DLSS 5 Mod Brings NVIDIA’s New AI Tech to RTX 4090, but There’s a Catch
NVIDIA’s upcoming DLSS 5 technology may not be as tightly tied to RTX 50-series graphics cards as initially expected.
A modder has managed to patch the leaked DLSS 5 DLL so it can run on an RTX 4090, with testing in Remedy’s Control reportedly reaching around 82 FPS. The experiment provides an interesting early look at what DLSS 5 could potentially do on older NVIDIA hardware.
But there’s an important caveat: this is an unofficial modification, not NVIDIA-supported DLSS 5 compatibility.
Key Takeaways
- A modder has patched DLSS 5 to work on RTX 40-series hardware.
- An RTX 4090 was tested running DLSS 5 in Control.
- Performance reportedly fell from around 130 FPS to approximately 82 FPS.
- The test suggests DLSS 5 may technically be adaptable to Ada Lovelace GPUs.
- NVIDIA has not officially confirmed DLSS 5 support for RTX 40-series cards.
DLSS 5 Is Already Being Tested on RTX 4090
DLSS 5 is NVIDIA’s next-generation neural rendering technology, designed to use AI to enhance elements such as lighting, shadows, materials and character appearance.
The technology is expected to officially launch in fall 2026, but an early DLSS 5 DLL reportedly surfaced through an early-access version of NBA 2K27. Modders quickly began experimenting with it in other games.
The latest experiment takes things further.
Modder Uncle Burrito reportedly patched CUDA binaries inside the DLSS 5 DLL to make them compatible with NVIDIA’s Ada Lovelace architecture, which powers the RTX 40 series.
The result? DLSS 5 running on an RTX 4090.
The RTX 4090 Still Delivers Playable Performance
The performance numbers are particularly interesting.
According to the test, the RTX 4090 delivered roughly 130 FPS before enabling the DLSS 5 modification, dropping to around 82 FPS with the technology enabled.
That’s approximately a 58% performance reduction.
For an experimental implementation of unreleased technology running through a patched DLL, however, the fact that the RTX 4090 remains above 60 FPS is notable.
It also highlights the considerable computational cost of the current DLSS 5 implementation.
Does This Mean RTX 40 GPUs Can Officially Run DLSS 5?
No.
That’s probably the most important distinction here.
The RTX 4090 test demonstrates that modders can make an experimental version of DLSS 5 execute on Ada Lovelace hardware. It does not mean NVIDIA is preparing official DLSS 5 support for RTX 40-series graphics cards.
The current experiment relies on modified software and unofficial compatibility work.
NVIDIA has positioned DLSS 5 around its latest hardware generation, so official support remains a separate question.
Why the Experiment Matters
Even though this is a mod, it raises an interesting technical question.
If a patched version can make DLSS 5 work on an RTX 4090, then the hardware itself may not be an absolute barrier to running at least some version of the technology on older architectures.
Tom’s Hardware similarly reported that modders were able to adapt the technology to RTX 40-series GPUs by modifying incompatible CUDA instructions.
That doesn’t prove NVIDIA is artificially restricting the feature. There could be performance, support, optimization and product-segmentation reasons behind the official hardware requirements.
Still, the experiment gives PC gamers something worth watching.
DLSS 5 Could Be Extremely Demanding
The performance hit is perhaps just as interesting as the compatibility.
An RTX 4090 dropping from roughly 130 FPS to 82 FPS shows that this experimental version of DLSS 5 is not a lightweight feature.
Earlier tests on RTX 50-series hardware have also demonstrated significant performance costs, reinforcing the idea that neural rendering could require substantial GPU resources.
That’s the trade-off.
DLSS 5 aims to push visual quality further using neural rendering, but generating those effects in real time isn’t free.
For gamers, the final question will be whether the visual improvements justify the additional GPU workload.
NVIDIA’s Official DLSS 5 Launch Will Tell the Real Story
For now, modded DLSS 5 should be viewed as an interesting technical preview rather than a finished product.
The RTX 4090 test demonstrates that older hardware can potentially run the technology with enough software modification, but NVIDIA’s official implementation could behave very differently.
The bigger story is that DLSS 5 is already being pushed beyond its intended hardware and game support by the modding community.
And if these experiments continue, we could learn much more about NVIDIA’s neural rendering technology before its official release.
For more NVIDIA GPU news, DLSS coverage and PC gaming technology, visit TechNewsXplore.
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Alex Mercer is the managing editor of Tech News Xplore. A hardware journalist for over a decade, he has benchmarked more CPUs, GPUs and handhelds than he can count, and leads the publication's testing methodology and editorial standards.