We explored early DLSS 5 performance with community mods — and the limits of the 12V-2x6 power connector may hold it back on the RTX 5090
DLSS 5 officially releases later this week, but we tested it on the RTX 5090 using community mods to see what kind of performance drop and extra power draw you can expect.
Over the past few days, a version of the DLSS 5 model leaked and quickly found its way into various games. Modders have since integrated DLSS 5 into most games using an Optiscaler package. To gauge how the technology performs ahead of its official release, a test was conducted on the RTX 5090 Founders Edition and MSI's RTX 5090 Lightning Z. The test focused on Cyberpunk 2077, Hogwarts Legacy, and Control with DLSS Performance upscaling and maximum raster and ray-tracing quality settings.
The RTX 5090 Lightning Z, equipped with a two-12V-2x6 connector power setup and a 1000W power limit, took a larger performance hit (42%) compared to the Founders Edition (39%). The Lightning Z experienced a 25% increase in power consumption, while the Founders Edition increased by 17%. The performance drops ranged from 39% to 49% in the tested games, with the Lightning Z delivering higher average frame rates and better 1% lows than the Founders Edition.
These results align with Nvidia's published guidance, indicating that DLSS 5 has a significant performance cost, similar to ray tracing before the widespread adoption of DLSS.
Written by urgent.news from Tom's Hardware's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
