NVIDIA DLSS 5 available September 3, 2026

NVIDIA has continuously redefined the boundaries of PC gaming. From introducing real-time ray tracing to pioneering AI-powered graphics with DLSS Super Resolution, Frame Generation and Ray Reconstruction, our RTX technologies have transformed how games are rendered and experienced.

Now, we’re releasing DLSS 5, which introduces 3D-Guided Neural Rendering, a major step forward in using AI to bring real-time graphics closer than ever to Hollywood-grade photorealism.


DLSS 5 will be available starting September 3rd at 9pm Pacific Time in NBA 2K27, by developer Visual Concepts and publisher 2K, for all GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs and laptops, and GeForce NOW. It marks the debut of how the technology can be used by game artists to elevate visual fidelity in alignment with their creative vision.

Bridging The Cinematic Gap​

Since the dawn of GeForce, NVIDIA has strived to deliver the graphics horsepower required for game developers to create incredible, realistic worlds where lighting, reflections and shadows obey the laws of nature.

From programmable shaders with GeForce 3 in 2001, to CUDA with GeForce 8800 GTX in 2006, real-time ray tracing with GeForce RTX 2080 Ti in 2018, and path tracing and neural shaders with GeForce RTX 5090 in 2025, we have delivered major architectural innovations and a massive 375,000X increase in compute.

But Hollywood-level realism remains out of reach. A photoreal Hollywood VFX frame can take hours or even days to render a single frame, whereas game developers need to deliver 60-plus frames every second for a smooth experience. As a result, game developers have traditionally had to scale back their artistic vision to achieve real-time performance. Even if the developer could shoot an infinite number of rays, the rendered frame still wouldn’t be photorealistic because the scene content itself must be cut back. For example, individual hair strands are replaced by simplified geometry, and complex, multi-layered materials like skin lose their natural depth.



Rather than brute force rendering each frame or adding more details to the scene, an alternative approach to photorealism emerged: generative AI.

By learning complex lighting patterns from the physical world, generative models can produce photoreal lighting effects that traditional rendering struggles with, such as how hair glows when backlit, or how light naturally scatters through complex, multi-layered materials like human skin.

But traditional generative models are large, slow, and inherently probabilistic: when given a text prompt ten times, a standard diffusion model outputs ten completely different results. That unpredictability works for offline image creation where an artist can select their favorite result, but interactive games demand absolute pixel consistency, locked character identity, and frame-to-frame stability dependent on player input. This unpredictability is not viable for gaming, where a character’s face, or environment cannot randomly morph from one millisecond to the next.

DLSS 5 Introduces 3D-Guided Neural Rendering​

First released in 2018, NVIDIA DLSS became the industry standard in using AI to boost performance, initially with Super Resolution, followed by Frame Generation and Multi-Frame Generation. Combined, today’s suite of DLSS 4.5 technologies can use AI to draw 23 out of every 24 pixels seen on the screen.

Now, DLSS is evolving beyond performance to transform visual fidelity as well. While previous DLSS technologies focused on reconstructing existing scene data to deliver higher-resolution images, additional frames, or cleaner ray-traced lighting, DLSS 5 with 3D-Guided Neural Rendering takes the next step by using AI to generate the rich lighting and material details that real-time performance constraints once forced developers to strip away, allowing them to realize their original artistic vision.

And instead of generating frames from text prompts, 3D-Guided Neural Rendering uses the game engine’s rendered frame, complete with its artist-designed geometry, textures, and lighting buffers, as an unyielding foundation. DLSS 5 becomes the final rendering stage of the graphics pipeline, infusing scenes with lifelike lighting and materials while ensuring the engine frame defines what must remain, and the artist directs what may change.

To deliver DLSS 5, we had to invent a new real-time AI model, which addressed three fundamental engineering challenges: preserving artistic intent, guaranteeing temporal stability, and achieving execution speeds in the milliseconds.

First, DLSS 5 is designed to operate deterministically, delivering consistent outputs when processing identical input frames. Grounded in the original frame crafted by artists and the game engine, the model analyzes on-screen objects, materials, spatial relationships, and light sources. It anchors directly to the rendered frame, by training to recognize engine data such as color, surface albedo, detailed lighting, and surface normals.

As a result, DLSS 5 enriches the scene with lifelike material interactions, introducing natural skin subsurface scattering, realistic light transmission through hair and foliage, and deeper contact shadows alongside global illumination.

Second, DLSS 5 delivers real-time frame-by-frame temporal stability. Unlike video generation models that operate on batch frame sequences, DLSS 5 operates on a strict one-frame-in, one-frame-out model. By leveraging motion vectors directly from the game engine, DLSS 5 ensures every generated frame is stable, eliminating visual shimmering, swimming, or temporal drift even as players move.

Third, we invented a fast, specialized AI model designed explicitly for real-time 3D rendering pipelines. This compact network interprets engine data directly from the rendered frame and leverages the powerful Tensor Cores of GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs to render complex lighting and materials in real-time. Running locally on a single GPU, it maintains smooth frame rates at up to 4K resolution.

Integration for developers is straightforward, leveraging the same NVIDIA Streamline framework already utilized across the DLSS technology suite, as well as Unreal Engine 5 plugin for Unreal Engine games. DLSS 5 operates as an optional and independent feature, giving studios flexibility to enable it alongside Super Resolution, Multi Frame Generation and Ray Reconstruction as they see fit.

By working in tandem with traditional rasterization, ray tracing, and path tracing, DLSS 5 represents the beginning of a new era where traditional game rendering and real-time neural graphics unite to bridge the cinematic gap.

Rapid Progress & Continuous Evolution​

Since the initial announcement of DLSS 5 in March, our progress has been rapid: from running on dual GeForce RTX 5090s to now a single graphics card, we’ve achieved a 5X performance gain in just six months, making DLSS 5 available for all GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs and Laptop GPUs. This milestone stems from a combination of systematic pipeline optimizations, and neural model refinements that yield both faster execution and better image quality.

Our optimization curve isn’t flattening out, and we have further optimizations in active development. We expect upcoming model updates coming in the Fall to boost performance beyond today’s baseline. Backed by over a decade of DLSS expertise, we remain committed to continuously pushing the boundaries of performance and image quality, and this is only the beginning.

DLSS 5: A New Era Of Real-Time Graphics​

DLSS 5 is a breakthrough in both AI and graphics; a new level of realism for games:

• 3D-Guided & 4K Real-Time: Fully deterministic, temporally consistent neural rendering running at up to 4K on a single GeForce RTX 50 Series GPU
• Frame Is The Foundation: Trained to maintain the structural and geometric integrity of the rendered frame
• Intelligent Model: Intelligently analyzes scene objects and semantics to deliver lifelike lighting, subsurface scattering, and realistic material responses
• Granular Developer Controls: Creative controls calibrate the neural model via structure, tone, and semantic masking to rigorously maintain artist intent
• Streamlined Integration: Offers fast, easy integration for game developers via NVIDIA Streamline or Unreal Engine 5 plugin

DLSS 5 extends the rendering pipeline, rather than replacing it. It works seamlessly across the entire graphics stack by building upon our DLSS technologies (Super Resolution, Multi Frame Generation, and Ray Reconstruction), while enhancing traditional rendering methods like rasterization, ray tracing, and path tracing. Together, these innovations mark the beginning of a transformative era which blends hand-crafted rendering with neural graphics to deliver a dramatic leap in visual realism while preserving the control artists need for creative expression.

To experience DLSS 5 in NBA 2K27, get the game and download our latest GeForce Game Ready Driver on September 3rd at 9pm Pacific Time through the NVIDIA app, or play on GeForce NOW. And stay tuned to GeForce.com for upcoming announcements as more titles integrate DLSS 5 in the coming weeks and months.