Early leak of NVIDIA's DLSS 5 has an uncanny valley problem

image via Engadget

August 28, 2026, 7:20 PM

• •The article discusses unofficial tests of a leaked pre-release build of NVIDIA's DLSS 5 taken from an early-access PC version of NBA 2K27.
• •According to the piece, DLSS 5 aims to go beyond image upscaling by adding photoreal lighting and materials through a neural rendering model.
• •Examples cited include altered character appearances in Control and Skyrim, where faces looked more realistic but also more unnatural and mismatched with older animations.
• •The article says enabling the leaked neural rendering mode in Control on an RTX 5070 Ti reportedly reduced performance from 71 fps to 35 fps at 4K.
• •NVIDIA is expected to launch the official version of DLSS 5 in the fall, when developer-integrated implementations can be evaluated more fairly.

Engadget reports that PC players are unofficially adding a leaked pre-release build of NVIDIA's DLSS 5 to existing games. The article says the neural rendering system often makes characters look more photorealistic but also more unnatural, especially in games like Control and Skyrim. It also cites a test in which Control on an RTX 5070 Ti dropped from 71 fps to 35 fps at 4K with the feature enabled. The piece notes that these results come from an unfinished, unofficial build ahead of DLSS 5's planned official launch this fall.

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