Nvidia is officially launching DLSS 5 on 3 September 2026, bringing the AI upscaling technology to RTX 50-series desktop and laptop GPUs as well as GeForce Now cloud gaming. The rollout follows a divisive March announcement in which the tech was criticised for producing exaggerated, "yassified" changes to character appearances, and matters because Nvidia has billed it as its biggest graphics breakthrough since real-time ray tracing debuted in 2018. So far, only NBA 2K27 supports the feature, while previously announced titles such as Resident Evil Requiem, EA Sports FC, Starfield and Hogwarts Legacy have not yet added it, and Nvidia would not say when or whether they will.

In press briefings, Nvidia showed developers can use sliders to control how dramatically DLSS 5 alters a scene, even limiting enhancements to details like food or foliage while leaving faces untouched, and early NBA 2K27 examples appeared less exaggerated than the original reveal. Nvidia claims a single mid-range RTX 5060 can run NBA 2K27 at 1080p with ray tracing and DLSS 5 on ultra settings using 6x frame generation, though the feature still carries a heavy performance cost, estimated by Nvidia at 50 to 60 percent, with independent testing on an unofficial mod cutting frame rates in half.