Nvidia is rolling out the controversial AI-powered graphics technology DLSS 5 this week. The technology will work on desktop and laptop RTX 50-series GPU hardware and the GeForce Now cloud gaming service; so far, NBA 2K27 is the only game to support DLSS 5. The game will be released for PC on September 3rd at 9PM PT.
At its presentation in March, Nvidia described DLSS 5 as the most significant breakthrough in computer graphics since real-time ray tracing was introduced in 2018. The company said the technology would make games look more realistic by enhancing them with AI based on their source content, while allowing developers to determine how the changes would look. However, the presentation demos were criticized for significantly altering character appearances and became the subject of mockery over the appearance of Resident Evil Requiem character Grace Ashcroft.
At DLSS 5’s official launch, EA Sports FC, Starfield and Hogwarts Legacy do not support the technology alongside Requiem. Nvidia did not answer questions about when it would come to games other than NBA 2K27 or whether it would appear in previously confirmed games. In NBA 2K27 demonstrations, shadow and texture improvements made players look more realistic instead of turning them into AI caricatures. Developers will be able to choose the intensity of the effect through numerous settings; they will be able to enhance food, silverware or vegetation without changing faces.
The first DLSS 5 demos required two RTX 5090 cards, while Nvidia says that a single RTX 5060 can run NBA 2K27 at 1080p, with ray tracing and ultra settings. This requires a fast processor and 6x frame generation. Nvidia estimates the performance loss at 50 to 60 percent. The official release has not yet been tested; in tests conducted with mods, DLSS 5 was used in older games such as Control and Skyrim while performance fell by half.
Why it matters
DLSS 5 being limited to a single game at the initial stage means that the technology’s impact will be assessed in a specific use case rather than across a broad game catalog. While this is particularly relevant to RTX 50 series graphics card owners and GeForce Now users, it leaves the scope of access for owners of other hardware and games unclear. The visual quality improvement coming with a 50 to 60 percent loss in performance will require the feature to be evaluated not only for image quality but also for the balance between smoothness and hardware load. Nvidia’s detailed settings give developers greater control in response to criticism of the character appearances in earlier demos. However, it has still not been announced when the other games promised support will be included.
Background
Nvidia is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: we have published 9 news articles mentioning the name in the past 90 days; the latest is dated September 1, 2026.
Term: ray tracing
Ray tracing is a rendering method that produces more realistic lighting by calculating the reflection of light from surfaces individually.