When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works .
Nvidia has worked closely with developer Visual Concepts to leverage DLSS 5 as an aid rather than the foundation of NBA 2K27 . The game still uses scanned 3D models of all the players to form the base geometry. Then, DLSS 5 combines training data and engine data to infer things like lighting and shadows, upgrading the scene to look more photorealistic. Such engine-level implementation allows devs to fine-tune the end result as per their creative intent instead of just applying a global AI filter over everything.
DLSS 5 will come to other titles soon, but for now it's limited to NBA 2K27, and even then, it's extremely taxing. Nvidia's own marketing shows DLSS 5 netting 370 FPS at 4K with an RTX 5090, compared to 240 FPS with DLSS turned off. What it doesn't highlight as clearly is that the 370 FPS number comes from 6x MFG — five fake frames being interpolated for every real frame. That means the game is actually running at ~61 FPS; turning on DLSS 5 tanked performance by four times compared to native. Not to mention, it's being upscaled from 1080p to 4K, too.
If you don't happen to own the latest-and-greatest in Blackwell silicon, and you also don't want to pay for the Ultimate tier of GeForce Now (RTX 5080), there's still some good news for you. After initially locking DLSS 5 to only the RTX 50-series, Nvidia has confirmed it'll bring the 3D-guided neural rendering tech to RTX 40-series GPUs soon. "Once RTX 50 Series performance is more fully tuned, we plan to work on expanding official support to the GeForce RTX 40 Series," said Ben Berraondo , head of PR at the company.
Hey @firstadopter, Our current focus is on optimizing performance for the GeForce RTX 50 Series with model updates expected later this fall. Once RTX 50 Series performance is more fully tuned, we plan to work on expanding official support to the GeForce RTX 40 Series. September 4, 2026
It's likely that modders opening the floodgates for patched DLLs convinced, or perhaps forced, Nvidia to reconsider its initial stance. It's no secret that DLSS 5 has a merciless compute cost , so making it work on older Ada GPUs would only result in negative PR for an already divisive product. But once modders showed it's possible — not just on the 40-series, but also on the 30- and even 20-series — the ball was in Nvidia's court and, to its credit, the game hasn't stopped. It'll be interesting to see the performance, considering the RTX 40-series only has up to 2x MFG.
Nvidia's controversial DLSS 5 will launch September 3 with NBA2K27, company shares first benchmarks
DLSS 5 has already been ported to work on RTX 4000 Series graphics cards
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/dlss-5-officially-launches-inside-nba-2k27-limited-to-rtx-50-series-gpus-for-now-nvidia-promises-to-bring-neutral-rendering-tech-to-rtx-40-series-soon#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/membership
- Discrete graphics card sales hit four-year record despite soaring memory prices — AMD gains market share as notebook graphics carry the market
- Denver data center continuously waters its lawn even after city announced drought restrictions, enraging residents — it’s unclear if site is breaking the law or
- Almost 70% of voters in Missouri city vote to recall council member who said yes to AI data center tax breaks — councilor said disagreement over an issue should
- Discrete graphics card sales hit four-year record despite soaring memory prices — AMD gains market share as notebook graphics carry the market
- Get this stunning MSI RTX 5060 Ti 16G deal at Walmart for $200 less than anywhere else — only $569.99 for the solid mid-range Shadow 2x OC Plus gaming GPU is a
Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.