Nvidia has confirmed that DLSS 5 will eventually make its way to RTX 40 series graphics cards, despite initially announcing the technology as an RTX 50 series exclusive. The company has not provided a release date for older GPUs yet, but it has explained that RTX 50 series cards need to be fully optimized before work begins on bringing DLSS 5 to RTX 40 series GPUs.

DLSS 5 recently launched with NBA 2K27 as the first game to officially support Nvidia’s new 3D-Guided Neural Rendering technology. The feature uses AI to improve the visual quality of games, with Nvidia showing off major improvements to details such as faces, clothing, foliage, and other objects – all focused around hyperrealism.

DLSS 5 on RTX 40 series graphics cards

When DLSS 5 was first announced, Nvidia said it would only be available on RTX 50 series GPUs. That decision quickly became controversial, especially after modders managed to get a leaked version of the technology running on older hardware. RTX 40 series GPUs were among the cards targeted by these unofficial implementations, which raised questions about why Nvidia was keeping the feature exclusive to its latest generation.

Nvidia has now confirmed that the RTX 40 series will receive official support. The company says DLSS 5 is its most demanding AI model so far, and it has already made major improvements to its performance since the technology was first shown.

DLSS 5 is our most computationally demanding model to date. Since we initially announced it in March, we’ve achieved a 5X performance gain and there’s more to come. Our current focus is on optimizing performance for the GeForce RTX 50 Series with model updates expected later this fall. Once RTX 50 Series performance is more fully tuned, we plan to work on expanding official support to the GeForce RTX 40 Series.

Nvidia representative, via Reddit

According to Nvidia, DLSS 5 is now around five times faster than it was when it was initially unveiled. The company has achieved these gains through a combination of hardware, software kernel, and co-design optimizations. Nvidia also plans to release more model updates later this fall, which should make DLSS 5 faster and more efficient.

This optimization work is important because DLSS 5 can currently have a significant impact on performance. Nvidia needs to make the technology efficient enough for RTX 40 series hardware before it can officially support those GPUs. The company says it will focus on RTX 50 series optimization first, and once performance is “more fully tuned,” it will start expanding support to RTX 40 series cards. Either way, with leaked versions available, gamers have already been testing DLSS 5 on a wide range of hardware.

About the Author

Abdul Haddi

Abdul is a tech writer and Editor for PC Guide, specializing in all things tech, gaming, and hardware.