Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 review: the new 4K graphics card to go for

Ohhh, it gets by, with a little help, from frame gen

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Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 Founders Edition specs: CUDA Cores: 10,752 Base Clock Speed: 2.3GHz Boost Clock Speed: 2.62GHz VRAM: 16GB GDDR7 Power: 360W Recommended System Power: 850W Price: £979 / $999

Has any genus of graphics card been as dramatically storied as the GeForce XX80s? The RTX 3080 was a thing of beauty, only to be tarnished by the worst wheeler-dealing spree (and crypto mining misappropriation ) in PC component history. Then the RTX 4080 rocked up with its laughable £1269 / $1199 price tag, a miscalculation so severe that the RTX 4080 Super looked good – despite hardly being any faster – simply for not repeating it. For the new RTX 5080’s sake, you almost want it to be boring.

It isn’t. But then, neither is it a blood-boiler like the RTX 4080, nor a largely aspirational show-off piece like the RTX 5090 . By maintaining the 4080 Super’s course correction on price while tooling up on compelling DLSS 4 improvements, the RTX 5080 is an agreeable GPU from the off. Particularly, if you’ve got the 4K monitor to take full advantage of it.

It’s certainly a more sensible buy than the RTX 5090 for high-rez gamesplaying. A Founders Edition, like the one I’m testing here, will set you back £979 / $999, or roughly half the price of the next (and final) RTX 50 model in the pile. Plus, while it has the same 16GB of 256-bit VRAM as the 4080 and 4080 Super, that’s still enough for all the AAA industry’s biggest resource-eaters, and it’s been upgraded to GDDR7 for a stretch of extra bandwidth. Get the Founders Edition and you’ll also bag yourself the same lovely metallic design and effective dual-fan cooler that the RTX 5090 FE has, running even colder here thanks to the RTX 4080’s lower power needs.

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It’s still a thirsty creature, to be sure: Nvidia reckon you’ll need at least an 850W PSU to run it, and max usage is rated at a toasty 360W. Unlike on the RTX 5090 FE, however, I didn’t record the RTX 5080 FE actually hitting its limit, with it peaking at 322W while running games. Its GPU temperature high of 64°c was a good nine degrees cooler the 5090 as well. See? Sensible. Ish.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 review: 4K benchmarks

The biggest and scariest of mainstream monitor resolutions doesn’t faze the RTX 5080 a jot, even in the more recent tough runners. The RTX 5090 is faster still, though the RTX 5080 is always able to match a good majority of its sibling’s frames-per-second output for half the cash. It’s also a juicy upgrade over the RTX 30 series’ elite – encouraging, if you’re upgrading from an older card – and it even comes somewhat close to the RTX 4090 , which at the time of writing is still going for upwards of £1300 in the secondhand market.

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Keen bar chart fans may recall that the RTX 4080 did beat the RTX 3090 and RTX 3090 Ti outright, so it’s a bit of a backwards shuffle for the RTX 5080 to not completely outpace the previous generation’s top dog in turn. I’m not sure that’s a particularly huge deal, outside of maintaining conventions, though I do wish the RTX 5080 gave more of a speed boost to rasterised, native-rez games over the RTX 4080 Super.

To look at this, we must – temporarily but with apologies – return to the old RPS test rig and its Core i5-11600K, which is the only one I have RTX 4080 Super results for. Cyberpunk 2077 sees a decent bump, rising from 51fps (with Ultra settings) on the 4080 Super to 71fps on the 5080, though the newest GPU’s 81fps in F1 22 (on Ultra High) is an uptick of just 12fps. Metro Exodus barely improved either, averaging 99fps on the 4080 Super and 106fps on the 5080.

What none of these RTX 40 series cards have, however, is a full suite of DLSS 4 framerate-massaging tools. While one of my personal favourites among these – the new Transformer model option for upscaling, which enhances overall image quality in exchange for a smaller performance boost – is available to older RTX models, the headlining multi Frame Generation (MFG) is exclusive to the RTX 50 series. And this actually can nudge the RTX 5080 past the RTX 4090, at least in terms of purely visible smoothness.

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If you’re unfamiliar, MFG takes the AI frame generation of DLSS 3 and can throw up anywhere between one and three generated frames for every one of the frames that your PC actually renders. This adds some extra input lag, and it won’t necessarily feel smoother (as the generated frames don’t take into account your mouse movements or keyboard presses), but the visual impact can look very fine indeed. On the RTX 5080, MFG also opens up the possibility of above-60fps framerates at while combining 4K with some of the most demanding ray tracing and path tracing effects in the business. In all three games I tried, applying the 4x frame gen option let it saunter past the RTX 4090, whose DLSS 3 version maxes out at the equivalent of MFG’s 2x setting.

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Outside of benchmark nerdery, everything looks and feels playable, though Alan Wake II did start pushing 100ms of latency with 4x MFG on – enough for aiming to get a little sluggish. I’d probably drop DLSS upscaling from Quality to Balanced, in that case, to bump up that base of 37 non-AI frames per second. That would improve visual smoothness even more while touching up responsivity. Otherwise, though, DLSS 4 makes a persuasive argument in the RTX 5080’s favour, and with 75 compatible games confirmed , it’s getting a far more widely-supported start to life than rival frame gen tech like FSR 3 and XeSS 2 did.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 review: 1440p benchmarks

As ever, anything 4K can do, 1440p can do faster, and there are good reasons to choose the RTX 5080 for this resolution if you’ve redirected all your monitor upgrade budget into a GPU fund. CPU bottlenecking snips the tall-poppyness of the RTX 5090, allowing this cheaper card to keep pace more effectively, while also narrowing the gap against RTX 4090 and downright styling on the RTX 3090.

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That said, it’s worth waiting for the RTX 5070 and RTX 5070 Ti at this stage. The RTX 5080 is undoubtedly a barnstormer at 1440p but unlike with 4K, there is sometimes a feeling that you’re paying for more power and features than you can use. 4x MFG, for instance, isn’t as useful because the framerates you can get without it are already sky-high: take Cyberpunk 2077 with Psycho ray tracing, which the RTX 5080 could run at 106fps with just Quality-level DLSS upscaling. Most monitors wouldn’t even be able to display all the extra AI frames, even if your eyes could perceive the difference between such speeds – and diminishing returns very much do come into effect.

Then again, there is a case for 2x frame gen in some games. F1 24 on Ultra High rose from 116fps with only Quality DLSS to 148fps with frame gen, and that actually did make for a noticeable (if minor) smoothness improvement. The RTX 5080 clearly isn’t a bad GPU for Quad HD – it’s just not the best resolution for spreading its DLSS 4 wings, hence why it’ll be intriguing to see whether the more affordable RTX 5070 duo can make for more suitable matches.

Or AMD’s Radeon RX 9070 , maybe. That will have its own souped-up DLSS rival in FSR 4, though it sounds like this will be a simpler 2x frame generator in the DLSS 3 vein. With the faster and more flexible MFG, DLSS 4’s pin-sharp Transformer model option, and the GeForce line’s historic advantages with ray and path tracing, it’s hard to see how RDNA 4 GPUs like this will be able to stand up to the RTX 50 series on features.

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For 4K, anyway, the RTX 5080 is the one to beat. It’s cooler, more efficient, and (not, uh, counting any potential stock shortages ) drastically more attainable than the RTX 5090, while still having enough muscle for slick, max-quality performance. Is it as lovable as that poor, reseller-abused RTX 3080? Not so much – a bigger jump up from the RTX 4080 Super would have been appreciated. But it’s better deal overall than both the Super and the original RTX 4080, especially once you start exploiting its more advanced tech. Tech that can help it leave the RTX 4090 behind, let alone those 4080s.

This review is based on a retail unit provided by the manufacturer.

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All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

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Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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