Nvidia will officially bring DLSS 5 to older GPUs — but won’t give gamers full control
Nvidia is expanding the availability of DLSS 5, its AI-powered rendering technology, beyond its originally announced scope. While the technology was set to launch exclusively on RTX 50-series GPUs with a single game at launch, Nvidia has confirmed it will now officially support older RTX 40-series graphics cards as well.
The shift comes amid significant community interest in the technology. Modders had already created and distributed unauthorized ports of a leaked DLSS 5 version to older hardware, with users able to maximize performance through manual slider adjustments. This grass-roots adoption appears to have influenced Nvidia’s decision to broaden official support.
However, while the hardware compatibility is expanding, the company is taking a more restrictive approach regarding user control. Unlike the modded versions that allowed gamers to manually adjust performance settings, Nvidia’s official implementation will maintain developer control over how DLSS 5 functions in individual games. Developers will retain authority over the technology’s application in their titles rather than allowing end-users to modify settings independently.
Nvidia spokesperson Rajal Maharaj confirmed the expanded compatibility plans to The Verge. The move represents a departure from Nvidia’s initially exclusive positioning of DLSS 5 as a flagship feature for its newest hardware generation, though the RTX 50 series will still receive the technology first. The decision balances market demand for broader accessibility with Nvidia’s preference for maintaining developer discretion over implementation details.