RTX 5080 laptop GPU beats RTX 4090 counterpart — delivers 10% less performance than RTX 5090

GeForce RTX 50 series laptop
(Image credit: Nvidia)

Nvidia’s RTX 50-series laptop GPUs have recently launched, and although the availability of devices with these graphics cards is spotty at best, official benchmarks are rolling out to show us how they perform compared to other cards. We’ve already seen multiple reviews for the RTX 5090 laptop GPU, like Tom’s Hardware’s look at the Razer Blade 16, but RTX 5080 laptops are still few and far between. However, Notebook Check got its hands on two Schenker Neo 16 test units, both equipped with a Ryzen 9 9955HX CPU and an RTX 5080 laptop GPU, and shared the graphics benchmark results for these units.

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Benchmark Results

Benchmark

RTX 4080 Laptop

RTX 5080 Laptop

RTX 4090 Laptop

RTX 5090 Laptop

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

41431

56116

46191

60880

3DMark Time Spy Graphics

18441

22791

21251

25129

3DMark Steel Nomad

-

5207

-

5156

3DMark Port Royal Graphics

-

14853

-

17063

The performance difference between the RTX 5080 laptop and the RTX 5090 laptop averages 8% to 15%, around the same gap as the previous generation laptop GPUs. However, despite not being the top-end mobile GPU, the 5080 laptop beats the RTX 4090 laptop in benchmark numbers.

Of course, benchmark numbers mean nothing if they cannot be translated to actual FPS numbers. So, we also checked the test results on various games and found that the difference between the average FPS numbers of the 5080 and 5090 laptop GPUs was around 5%. This gap is much smaller than the 12.82% average uplift in FPS numbers between the RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 laptop GPUs. Still, the RTX 5080 laptop outperformed the RTX 4090 laptop in real-world testing, with the newer GPU delivering about 5% more frames per second versus the 4090 laptop and an almost 20% uplift versus the 4080 laptop.

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FPS Results

Game Title

RTX 4080 Laptop

RTX 5080 Laptop

RTX 4090 Laptop

RTX 5090 Laptop

Dota 2 Reborn 1080p ultra best looking

165

186.1

176

194.7

Dota 2 Reborn 4K ultra best looking

151

176.8

168

180.2

Final Fantasy XV 1080p High Quality

159

191.7

173

192.6

Final Fantasy XV 4K High Quality

73

88.9

89

99

X-Plane 11.11 1080p high

124

123.7

131

129.8

X-Plane 11.11 4K high

105

101.8

112

102.4

Baldur’s Gate 3 1080p Ultra Preset

144

191.9

178

202

Baldur’s Gate 3 4K Ultra Preset

59

74.3

72

84.3

Cyberpunk 2077 2.2 Phantom Liberty 1080 High Preset (FSR off)

122

167.2

132

177.1

Monster Hunter Wilds 1080 ultra, RT: high, no upscaling

63.3

82.5

78

89

Monster Hunter Wilds 4K ultra, RT: high, no upscaling

34.4

42.7

42

48.5

Assassin’s Creed Shadows 1080p Ultra High

50

63

59

74

Average

104.14

124.22

117.5

131.13

The RTX 5080 seemingly offers the best value for money when it comes to the latest mobile GPUs. While it doesn’t have the raw horsepower of the RTX 5090 laptop, the slight difference in actual performance means you’re not missing out much by going with the sensible choice. On top of that, you’re probably saving hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars by going with the cheaper 50-series option.

But if you already have an RTX 4090 laptop GPU, it’s probably best to skip this generation. This is especially true as your device is probably under two years old, and you’ll only get a 5% to 10% improvement with a Blackwell graphics card.

Jowi Morales
Contributing Writer

Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.

  • DingusDog
    I can hit some of those FPS numbers with a $850 4070 laptop without frame gen. Not every setting needs to be ultra (looking at you shadows). When you're already hitting 144fps what does another 5% matter?
    Reply
  • Notton
    Well yes, both 5090 mobile and 5080 mobile use the same GB203 die.
    112 ROPs vs. 96 ROPs respectively, or 16% more ROPs in the 5090 mobile.
    Reply
  • PixelAkami
    DingusDog said:
    I can hit some of those FPS numbers with a $850 4070 laptop without frame gen. Not every setting needs to be ultra (looking at you shadows). When you're already hitting 144fps what does another 5% matter?
    But Ultra settings at any resolution is the HIGHEST load a GPU can get in that scenario. They're not testing using optimized settings, they're testing for the heaviest settings.
    Reply
  • Rob1C
    I don't see why there's so little difference in performance, when there's such a large difference in hardware. Could they have optimized for the hardware that most people have (not the most expensive) to optimize the reviews.


    Note: Remaining specs are the same, except for the price.
    Reply
  • abufrejoval
    Rob1C said:
    I don't see why there's so little difference in performance, when there's such a large difference in hardware. Could they have optimized for the hardware that most people have (not the most expensive) to optimize the reviews.
    For starters, the mobile 5080 and 5090 are the same GB203-400 die, and the same VRAM width and speed. If the laptop design then caps the power budget equally for both variants, the main difference is price, prestige and a few more weights for you LLM.

    I guess that's the CMOS "knee" curve for you: at the low end of the 90-150 Watt range you may well be below the optimum of the fully enabled chip so it can't really spread its wings. That's also the reason they'd never put a GB202 die into a (real) laptop, because at 90 Watts you may not even be able to light all those transistors up. And if they were to run, it would be well below the kneecap optimum.

    There have been lots of cases in the past where a supposedly cut-down chip still effectively delivered the same performance, because thermal budget and VRAM bandwidth were the actual limitations.

    At around 50-90 Watts 4060m and 4070m also deliver very near the same performace, even if they are different chips yet share the same VRAM specs, a very different story on the desktop ...at 100% different power budgets.
    Reply
  • ManDaddio
    Every laptop is different. There are so many variations. Just because one gets worse performance than a previous gen doesn't mean it's bad. It's just how the laptop is spec'ed overall.
    Just wait for more to come and find the best deal for what fits you, the consumer.
    The 5080 at as high wattage as possible will do well. Obviously, if it were limited to 100 watts or something close it won't do as well but the capabilities are still there.
    Most people buy laptops for other than just gaming.
    Reply