I think I’ve found my ideal graphics card, albeit more through luck than an exhaustive search. See, GeForce RTX 5090 is just too darn expensive, forcing me into second-rung territory, and if it has to be GeForce RTX 5080, I’m partial to the lush build quality of Nvidia’s Founders Edition.
Trouble is, finding an FE in stock is easier said than done. Fortunately, and after much pleading on my behalf, a partner has stepped up with a card that’s equally gorgeous in both build and appearance. Say goodbye to plastic shrouds and glitzy lighting, and say hello to MSI’s GeForce RTX 5080 16G Expert.
MSI GeForce RTX 5080 16G Expert
£1,209 / $1,289
Pros
- Looks fantastic
- Stellar QHD/UHD gaming performance
- Keeps cool and quiet at all times
- Good overclocking headroom
- Industry-leading DLSS upscaling
Cons
- Dearer than Founders Edition
- Spills into third expansion slot
- RTX 5080 Super looms large
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How we test and review products.
Expert
Before I get on to the good stuff, I am going to nitpick MSI’s chosen name. An Expert card sounds like it’s geared for the prosumer market, which does a disservice to gamers who aren’t into racing stripes. Sure, plenty enjoy components styled as though ready for battle, but there are gamers who favour a more gracious aesthetic; I’m one of them and consider this design grown-up as opposed to Expert.
I’m also not thrilled with the packaging. MSI’s sleeved box is the same as most other graphics cards, and sure, it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but I’d hoped for a more luxurious unboxing experience for the Expert range. Even the bundle is sparse, with a small, extendable plastic standoff, and a three-way power splitter. There’s opportunity to do more here.
Nevertheless, don’t be fooled into thinking you need to be a creative type to wield Expert weaponry. On the contrary, MSI’s card routinely boosts higher than Nvidia’s Founders Edition, averaging just over 2,800MHz without breaking a sweat. You can also choose an ‘Extreme Performance’ profile via the accompanying MSI Center app to eke out every last bit of gaming performance.
It’s that ability to deliver top-notch RTX 5080 frame rates in a sleek package that makes Expert stand out. The exterior build consists of die-cast aluminium, giving the whole card a rigid and premium feel, while the two-tone colour scheme suits most builds. It’s not quite gold and not quite silver, but pleasing to the eye and shockingly void of illumination. No lights is no bad thing, but we’ve become so accustomed to some form of glow it almost feels as though the GeForce RTX lettering should at least have the option of being backlit.
Measuring 319mm x 150mm x 60mm and occupying the best part of three PCIe slots, Expert is chunkier than the dual-slot Founders Edition but puts the space to good use with a ‘Flow Frozr 2’ cooler configuration. The flow-through setup uses dual seven-blade fans in a push-pull layout to keep air moving through the stylised metal vent, and it’s a formula that works particularly well inside our test build.
Add to that an array of mod-cons, including GPU vapour chamber, square heat pipe contacts, a 2oz copper PCB and thermal padding in all the right places, and you have a card that runs cool and quiet at all times, as our benchmarks will shortly demonstrate.
Unfortunately, pricing for the best partner cards remains a sore point, and Expert is no exception. At launch, the card will fetch £1,209 on UK shores. That’s by no means the priciest RTX 5080 – MSI has dearer cards in its own line-up – however it is a whopping £300 more expensive than the hard-to-find Founders Edition. No matter how pretty the card looks, that’s a bitter pill to swallow.
I’m also not a huge fan of the central power connector, especially if you’re having to deal with the clutter emanating from a three-way splitter, as even a single 12VHPWR cable detracts from the card’s clean lines. I’m hoping MSI can navigate past rival patents to develop a cable-free ‘Project Zero‘ successor. Cable notwithstanding, installed inside the Club386 test platform, it’s a super-sleek card in a traditional horizontal layout, and I’m willing to bet it’ll look even better in a case supporting a vertical mount.
Performance
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
GPU: Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7800 XT
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
As attractive as MSI Expert may be from a design standpoint, it stands to reason performance won’t be too dissimilar to most other RTX 5080 cards. It’s worth revisiting our in-depth launch review to go deeper into architecture; seven months on, our Expert tests are a sanity check to ensure numbers are in line with expectations. I’m far more interested in seeing how the card fares with regards to power draw, temps and noise, as well as overclocking.
Application
3DMark is always a good place to start. Bringing raytracing to the fore, Speed Way is a DirectX 12 benchmark rendered at 2560×1440, and RTX 5080 gobbles it up. RTX 5090 would be the only current-gen card to score higher, but who has two grand lying about?
Steel Nomad turns the dial to 4K, and MSI Expert’s higher average clock speed introduces a bit of breathing room between itself and Nvidia’s Founders Edition.
This is without doubt a gaming card – don’t let the name tell you otherwise – yet the wholesome nature of underlying Nvidia Blackwell architecture makes it potent in all departments. Even if your RTX 3090 is still going strong, RTX 5080 is a meaningful upgrade in the video-rendering stakes.
The same can be said for AI smarts. GeForce cards rule the roost in Procyon’s text generation test, with MSI RTX 5080 Expert once again sitting comfortably at the top of the chart.
Gaming
Over 210 frames per second at FHD, over 170 frames per second at QHD, and over 110 frames per second at UHD. The beauty of a card as high-end as this is you get to choose the resolution and refresh rate that tickles your fancy. UHD120 or QHD240 sound pretty good to me.
In-game performance is bang in line with expectations. Using out-the-box settings, you’d be hard pushed to tell the difference between any two RTX 5080 cards. They’re all extremely fast and perfectly adept at high-res gameplay with quality settings cranked all the way up to 11.
One of the most challenging titles in our suite, Forza Motorsport keeps 4K frame rates just shy of the 60fps target. Still, results are best in class, and when the going gets tough, there’s always frame generation, which works especially well on RTX 5080.
Vitals
Operating closer to RTX 5080’s limits naturally causes an uptick in system-wide power consumption. An extra 20-25 watts over the reference design is neither here nor there. To put the figures into perspective, an hour of gaming with RTX 5080 Expert installed in our test platform would cost 13p if paying the July 2025 energy price cap rates.
I’ve got to issue the above temperature graph with a disclaimer: RTX 5080 Expert was tested during yet another UK heatwave. Nevertheless, under-load temperatures are well within the limits. MSI appears to be targeting a 70°C sweet spot, and during our tests, fan speed never had to exceed 50% in order to maintain that temperature.
Just the two fans operating at comfortable speeds ensures noise is kept in check. The duo switches off entirely at low load, and the fan curve as a whole is smooth, meaning it shifts from silent to a gentle hum with the minimum of fuss. Proof that a sleeker cooler doesn’t necessarily have to be less performant than a triple-fan behemoth.
Overclocking
In the seven months following launch, RTX 5080 has proven itself to be a proficient overclocker, and my MSI Expert is no exception. Maximum power limit can be pushed to 111%, memory has no qualms scaling to an effective 34Gbps, and a simple overclocking scan from Afterburner is all it takes to optimise core clock effectively.
Implementing such settings is a five-minute process, yet delivers a robust uptick in performance, with synthetic 3DMark numbers gaining a free 10% speed injection.
It’s similarly handy on the gaming front, too. Assassin’s Creed Mirage performance at 4K UHD is bolstered to the tune of 10%, while Final Fantasy jumps a welcome 5%. Can’t argue with that.
Conclusion
MSI GeForce RTX 5080 16G Expert is a near-perfect representation of what I feel a GeForce RTX 5080 should be.
Performance is top-notch, build quality is excellent, temperature and noise are kept in check, and the card looks phenomenal without resorting to atypical gaming traits. Maybe I’m showing my age, but this is a grown-up graphics card I want in my rig.
The caveats, however, are twofold. Pricing is on the high side, and MSI Expert is late to the RTX 5080 party; with rumours of an incoming 24GB RTX 5080 Super, I’d be inclined to wait a little bit longer to see how things pan out. When that time comes, pricing on existing cards should drop, and failing that, an MSI GeForce RTX 5080 24GB Super Expert would go down a treat.
Verdict: if you can’t wait for the Super refresh, MSI’s Expert is my pick of the current RTX 5080 bunch and a fine choice for high-quality QHD or UHD gaming.
