MSI's RTX 5080 Expert features a dual-fan blower-style cooler inspired by the Nvidia RTX 40-series Founders Edition — GPU retails for $1,399 at the MSI online store

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The RTX 5080 Expert is a nearly identical clone of its RTX 4080 Super predecessor.

MSI Expert GPU
(Image credit: MSI)

Specs and pricing of MSI's latest RTX 5080 Expert graphics card have cropped up online. Discovered by Алексей on X, the new card takes a radical departure from traditional RTX 5080 aftermarket GPUs, sporting a dual-fan blower design inspired by the RTX 40 series Founders Edition coolers. MSI's U.S. store lists the RTX 5080 Expert at $1,399.99.

The RTX 5080 Expert represents MSI's second iteration of its latest Expert-branded graphics cards. The new GPU features a cooler design that utilizes two fans in a push-pull configuration. One fan sits on the bottom left as an intake, ejecting air out where the rear I/O is located, while the other fan sits on the top right of the card, where the backplate is, and exhausts air out of the GPU, intaking air from a perforated vent on the other side of the shroud.

The RTX 5080 Expert weighs 4.18 lbs and measures 12.56" x 5.91" x 2.36". The OC variant features a boost clock of up to 2,715 MHz and draws 360 watts of power, requiring an 850W power supply or greater (according to MSI). MSI is also using the same traditional video outputs as on most (if not all) other RTX 5080 GPUs, featuring three DisplayPort 2.1b connectors and a single HDMI 2.1b port on the back.

Not much has changed with the RTX 5080 Expert compared to its RTX 4080 Super predecessor. Both have virtually identical cooling solutions, with the only main difference being some minor aesthetic changes on the RTX 5080 variant. The RTX 5080 Expert features a black-painted sticker on each fan hub with silver MSI lettering in the center, as well as a black backplate. The RTX 4080 Super Expert featured the same fan hub stickers, but with the colors inverted, and a backplate that matched the entire shroud's color.

Technically, the RTX 4080 Super is thicker and requires the area of three PCIe brackets to fit in a case. However, the RTX 5080 variant is only 1mm thinner and requires only the area of two PCIe brackets, which improves case compatibility somewhat.

MSI first introduced the Expert series with Nvidia's previous-generation RTX 4080 Super. The Expert series is one of the only aftermarket cooling solutions that takes direct inspiration from Nvidia's RTX 30 series and RTX 40 series Founders Edition cooler designs, which also incorporate the same push-pull design language.

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Aaron Klotz
Aaron Klotz
Contributing Writer

Aaron Klotz is a contributing writer for Tom’s Hardware, covering news related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.

5 Comments Comment from the forums
  • rockerrb3
    too bad we can't see the tests to see how it actually preforms.
    Reply
  • Heat_Fan89
    I'm surprised more GPU makers aren't going more with this rear exhaust design. It was the norm just 2-3 geneartions. The top flow exhaust on current GPU's along with glass side panels on ATX cases just creates too much heat and you have to add a crap load of fans to the case.

    My HP Omen 30L with a top exhaust 3080 and side glass panel just bottlenecks heat. So I had to get creative and add 3 additional fans to the case to cool things down.
    Reply
  • derekullo
    Heat_Fan89 said:
    I'm surprised more GPU makers aren't going more with this rear exhaust design. It was the norm just 2-3 geneartions. The top flow exhaust on current GPU's along with glass side panels on ATX cases just creates too much heat and you have to add a crap load of fans to the case.

    My HP Omen 30L with a top exhaust 3080 and side glass panel just bottlenecks heat. So I had to get creative and add 3 additional fans to the case to cool things down.
    Nvidia doesn't allow them due to that style competing with the professional cards.
    I can only assume the card's 16GB of vram was low enough to not give Nvidia the jitters.

    https://www.tomshardware.com/news/nvidia-be-damned-rtx-4070-is-getting-illicit-blower-style-cooler-treatmentFor an old article about it :(

    An older A4000 also had 16 gigabytes of ram and was a single slot.
    That card existing could have been enough to allow this card to exist.
    Reply
  • Pierce2623
    Somebody needs to rework the AI. This GPU does NOT have a blower style cooler.
    Reply
  • Notton
    Yeah, if you think that's a blower style cooler, then do I have a bridge to sell you.
    Reply