Leaked build of NVIDIA's DLSS 5 produces unsettling results in games
An early, unfinished build of NVIDIA's DLSS 5, extracted from NBA 2K27, has been grafted onto other games with strange, uncanny valley-like visual results. The leaked version also causes a significant performance drop.
An unofficial and unfinished version of NVIDIA's upcoming DLSS 5 technology is circulating online after being extracted from an early-access PC build of NBA 2K27. Enthusiasts have applied it to several other games, with results that have proven far from impressive.
DLSS 5 introduces a new neural rendering approach. Rather than simply reconstructing a sharper image from what the game originally rendered, NVIDIA says the technology "infuses pixels with photoreal lighting and materials." In practice, this tends to produce results that feel more like an AI-generated approximation of realism than genuine next-generation graphics.
Strange visual results
One early example involves Jesse Faden from Control, a character meant to be around 28 years old. After the leaked DLSS 5 treatment, her face appears noticeably older. A similar effect shows up in Skyrim, where low-polygon characters suddenly gain near-photorealistic faces while the rest of their body models and animations remain untouched. The mismatch creates an unsettling effect, especially when characters stare blankly with stiff, unnatural movements.
Performance impact
The odd visuals might be dismissible as a quirky side effect if performance weren't also affected. However, the leaked build reportedly causes a steep frame rate drop — with Neural Rendering enabled, Control on an RTX 5070 Ti fell from 71 fps to 35 fps at 4K resolution.
It's worth noting this is an early, unofficial and incomplete build, so the final release may differ substantially. NVIDIA plans to officially launch DLSS 5 this fall, at which point it will become clear whether developer-approved implementations look and perform more naturally.
