Best choice is 9800X3D.

For most people, I'd recommend the Ryzen 7 7800X3D as the sweet spot. If you're looking to save some cash but also get a high-end processor that can keep up with the RTX 5080, we recommend pairing it with the Ryzen 7 7800X3D. Before the 9800X3D, the 7800X3D was the best processor in the world, and the 7800X3D should also be able to handle what the RTX 5080 can churn out.

If you need more productivity power, the Ryzen 7 7900X has better professional performance than the 7800X3D, but not the same level of gaming output.

For Intel fans, the i5-14600K is surprisingly good. This is one of the few budget CPUs that still holds its own with a flagship GPU like the 5080. While it won't keep up in every title at 4K, for most gamers playing at 1440p or using DLSS, the 14600K offers a great balance.

I definitely agree with the previous points about those high-end chips, but honestly, I think we should talk about the reliability side of things too. That 5080 is gonna be a monster, and with it drawing 360W on its own, you really have to think about the long-term stability of the whole rig. I have a couple of questions just to get a better idea of what you need for a safe build:

• What kind of power supply unit are you looking at using for this?
• Are you more focused on raw performance numbers, or is long-term system reliability and staying away from crashes more important to you? Tbh, I sometimes worry about heat buildup and power spikes when you pair a top-tier GPU with a high-end CPU. I am not 100 percent sure how the newer architectures handle the transient spikes, but I always prefer a system that wont flake out during a long gaming session. It is easy to bottleneck on the hardware side, but a crash because of power draw is way more annoying.