Nvidia's GeForce RTX 5080 Is a Solid High-End GPU
I can't blame you for not wanting to spend $2,000 on a GPU; that's enough to build a midrange gaming PC on its own. At just $1,000 for the RTX 5080 Founders Edition, this still-expensive step-down card will be the model that more people seriously consider, even if it's still a splurge. It's a better choice from a performance perspective, meeting people where they already are in terms of monitor resolution, game choice, and existing power supplies.
But how does it fare against the more expensive card, and how does it handle some of the more popular and evergreen games? Well enough to my eyes. If you're building your next high-end gaming PC and are looking for a high-end video card to match, this might be exactly what you're looking for—if you can find one for sale. Same Size, More Efficient
The form factor of the RTX 5080 is identical to its more powerful counterpart, with a true two slot design that should fit in most cases very comfortably. I really appreciate the size reduction overall, and I hope AIC cards follow suit.
Photograph: Brad Bourque
Where the RTX 5090 draws an immense 575 watts, the 5080 only asks for 360 watts with the same new power connector. Like the RTX 5090 FE, the RTX 5080 includes an adapter, and I imagine most partner cards will as well.
That means a lower overall system power requirement, with Nvidia recommending just 850 watts for the Founders Edition. I expect this will be an easier requirement for existing rigs to meet without needing to buy a new 1,000-watt or higher PSU. DLSS Performance
Nvidia introduced a new version of its AI-powered enhancement tools for the RTX 50 Series. These notably add support for multi-frame generation, which uses AI to generate up to three frames between. If you're interested in learning more about the effects of using this tech on image quality, make sure to check out the RTX 5090 review.
The short version is that multi-frame generation can produce minor artifacts, particularly in areas where two objects at different depths overlap, such as looking through a fence. These are hard to spot across a whole screen though, and the higher frame rate makes the gaming experience much smoother, so the frames are onscreen less time.
I'll start by checking out performance in Cyberpunk 2077, one of the more demanding games that currently supports multi-frame generation.
Screenshot courtesy of Brad Bourque
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Mega-cap tech companies lead the markets higher
A version of this post first appeared on Mega-cap tech companies have been leading the stock market higher. AI investment has been driving economic growth. We hear about these storylines every single day in finance media. Occasionally, some charts and stats cut through the noise and offer some killer context. Here are a couple that recently caught my eye. The 'Magnificent Seventy'? 🤯 Nvidia (NVDA), Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Meta (META) Platforms, and Tesla (TSLA) — the trillion-dollar companies collectively known as the "Magnificent Seven — account for about a third of the S&P 500's combined market capitalization. This concentration among the largest companies makes some people nervous. Because what if one or more of these companies sees demand sour and investors dump the stocks? My favorite counterargument to this concern is that these seven companies don't operate just seven businesses. "They may go by the Magnificent Seven, but the truth is they act more like the Magnificent Seventy," Bloomberg's Eric Balchunas and Breanne Dougherty wrote. "Collectively, the Seven have acquired over 800 companies and expanded into a dizzying array of industries — effectively functioning as conglomerates of advanced technology, while still growing organically." Each of the Magnificent Seven companies are made up of massive companies. (Source: Eric Balchunas) For the most part, the subsidiaries are tech-oriented or businesses leveraging a lot of tech. Still, it is nearly impossible to find a household or business that isn't regularly using multiple goods or services offered by at least a few of these names. "Viewed this way — as dozens of companies within each one — concerns about their record 33% weighting in the S&P 500 miss the point: the index may still be as diversified as ever," Balchunas and Daugherty added. For more on this discussion, read: 🤨 and 💪 AI investment is officially the dominant growth story 🤖 AI has been a hot story for about three years. And the buzz only seems to be heating up. Check out this chart from Luke Kawa at Sherwood News. It tracks analysts' estimates for AI capex by the major hyperscalers: Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Oracle. The curve suggests the investment spending is accelerating. AI capex spending by the hyperscalers has been heating up. (Source: Sherwood) And just how big is the AI capex story in the context of the economy? Renaissance Macro's Neil Dutta caught this incredible development in the most recent GDP report. "So far this year, AI capex, which we define as information processing equipment plus software, has added more to GDP growth than consumers' spending," Dutta said. AI capex is contributing more to GDP growth than personal consumption. (Source: Sherwood, Renaissance Macro) What's so impressive about this is how small AI capex is in the context of the economy. "The U.S. consumer makes up about 70% of the economy," Sherwood's Kawa noted about the stats. "Over the long term, that's been the undisputed engine of growth. But these two segments that make up 6% of GDP have been playing a bigger role in fueling the expansion so far this year, on average." In other words, a relatively small slice of the economy is growing so fast that it's become the dominant growth story for the whole economy. Review of the macro crosscurrents 🔀 There were several notable data points and macroeconomic developments since our last review: 👎 Inflation expectations heat up. From the New York Fed's July Survey of Consumer Expectations: "Median inflation expectations in July increased at the one-year-ahead horizon to 3.1% from 3.0% and at the five-year-ahead horizon to 2.9% from 2.6%. They remained steady at the three-year-ahead horizon at 3.0%." (Source: NY Fed) The introduction of new tariffs risks higher inflation. For more, read: 😬 ⛽️ Gas prices tick higher. From AAA: "Gas prices fluctuated slightly this past week with the national average for a gallon of regular going up by two cents to $3.16. Crude oil prices are hanging in the mid $60s per barrel, keeping pump prices steady. Supply remains abundant, as OPEC+ — a group of oil-producing countries — recently announced it will be boosting production again next month, following several other increases this year." (Source: AAA) For more on energy prices, read: 🛢️ 🏠 Mortgage rates tick lower. According to Freddie Mac, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage declined to 6.63% from 6.72% last week. From Freddie Mac: "The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to its lowest level since April. The decline in rates increases prospective homebuyers' purchasing power, and Freddie Mac research shows that buyers can save thousands by getting quotes from a few different lenders." (Source: Freddie Mac) There are 147.9 million housing units in the U.S., of which 86.1 million are owner-occupied and about 39% are mortgage-free. Of those carrying mortgage debt, almost all have fixed-rate mortgages, and most of those mortgages have rates that were locked in before rates surged from 2021 lows. All of this is to say: Most homeowners are not particularly sensitive to the small weekly movements in home prices or mortgage rates. For more on mortgages and home prices, read: 😖 🏭 Business investment activity deteriorates. Orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft — a.k.a. core capex or business investment — decreased 0.8% to $75.4 billion in June. (Source: Census via FRED) Core capex orders are a leading indicator, meaning they foretell economic activity down the road. For more on deteriorating economic metrics, read: ⚖️ 💼 New unemployment claims remain low — but total ongoing claims are up. Initial claims for unemployment benefits rose to 226,000 during the week ending Aug. 2, up from 219,000 the week prior. This metric remains at levels historically associated with economic growth. (Source: DoL via FRED) Insured unemployment, which captures those who continue to claim unemployment benefits, rose to 1.974 million during the week ending July 26. This metric is near its highest level since November 2021. (Source: DoL via FRED) Steady initial claims confirm that layoff activity remains low. Rising continued claims confirm hiring activity is weakening. This dynamic warrants close attention, as it reflects a deteriorating labor market. For more context, read: 🧩 and 💼 💪 Labor productivity increases. From the BLS: "Nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased 2.4% in the second quarter of 2025 … as output increased 3.7% and hours worked increased 1.3%. (All quarterly percent changes in this release are seasonally adjusted annualized rates.) From the same quarter a year ago, nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased 1.3% in the second quarter of 2025." (Source: BLS) For more, read: ⚙️ 🤑 Wage growth is cool. According to the Atlanta Fed's wage growth tracker, the median hourly pay in July was up 4.1% from the prior year, down from the 4.2% rate in June. (Source: Atlanta Fed) For more on why policymakers are watching wage growth, read: 📈 💰 Household finances could be better, but are mostly normalizing. From the New York Fed's Q2 Household Debt & Credit report: "Transition into early delinquency held steady for nearly all debt types except for student loans. Student loans saw another uptick in the rate at which balances went from current to delinquent due to the resumption of reporting of delinquent student loans. Transitions into serious delinquency were mixed across debt types: auto loans and credit card debt were largely stable, mortgages and HELOCs edged up slightly, and student loans rose sharply." (Source: NY Fed) While the rate at which debt is entering delinquency has increased, the total amount of debt in delinquency remains low, at just 4.4% of outstanding debt. (Source: NY Fed) And while credit card debt balances often steal headlines, it's a mistake to say consumers are maxing out their credit cards. The $1.2 trillion in credit card balances as of Q2 represents just a tiny fraction of credit card limits. (Source: NY Fed) For more on household finances, read: 🛍️ 💳 Card spending data is strong, but could be driven by "buyahead" before tariffs. From JPM: "As of 31 Jul 2025, our Chase Consumer Card spending data (unadjusted) was 3.3% above the same day last year. Based on the Chase Consumer Card data through 31 Jul 2025, our estimate of the US Census July control measure of retail sales m/m is 0.61%." (Source: JPM) From BofA: "Total card spending per HH was up 3.0% y/y in the week ending Aug 2, according to BAC aggregated credit and debit card data. Online retail saw the biggest y/y spending gain while entertainment saw the biggest drop vs last week, across our categories. The significant rise this week could be buyahead before the Aug 1 tariff deadline/early month volatility." (Source: BofA) For more on sales being pulled forward ahead of tariffs, read: 🤔 🤷🏻 Services surveys could be better. From S&P Global's July Services PMI: "July's expansion was driven by surging demand in the tech sector alongside rising financial services activity, the latter linked to improving financial conditions fueled in turn by recent stock market gains. However, falling exports of services, which includes spending in the US by tourists, acted as a drag on growth alongside subdued demand from consumers more broadly." (Source: S&P Global) ISM's July Services PMI signaled the sector was just barely growing. (Source: ISM) Keep in mind that during times of perceived stress, soft survey data tends to be more exaggerated than actual hard data. For more on interpreting soft sentiment data, read: 🙊 🏢 Offices remain relatively empty. From Kastle Systems: "Peak day office occupancy was 63.5% on Tuesday last week, down 1.4 points from the previous week. Occupancy fell most days of the week in all 10 tracked cities, as workers took time away from the office across the country. The average low was 34.2% on Friday, down nine tenths of a point from the previous week." (Source: Kastle) For more on office occupancy, read: 🏢 📈 Near-term GDP growth estimates are tracking positively. The Atlanta Fed's GDPNow model sees real GDP growth rising at a 2.5% rate in Q3. (Source: Atlanta Fed) For more on GDP and the economy, read: 📉 and 🤨 Putting it all together 📋 🚨 The Trump administration's pursuit of tariffs threatens to disrupt global trade, with significant implications for the U.S. economy, corporate earnings, and the stock market. Until we get more clarity, here's where things stand: Earnings look bullish: The long-term outlook for the stock market remains favorable, bolstered by expectations for years of earnings growth. And earnings are the most important driver of stock prices. Demand is positive: Demand for goods and services remains positive, supported by healthy consumer and business balance sheets. Job creation, although cooling, also remains positive, and the Federal Reserve — having resolved the inflation crisis — shifted its focus toward supporting the labor market. But growth is cooling: While the economy remains healthy, growth has normalized from much hotter levels earlier in the cycle. The economy is less "coiled" these days as major tailwinds like excess job openings and core capex orders have faded. It has become harder to argue that growth is destiny. Actions speak louder than words: We are in an odd period, given that the hard economic data decoupled from the soft sentiment-oriented data. Consumer and business sentiment has been relatively poor, even as tangible consumer and business activity continues to grow and trend at record levels. From an investor's perspective, what matters is that the hard economic data continues to hold up. Stocks are not the economy: There's a case to be made that the U.S. stock market could outperform the U.S. economy in the near term, thanks largely to positive operating leverage. Since the pandemic, companies have aggressively adjusted their cost structures. This came with strategic layoffs and investment in new equipment, including hardware powered by AI. These moves are resulting in positive operating leverage, which means a modest amount of sales growth — in the cooling economy — is translating to robust earnings growth. Mind the ever-present risks: Of course, we should not get complacent. There will always be risks to worry about, such as U.S. political uncertainty, geopolitical turmoil, energy price volatility, and cyber attacks. There are also the dreaded unknowns. Any of these risks can flare up and spark short-term volatility in the markets. Investing is never a smooth ride: There's also the harsh reality that economic recessions and bear markets are developments that all long-term investors should expect as they build wealth in the markets. Always keep your stock market seat belts fastened. Think long-term: For now, there's no reason to believe there'll be a challenge that the economy and the markets won't be able to overcome over time. The long game remains undefeated, and it's a streak that long-term investors can expect to continue. A version of this post first appeared on Sign in to access your portfolio
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When You Look Back in 10 Years, You'll Wish You'd Bought This Magnificent Quantum Computing Stock (Hint: It's Not IonQ)
Key Points Over the past year, IonQ and other smaller businesses have emerged as popular quantum computing stocks. However, these companies are now mostly trading at lofty valuations supported by hype narratives. Nvidia is quietly positioning its hardware and software ecosystem to be at the forefront of quantum computing. 10 stocks we like better than Nvidia › Quantum computing is swiftly becoming one of the hottest new themes fueling the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. Over the last year, companies such as IonQ, Rigetti Computing, D-Wave Quantum, and Quantum Computing Inc. have emerged as exciting opportunities seeking to make a splash in the quantum computing realm. While IonQ and its peers are pursuing unique approaches to quantum computing, none has yet achieved the critical mass needed to suggest their products and services are truly disruptive at this stage. In the background, however, semiconductor powerhouse Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) has been quietly making inroads in the quantum computing arena. Let's explore how Nvidia stands to benefit from quantum computing and assess why the stock looks like a no-brainer buy for investors with a long-term time horizon right now. Does Nvidia have a quantum computing business? In addition to its industry-leading chip empire, Nvidia has also built a budding software platform known as CUDA. CUDA serves as the software backbone for Nvidia's overall tech stack. In essence, software developers can run AI applications on CUDA and run these programs on top of Nvidia's hardware. The combination of CUDA and graphics processing units (GPUs) has kept customers extremely sticky within the Nvidia ecosystem -- essentially providing the company with an ability to own both the software and hardware aspects of AI development. As quantum computing continues to gain momentum, Nvidia is naturally looking to position itself at the forefront of this new movement. More specifically, the company offers an extension of the CUDA platform known as CUDA-Q, which is geared toward applications across both traditional computing and quantum processing. The big idea here is that much like CUDA has become a foundational layer for modern AI development, CUDA-Q could serve as an essential layer for quantum computing -- once again positioning Nvidia as a central source across both hardware and software and strengthening the company's technological moat. Pay attention to quantum computing valuations A common mistake investors make is viewing valuation through the lens of a company's stock price. Seasoned investors understand that share price is simply one variable in determining the value of a business. In the chart above, Nvidia is benchmarked against IonQ and its smaller peers on a price-to-sales (P/S) multiple basis. The main outlier in the peer set above is Quantum Computing Inc. (also called QCi), which boasts a P/S ratio of nearly 4,800. How could a valuation multiple balloon to such dramatic levels? The answer is quite simple, really. QCi boasts a market value of $2.6 billion, and yet the company has only generated $385,000 in sales over the past year. In my eyes, QCi could be seen in the same light as a pre-revenue business with little product-market fit and yet somehow has garnered a billion-dollar valuation purely based on the narrative that its technology might one day be worth something. In addition, IonQ, Rigetti, and D-Wave each boast P/S multiples at levels that are eerily reminiscent of stock market bubbles. These nuances are important to call out and understand because even though Nvidia may look "expensive," it's actually the cheapest quantum computing stock in this cohort based on P/S multiples. Another way of looking at this is that much (if not all) of the long-run upside appears to be priced in to IonQ and the smaller speculative quantum computing stocks. By contrast, Nvidia's more appropriate valuation multiple could suggest that investors are not yet pricing in the upside of emerging AI applications such as quantum computing and still primarily view the company as solely a chip stock. I think investors are discounting Nvidia's potential to parlay its core chip business to other pockets of the AI realm. For these reasons, I think Nvidia stock is a compelling buy-and-hold opportunity as more advanced AI applications such as quantum computing unfold over the next decade. Do the experts think Nvidia is a buy right now? The Motley Fool's expert analyst team, drawing on years of investing experience and deep analysis of thousands of stocks, leverages our proprietary Moneyball AI investing database to uncover top opportunities. They've just revealed their to buy now — did Nvidia make the list? When our Stock Advisor analyst team has a stock recommendation, it can pay to listen. After all, Stock Advisor's total average return is up 1,060% vs. just 182% for the S&P — that is beating the market by 877.64%!* Imagine if you were a Stock Advisor member when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $653,427!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,119,863!* The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 4, 2025 Adam Spatacco has positions in Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. When You Look Back in 10 Years, You'll Wish You'd Bought This Magnificent Quantum Computing Stock (Hint: It's Not IonQ) was originally published by The Motley Fool 登入存取你的投資組合
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You'll Never Believe What Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Said About Quantum Computing
Key Points Microsoft announced work on its Level 2 quantum computer earlier this summer. Quantum computing revenue may be drowned out by other Microsoft divisions in the future. 10 stocks we like better than Microsoft › Quantum computing could be the next great step for computing power. Currently, graphics processing units (GPUs), such as those made by Nvidia, are the most powerful computing devices available that aren't dedicated to a single task. While these devices certainly aren't expected to go obsolete, they could be supplemented by quantum computing, and the future looks to be growing brighter for the technology. Tech giant Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) had some positive things to say about quantum computing, and it could start to make stocks in this industry more attractive to investors. But is now the right time to buy quantum computing stocks? CEO Satya Nadella is excited about the future of quantum computing During Microsoft's Q4 FY 2025 (ending June 30) earnings call, CEO Satya Nadella had this to say about quantum computing: The next big accelerator in the cloud will be Quantum, and I am excited about our progress. In fact, earlier this month, we announced the world's first operational deployment of a Level 2 quantum computer, in partnership with Atom Computing. This quote tells investors a few things. First, cloud computing is a big deal for Microsoft. At its core, the cloud computing industry is essentially one company building excess computing power and renting it out to clients that need more computing power. This has two main use cases: First, when a company doesn't want to handle storing data on its own servers or wants to run workloads on the cloud rather than in-house. Businesses are starting to move more and more of their data to the cloud, and companies like Microsoft and its Azure cloud computing product stand to benefit. The second big use case for cloud is for heavy workloads, such as artificial intelligence (AI) model training. Many companies utilize Azure to run AI workloads on it because they don't have the funds to justify building their own supercomputer. This has been a huge growth driver for Azure in recent quarters, and is one of the primary reasons why Azure's growth rate was 39% in the latest quarter. The second item this quote tells us is that Microsoft is getting closer to having useful quantum computing. Microsoft states that its Level 2 computer will have resilient logical qubits. This stage will be focused on eliminating background noise and delivering a product that can produce reliable results. Once it completes its Level 2 activities, it will move to Level 3, which involves achieving scale and producing quantum supercomputers. Once that last stage is complete, it could usher in a brand-new arms race, and if Microsoft is the first to offer this computing power to its clients, it could give it a huge head start over the competition. But what kind of growth can investors expect? Quantum computing may not have the effect on its stock that some expect We're still a few years out from seeing quantum supercomputers on the market. Most companies point to 2030 as a key turning date for quantum computing, so investors shouldn't expect to see any major uses before that date. After that, there are many estimates as to what the quantum computing market will look like. Rigetti Computing points to a projection that states the annual value for quantum computing will be between $15 billion and $30 billion annually starting in 2030. Considering Microsoft's Intelligent Cloud division generated nearly $30 billion in Q4 alone, quantum computing likely won't be a huge growth driver for Microsoft. Companywide, Microsoft's revenue was $76.4 billion in Q4, so if Microsoft dominates the quantum computing market and Rigetti's market prediction comes true, quantum computing won't be a massive growth driver. The only real explosive growth in the quantum computing realm is if one of the pure plays (such as Rigetti Computing) turns out to be a winner. If a giant like Microsoft rises to the top, it will be just another business unit adding more revenue to the tech giant. Should you buy stock in Microsoft right now? Before you buy stock in Microsoft, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Microsoft wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $636,563!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,108,033!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,047% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 181% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 4, 2025 Keithen Drury has positions in Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Microsoft and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. You'll Never Believe What Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Said About Quantum Computing was originally published by The Motley Fool Errore nel recupero dei dati Effettua l'accesso per consultare il tuo portafoglio Errore nel recupero dei dati Errore nel recupero dei dati Errore nel recupero dei dati Errore nel recupero dei dati
