Launching in tandem with GeForce RTX 50 Series, MSI is making a new addition to its graphics card lineup: Vanguard. It’s a great example of the power RTX 5080 has to offer thanks its awesome cooling setup, providing you can handle its cost and size.
MSI GeForce RTX 5080 Vanguard
$1,229.99
Pros
- Whisper-quiet
- Cool under load
- High-quality, stylish build
- Dual-colour 16-pin cable
- Cute ‘Launch Edition’ collectible
Cons
- Intimidatingly long and large
- Sizeable premium versus MSRP
- Isn’t much cheaper than Suprim
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There’s no missing Vanguard’s premium qualities given its $1,229.99 price tag, placing it squarely in the company of other high-end GeForce RTX 5080 cards. It more than holds it own and looks good doing so to boot.
Specifications
As one should expect, MSI separates Vanguard’s specifications from other GeForce RTX 5080 stock through an overclock. The manufacturer pushes its card’s boost clocks to 2,730MHz out of the box, rising to 2,745MHz if you install MSI Center on your system, providing a boost of up to 128MHz over reference frequencies.
Here’s the Club386 Table of Doom™ to bring us up to speed on what’s going on under the hood with this pixel pusher.
| GeForce RTX | 5080 | 4080 Super | 3080 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Launch date | Jan 2025 | Jan 2024 | Sep 2020 |
| Codename | GB203 | AD103 | GA102 |
| Architecture | Blackwell | Ada Lovelace | Ampere |
| Process | TSMC 4N (5nm) | TSMC 4N (5nm) | Samsung 8N |
| Transistors (bn) | 45.6 | 45.9 | 28.3 |
| Die size (mm2) | 378 | 378.6 | 628.4 |
| SMs | 84 of 84 | 80 of 80 | 68 of 84 |
| CUDA cores | 10,752 | 10,240 | 8,704 |
| Boost clock (MHz) | 2,617 | 2,550 | 1,710 |
| Peak FP32 TFLOPS | 56.3 | 52.2 | 29.77 |
| RT cores | 84 (4th Gen) | 80 (3rd Gen) | 68 (2nd Gen) |
| RT TFLOPS | 170.6 | 121 | 58 |
| Tensor cores | 336 (5th Gen) | 320 (4th Gen) | 272 (3rd Gen) |
| FP16 Acc TFLOPS | 450.2 | 418 | 238.2 |
| Peak FP4 TFLOPS | 1,801 | 836 | – |
| ROPs | 112 | 112 | 96 |
| Texture units | 336 | 320 | 272 |
| Memory size (GB) | 16 | 16 | 10 |
| Memory type | GDDR7 | GDDR6X | GDDR6X |
| Memory bus (bits) | 256 | 256 | 320 |
| Memory clock (Gb/s) | 30 | 23 | 19 |
| Bandwidth (GB/s) | 960 | 737 | 760 |
| L2 cache (KB) | 65,536 | 65,536 | 5,120 |
| PCIe interface | Gen 5 | Gen 4 | Gen 4 |
| Video engines | 2 x NVENC (9th Gen) 2 x NVDEC (6th Gen) | 2 x NVENC (8th Gen) 1 x NVDEC (5th Gen) | 1 x NVENC (7th Gen) 1 x NVDEC (5th Gen) |
| Power (watts) | 360W | 320W | 320W |
| MSRP | $999 | $999 | $699 |
The GPU at the heart of GeForce RTX 5080, GB203, shares the same process node as its predecessor, AD103. The similarities between the two dies continue in terms of size, core counts, and more with only a minor jump in quantity for the latter two specifications. However, these numbers don’t portray the quality of each, as RT TFLOPS and AI TOPS take significant leaps forward with this pixel pusher promising more performance.
Though GeForce RTX 5080 doesn’t raise memory capacity across generations with its 16GB buffer, it does boast a superior configuration thanks to its GDDR7 modules and PCIe Gen 5 interface. Now, its bandwidth operates at a 960GB/s, making for an increase of 30% gen-on-gen.
In service of brevity, those seeking an in-depth analysis of GeForce RTX 5080 specs should give Damien’s Founders Edition review a read. Attention to Parm’s RTX 5090 review for Blackwell architectural analysis wouldn’t hurt either. If such fancies don’t pique your interest, let’s get down to business and examine MSI’s Vanguard SKU in more detail.
Design
MSI’s Vanguard bridges the gap between its established Suprim and Gaming Trio SKUs. Save several heat pipes it’s a dead ringer for the former in terms of features while its aesthetics lean more towards the latter.
Before we go any further, one thing I must make clear about GeForce RTX 5080 Vanguard is that it is an absolutely enormous graphics card. Measuring in at 357mm (H) x 151mm (W) x 66mm (H), it demands a surprisingly large case to call home. It’s so big, in fact, that I have to remove two fans from our test bench in order to test it and our chassis, Fractal Design Torrent Grey, is certainly not petite.
If you can accommodate its size, there’s lots to love about this graphics card. For starters, Vanguard arrives with three of MSI’s new seven-blade ‘Stormforce’ fans. The company claims this new design delivers 14.7% greater airflow and 31.1% more air pressure relative to Torx Fan 5.0 on GeForce RTX 40 Series. Furthering its cooling chops, it also features refinements to its heatsink and core pipe designs, as well as an ‘advanced vapor chamber’ that’s larger in size.
While these changes undoubtedly contribute to its intimidating size, they do bear fruit as Vanguard’s operating temperatures peak at a mere 62°C. Better still, you shouldn’t hear it over your case fans with my system noise profile topping out at 35db under load. Vanguard is big but it certainly isn’t boisterous.
I captured these temperature and noise metrics using Vanguard’s out-of-the-box ‘Silent’ BIOS, rather than its ‘Gaming’ alternative. The card will boost to 2,730-2,745MHz regardless of which you choose and there were no signs of thermal throttling in my testing, providing little reason to switch from the default setting. However, should you prefer a more aggressive fan profile then the option is there.
Weighing 1,945g, it should come as no surprise that GeForce RTX 5080 Vanguard’s build quality is impressive to behold both in and outside of a case. MSI designs the cooler and backplate with a mix of grey metals and black plastics, with splashes of contrasting acrylic and carbon fibre. They all come together to form a mature-looking package but it’s not entirely devoid of gamer-esque fun.
You’ll find two RGB logos on Vanguard, one on the side and the other on the front of the card. Additionally, there are strips that run through the length of the faceplate. While this is more of a lightshow than I personally prefer on my graphics cards, you can tweak or disable the LEDs via MSI Center if you enjoy gaming with the lights off.
Vanguard’s length and weight naturally will prompt some to call on a support mechanism, which MSI offers in the form of a small plastic cylinder. While I would prefer a more premium-feeling stand, the petite plastic prop carries out its purpose with no issue and minimal fuss.
The only other accessory you’ll find inside the box is a 16-pin adapter that comes with colour coding to ensure proper installation. You won’t need this if your PSU already has a native cable, but those with older power supplies will have to call upon three 8-pin PCIe cables to power Vanguard.
Finally, I’d like to highlight the cute collectible that comes part and parcel with Vanguard ‘Launch Edition’ models. There are 20,000 units up worldwide, each containing a ‘Lucky Around the World’ box containing a random styling of MSI’s ‘Lucky’ dragon mascot.
While this isn’t a reason that should drive someone to purchase a graphics card, this kind of collectible strikes a chord with me. In any case, I’d much rather manufacturers include figures like this than the usual smattering of stickers or other additional items that will inevitably remain forgotten in the box.
Performance
Like all other GeForce RTX 50 Series cards, I’ve thrown MSI’s Vanguard into one of the Club386 test benches to assess its performance. This gives the same footing that Nvidia’s Founders Edition and Palit’s GameRock OC enjoy.
However, as a reminder, in order to fit this giant graphics card into the case I need to remove two fans from the CPU’s 420mm radiator. This has a minor knock-on effect to overall cooling capacity.
Our 7950X3D Test PCs
Club386 carefully chooses each component in a test bench to best suit the review at hand. When you view our benchmarks, you’re not just getting an opinion, but the results of rigorous testing carried out using hardware we trust.
Shop Club386 test platform components:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D
Motherboard: MSI MEG X670E ACE
Cooler: Arctic Liquid Freezer III 420 A-RGB
Memory: 64GB Kingston Fury Beast DDR5
Storage: 2TB WD_Black SN850X NVMe SSD
PSU: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 13 1,300W
Chassis: Fractal Design Torrent Grey
Below you’ll find gaming benchmarks for QHD (1440p), and UHD (2160p) resolutions, in addition to AI tests and recordings of vitals (noise profile, temperature, power consumption).
Apps and AI
GeForce RTX 5080 Vanguard’s performance in 3DMark Speed Way and Steel Nomad offers little in the way of surprises.
It’s a match for Nvidia’s Founders Edition with a score of 9,010 in Speed Way and a few points shy in Steel Nomad with its 8,295 result. To be clear, we’re talking margin of error for the latter, translating to less than 1fps difference between the two cards.
MSI’s 128MHz OC does little to move the needle here. Without spoiling too much, this trend continues throughout the rest of the benchmark suite. However, there are other advantages that Vanguard has up its proverbial sleeve.
Vanguard’s performance in Geekbench AI sees it pull ahead of every other graphics card bar its GeForce RTX 50 Series peers. It’s a close match between its 5080 siblings, mind, with just a few hundred points separating them.
Procyon AI Text Generation sees Vanguard continue to scarp for superiority among other GeForce RTX 5080 cards. Regardless, it remains worlds away from its closest competitor, 4080 Super, and is within spitting distance of the more-expensive RTX 4090.
Gaming
GeForce RTX 5080 Vanguard concedes a coveted podium spot at QHD, short a few frames relative to Radeon RX 7900 XTX, but comes back to claim bronze running Assassin’s Creed Mirage at UHD. This positioning serves as an early indication that like its first-place sibling, RTX 5090, the step-down Blackwell shines brightest at higher resolutions.
Once again, GeForce RTX 5080 Vanguard gets comfortable behind RTX 4090 and 5090 with 30fps separating the three graphics cards from one another at both QHD and UHD. While these leads are notable, value undoubtedly lies with the former of the three given its much lower price.
Turning on ray tracing in Forza Motorsport sees GeForce RTX 5080 Vanguard generally keep pace with 90 class competitors and besting its predecessor, RTX 4080 Super, by 17-18% across QHD and UHD. Better still, it blazes past its similarly priced Radeon RX 7000 Series rivals to the tune of 48-57%.
For the second time, GeForce RTX 5080 Vanguard finds itself in fourth place on the Mount & Blade II leaderboard at QHD but climbs up to third at UHD. While this is a graphics card that’s more than happy to deliver high frame rates at lower resolutions, providing you’ve a processor that can keep up with it, it’s a better buy for 4K setups.
Third time’s a charm as GeForce RTX 5080 wrestles with Radeon RX 7900 XTX for third place rendering Rainbow Six Extraction, faltering at QHD but mustering the necessary might at UHD. Both cards are excellent choices for esports titles like League of Legends and Marvel Rivals but the former maintains an edge here with wider support for Nvidia Reflex and the promise of enhancements via its successor, Reflex 2.
DLSS
Cyberpunk 2077’s path tracing preset, ‘RT: Overdrive’, is the perfect showcase for the transformative effect DLSS 4 can have on frame rates. GeForce RTX 5080 Vanguard supports the whole suite, including Multi Frame Generation.
There’s admittedly few frames separating GeForce RTX 5080 Vanguard from RTX 4080 Super at native QHD, with DLSS Super Resolution and Frame Generation only slightly widening the gap. However, switching to Multi Frame Generation in an X3 or X4 configuration sees frame rates storm ahead from what was a 9fps lead at best, to a whopping 70-112fps.
The story’s much the same at UHD, as Multi Frame Generation transforms GeForce RTX 5080’s lead of 10fps at most to a more substantial 43-65fps. It’s worth noting, however, that the base frame rate of 39fps isn’t exactly ideal in crafting a properly responsive experience through frame generation. Tweaking Super Resolution to ‘Balanced’ or ‘Performance’ should afford the card the necessary frames to hit 60fps beforehand but this naturally comes at the cost of image fidelity.
Running all the bells and whistles GeForce RTX 5080 Vanguard has to offer in Alan Wake 2 sees system power consumption rise to 453W. This leaves it one of the more frugal cards on the board, beaten only by Radeon RX 7900 XT and RX 7800 XT.
Conclusion
MSI has crafted an excellent GeForce RTX 5080 with its Vanguard SKU, but such qualities naturally come at a high price. We’re still waiting to see exactly what the UK sticker price will be, but a US MSRP of $1,229.99 is well above the Nvidia’s target MSRP of $999. To be clear, multiple manufacturers are charging similar prices for higher SKU cards but this only does so much to mute the added sting.
Complicating matters further for Vanguard is the relative pricing of MSI’s Gaming Trio and Suprim, which are set to be available for $1,199.99 and $1,249.99 respectively. While I believe Vanguard warrants spending an additional $30 for a more advanced cooling setup, the same token applies to the further $20 for Suprim. If you’re already spending so much on a pixel pusher then finding another $20 for the top-end SKU is a no-brainer, all the more so if you prefer the look of it.
If your heart’s set on Vanguard, regardless of price, then there’s little reason to think twice providing you can fit in your case. It offers a fantastic way to experience GeForce RTX 5080, complete with great frame rates as well as impressive noise and thermal performance.
