NBA 2K27’s DLSS 5 looks subtle, but costs power on RTX 5090

NVIDIA’s DLSS 5 AI upscaling is live in NBA 2K27, and the visual changes are restrained. The performance and power impact, however, is noticeable, especially at 4K on an RTX 5090.

DLSS 5 adds small visual upgrades in NBA 2K27

In a few hours with NBA 2K27, DLSS 5 was described as “very subtle.” The main improvements show up in closer views of players and crowd detail, with more texture on skin, particularly faces and arms, and shadows that look slightly more realistic.

In wider shots, including the overhead gameplay view, the upgrade is less meaningful. The distant crowd lighting can look a bit more nuanced, but it was not enough to outweigh the tradeoffs.

Big frame-rate drop at 4K with RTX 5090

Testing at 4K on an RTX 5090 showed a frame-rate reduction from 240fps to 150fps when DLSS 5 was enabled. The report also notes that DLSS 5 appears to deliver its best results when the camera stays close to players and the crowd.

Power draw jumps sharply with DLSS 5

Power consumption increased substantially during testing. Without DLSS 5, the RTX 5090 drew around 400 watts at 4K. With DLSS 5 on, power jumped to 525 watts.

The article also cites a HardOCP forum member reporting over 600W on an RTX 5090 using DLSS 5 in NBA 2K27, which allegedly melted a GPU power cable. The piece frames the risk as hard to justify for a modest visual change, given current GPU pricing.

DLSS 5 is still a work in progress, with limited game support

The report positions DLSS 5 as non-essential for most players, comparing its perceived impact to ray tracing, which is also power-hungry. NVIDIA has said DLSS 5 will eventually be supported on last-generation RTX 4000 GPUs, after earlier plans that limited it to RTX 5000 hardware.

Beyond NBA 2K27, the article says there are no other upcoming games with official DLSS 5 support. It also notes that modding existing DLSS titles, such as Control and Cyberpunk 2077, can be used to test DLSS 5.

Why it matters

DLSS 5’s debut in a widely played sports franchise shows how incremental AI upscaling can be at the settings level, while demanding more from hardware in return. For high-end GPUs, the combination of lower frame rates and higher power draw may be the deciding factor for whether DLSS 5 becomes a default feature.