefit you get from increased smoothness is better motion clarity, leading to greater immersion. Dragon Age: The Veilguard running at 265 FPS with Multi Frame Generation in 4K feels better than running the game natively at 4K 60+ FPS.

Path Tracing Performance

Path Tracing, or Full Ray Tracing, arrived with the GeForce RTX 40 Series and DLSS 3 and is leveling up with the GeForce RTX 50 Series and DLSS 4. It's only possible thanks to AI technologies like DLSS Super Resolution, Ray Reconstruction, and RTX Neural Shader technology like RTX Mega Geometry. It's designed specifically for these technologies, and we're only including native or rasterized performance to highlight just how intensive it is on a GPU as powerful as the GeForce RTX 5080. In fact, outside of the massive increase in performance, these games also look notably worse without DLSS 4.

Alan Wake 2 is the first game to implement RTX Mega Geometry, which boosts ray-tracing performance without sacrificing visual fidelity. This gives developer Remedy enough headroom to create a brand-new 'Ultra' quality preset for its Path Tracing or Full Ray Tracing. It also implements DLSS 4 with the new Transformer model and Multi Frame Generation. With the arrival of the GeForce RTX 50 Series, one of the best-looking games of all time, now looks even better, and it runs silky smooth on the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080. Triple-digit performance in 4K is only possible thanks to DLSS 4, and it will be pretty special when more and more titles take advantage of DLSS 4 and RTX Neural Shaders.

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Indiana Jones and the Great Circle hasn't received its big DLSS 4 update, which is coming later in February 2025. However, that's a testament to the id Tech engine being one of the most capable out there when it comes to Full Ray Tracing. Without Frame Generation, the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 can run the game with triple-digit performance that is right up there with the game running on the GeForce RTX 4090. This means the highly anticipated DOOM: The Dark Ages shouldn't have any issues running on the GeForce RTX 5080 with max settings and Full Ray Tracing.

Temperature and Power Efficiency

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As an OC model, the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 does use more power than the other cards we've reviewed - but only slightly more. And with a peak GPU temperature of 62 degrees, there's still enough headroom to push the boost clock speeds above 3 GHz. Opening up GPU Tweak III to do exactly that, we found that performance and GPU/VRAM temps didn't go through the roof, and we saw a few extra frames here and there. For the GeForce RTX 5080, it does look like the more you overclock, the more performance you can get. We'll have to do more testing to find that ceiling, but it's safe to say that the premium design and build of the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 is more than ready for that challenge. However, we noticed that you can hear the fans when overclocked, making it louder than other OC models we've reviewed.

Final Thoughts

The ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 OC Edition is an impressive GPU because it shows that boosting clock speeds on the RTX 5080 nets you some serious and noticeable performance gains. So much so that it changes the story a little bit because the gen-on-gen gains for 4K gaming increases to 27% from 18% for the GeForce RTX 5080 Founders Edition model. It's still not a mind-blowing uplift, but it's enough to make it a worthwhile update, especially when you factor in the AI improvements and things like DLSS 4, Multi Frame Generation, and RTX Neural Shader.

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As ASUS's brand-new flagship design for the high-end GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs, the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 is built like a futuristic space station. It's an impressive unit, from its four fans to its premium metal shell to the excellent cooling and awesome aesthetics that includes an RGB strip on the side. But it's also expensive - with a 50% price mark-up over the $999 MSRP, which is a shame because it does impact the overall value and diminish that impressive 4K gaming performance. The fact that it gets closer to GeForce RTX 4090 performance levels shouldn't mean that the price reaches that same level.

Ultimately, the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 OC Edition is an excellent gaming GPU. It absolutely delivers exceptional 4K performance across a wide range of games while serving as a showcase for NVIDIA's new suite of DLSS 4 technologies and the new RTX Neural Shaders, which are set to level up ray-tracing for all GeForce RTX owners in the coming months.