First DLSS 5 game tested: DLSS 5 humbles RTX 5090 with over 50% performance loss
Nvidia's new DLSS 5 technology, designed to enhance visuals through neural rendering, has been shown to cause significant performance drops in NBA 2K27. Benchmarks indicate that even high-end GPUs like the RTX 5090 experience frame rate losses exceeding 50% when the feature is enabled.
Why it matters
This highlights a potential conflict between the push for AI-driven graphical fidelity and the practical hardware requirements for smooth gaming performance.
ⓘ Digital Foundry Visual difference in character rendering in NBA 2K27 with and without DLSS 5. NBA 2K27 is the first game that officially supports Nvidia's latest DLSS 5. Using AI, DLSS 5 improves the visuals of NBA 2K27. But Digital Foundry shows that DLSS 5 has a huge performance cost. Fawad Murtaza , Published 09/08/2026 Nvidia Software Gaming Benchmark 4 Reviews exclude selected types exclude selected tags With the launch of the NBA 2K27 , version five of Nvidia Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS 5) is officially here. DLSS 5 aims to bring more realism to games through the use of “3D-guided neural rendering”. But DLSS 5 seems to have an enormous performance cost, which can make it prohibitively expensive for many gamers.
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