- Nvidia again showed off DLSS 5 at its Siggraph 2026 keynote
- Team Green made it clear that developers will have a level of control with a choice between three different AI models
- There will be two sliders to play with and masks to prevent DLSS 5 from interfering with game assets where it’s not wanted – but many players feel that developers should have a lot more control than this
Nvidia has given us another preview of DLSS 5, the incoming technology for its GeForce GPUs, which received a very stormy reception when it was first revealed at GTC 2026 – and unsurprisingly, changes have been made in the last few months.
Tom’s Hardware reports that Nvidia revealed more about how DLSS 5 will be implemented at Siggraph 2026 in Los Angeles, where the technology was the main topic of Team Green’s keynote.
Nvidia was keen to point out how it has changed the neural rendering model in some important ways since DLSS 5 was first announced. Of course, it’s obvious that a lot of this is about combating the idea that the tech is ‘AI slop’, making games look worse rather than better, and characters (especially faces) look bad and have that unwanted ‘uncanny valley’ effect. And indeed the criticism that DLSS 5 messes with the art direction and overall feel of a game’s graphics.
On the latter point, back at the original reveal, Nvidia emphasized that it would give game developers control over the end result with DLSS 5, and now we’re seeing how this will work. Team Green has brought in three different AI models, which offer varying levels of detail (and impact on performance), so developers can essentially choose between three different filters.
However, this is not a game-wide choice, as the developer can apply any of these models to any other scene, mixing and matching as needed. There are also two sliders to adjust the ‘texture’ and ‘tone’ intensity of effects.
Besides that, the developer can mask any game asset where they don’t want DLSS 5 to be applied. This is good news, as it means that, for example, character heads (and faces) can be marked as out-of-bounds, and therefore not subject to Nvidia’s technology. The developer could just get DLSS 5 to improve background objects and details, and maybe only in a relatively minor way (by toning down those intensity sliders).
To clarify, DLSS 5 is essentially an AI filter that sits on top of the existing DLSS suite of technology. Underneath that, you still have upscaling (and frame generation), and Nvidia applies what is essentially a photorealism filter on top of that in the form of this new neural rendering model.
If you want to grab some popcorn, Nvidia’s full Siggraph presentation is available to watch on YouTube, check it out below. All the DLSS 5 stuff is at the start (well, past the usual preamble).
Look at
Analysis: a step forward, but the doubters remain
So has Nvidia managed to appease the DLSS 5 haters? No, in a word. Did you really think it would?
As one Redditor put it, “I had so much hope for DLSS in the early days, what a dumpster fire it has become.”
Another commented: “So just confirming what anyone with a basic understanding of AI already knew. Glorified Instagram filter.”
To be fair, the reaction has generally been somewhat more positive compared to the original reveal, and it’s clearly a good thing that game developers can at least keep ‘yassified’ faces out of the mix with characters. There’s clearly a level of control here, but despite Nvidia treading more carefully in this regard, there’s still a sense that it’s not doing enough.
A choice of three AI models and a couple of intensity shooters is relatively limited, really, and far from anything resembling a full level of control over how DLSS 5 imposes itself on a game. Although admittedly there’s still some way to go before DLSS 5 comes out – it’s reportedly arriving later this year, in the fall (so theoretically anytime from September to November) – and Nvidia could put in additional controls before launch.
Disappointment with the level of control Nvidia gives developers aside, the other beef being raised is how much of a performance hit this AI filter might be burdened with. When Nvidia first demonstrated DLSS 5, it ran on a pair of RTX 5090 graphics cards, and in this more recent outing there’s no mention of the hardware involved.
It’s pretty easy to guess that the GPU requirements haven’t been significantly reduced yet, or Nvidia would probably shout about it – and this is being read as a concern by some. I understand where they’re coming from, although Nvidia has clarified that the technology will run on a single graphics card (of course it should), and adds at Siggraph that DLSS 5 is “VRAM efficient” (a pretty vague claim).
I’d expect it probably won’t run on anything less than an RTX 5080 to begin with, or indeed an RTX 5090. And the other fear is that the initial incarnation might be quite harsh in terms of artifacts and the like, and that’s a danger with the first take on any technology. Just look at the original DLSS (version 1), which suffered from blurring and glitches before they were polished out, and it became a seriously impressive upscaler. Perhaps the same will be the case with DLSS 5, but there is still a long way to go, and especially a lot more doubts and question marks here.
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