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GALAX GeForce RTX 5080 HOF Gaming 16 GB GPU Review: The Crowned King

Hassan Mujtaba

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is the second fastest graphics card in the "Blackwell" lineup, and features solid performance. The card launched at $999 US, but since launch, we have seen the price hover above the MSRP with premium models retailing close to the $1500 US figure. This is 4090 territory, and while the previous flagship doesn't support DLSS 4 MFG besides the Blackwell enhancements, it is still a potent offering, making the 5080 slightly more difficult to recommend based on its perf/$. Despite that, those of you who want a new Blackwell enthusiast-grade card without spending over $2000 US for the 5090, the RTX 5080 is the next best choice.

GALAX has made a lot of custom models for the RTX 5080, such as the 1-Click OC White, which we tested earlier. The 1-Click OC is the most entry-level design in the GALAX family, which is followed by the EX Gamer series, the HOF Gaming series, and finally the HOF series. The difference between HOF and HOF Gaming is that HOF Gaming retains the premium positioning and features the same finishing and design as the high-end HOF series, with a similarly powerful PCB, while the HOF series features the highest level of PCB quality and components, designed to break world records.

Related Story NVIDIA RTX 6000D “Blackwell Pro For China” Tested: Features 17% Fewer Cores, 14% Less VRAM, & Lower Clocks

Today, we will be testing the GALAX GeForce RTX 5080 HOF Gaming White, a stunning graphics card with a white colored cooler and a matching white PCB. This premium model guarantees gamers the absolute best performance and superb cooling, so let's see what GALAX has on offer in our tests.

NVIDIA GeForce GPU Segment/Tier Prices

Graphics Segment20252023-20242022-20232021-20222020-20212019-20202018-20192017-2018
Titan TierGeForce RTX 5090GeForce RTX 4090GeForce RTX 4090GeForce RTX 3090 Ti
GeForce RTX 3090
GeForce RTX 3090Titan RTX (Turing)Titan V (Volta)Titan Xp (Pascal)
Price$1999 US$1599 US$1599 US$1999 US
$1499 US
$1499 US$2499 US$2999 US$1199 US
Ultra Enthusiast TierGeForce RTX 5080GeForce RTX 4080 SUPERGeForce RTX 4080GeForce RTX 3080 TiGeForce RTX 3080 TiGeForce RTX 2080 TiGeForce RTX 2080 TiGeForce GTX 1080 Ti
Price$999 US$999 US$1199 US$1199 US$1199 US$999 US$999 US$699 US
Enthusiast TierGeForce RTX 5070 TiGeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPERGeForce RTX 4070 TiGeForce RTX 3080 12 GBGeForce RTX 3080 10 GBGeForce RTX 2080 SUPERGeForce RTX 2080GeForce GTX 1080
Price$749 US$799 US$799 US$799 US$699 US$699 US$699 US$549 US
High-End TierGeForce RTX 5070GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER
GeForce RTX 4070
GeForce RTX 4070
GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB
GeForce RTX 3070 Ti
GeForce RTX 3070
GeForce RTX 3070 Ti
GeForce RTX 3070
GeForce RTX 2070 SUPERGeForce RTX 2070GeForce GTX 1070
Price$549 US$599
$549
$599 US
$499 US
$599
$499
$599
$499
$499 US$499 US$379 US
Mainstream TierGeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB
GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB
GeForce RTX 4060 Ti
GeForce RTX 4060
GeForce RTX 4060 Ti
GeForce RTX 4060
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti
GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti
GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB
GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER
GeForce RTX 2060
GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER
GeForce GTX 1660
GeForce GTX 1060GeForce GTX 1060
Price$429 US
$379 US
$449
$299
$399 US
$299 US
$399 US
$329 US
$399 US
$329 US
$399 US
$349 US
$279 US
$229 US
$219 US
$249 US$249 US
Entry TierGeForce RTX 5060RTX 3050 8 GB
RTX 3050 6 GB
RTX 3050RTX 3050GTX 1650 SUPER
GTX 1650
GTX 1650 SUPER
GTX 1650
GTX 1050 Ti
GTX 1050
GTX 1050 Ti
GTX 1050
Price$299$229
$179
$249 US$249 US$159 US
$149 US
$159 US
$149 US
$139 US
$109 US
$139 US
$109 US

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 Gaming Graphics Cards

With Blackwell, NVIDIA is going full-on into the AI segment with loads of optimizations & AI-specific accelerators.

The Blackwell GPU does many traditional things that we would expect from a next-generation GPU, but simultaneously breaks the barrier when it comes to untraditional GPU operations. To sum up some features:

  • New Streaming Multiprocessor (SM)
  • New 5th Gen Tensor Cores
  • New 4th Gen RT (Ray Tracing) Cores
  • AI Management Processor
  • Max-Q Mode for Desktops & Laptops
  • New GDDR7 High-Performance Memory Subsystem
  • New DP2.1b Display Engine & Next-Gen NVENC/NVDEC

The technologies mentioned above are some of the main building blocks of the Blackwell GPU, but there's more within the graphics core itself, which we will talk about in detail, so let's get started.

You can find additional information about our hardware review process and ethics policy here.

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