A PC Gamer writer testing Nvidia's new DLSS 5 upscaling technology found that, in NBA 2K27, enabling certain DLSS 5 features can reduce frame rates by as much as 73% on a system running an RTX 5080 graphics card. The finding is notable because DLSS is generally marketed as a way to boost performance by using AI to generate additional frames, so such a steep drop runs counter to expectations and raises questions about when the trade-off is actually worthwhile.

The RTX 5080 is one of Nvidia's higher-end consumer graphics cards, making the scale of the slowdown especially striking, and the writer questions what sort of extremely powerful "mega-rig" would have enough performance headroom to absorb a hit of this size while still delivering a smooth experience. The piece frames this as a cautionary example for gamers considering whether to enable the newest DLSS 5 features, rather than assuming they will always improve performance.