Leaked DLSS 5 Tests in Control Show Steep Performance Drop for RTX 5070 Ti
Early modder tests of NVIDIA's next-gen upscaling on Blackwell hardware reveal a significant frame rate collapse at 4K.
Modders have successfully implemented a leaked version of NVIDIA's DLSS 5 within the game Control, revealing early and troubling performance data. The tests, conducted on upcoming Blackwell-based hardware, suggest the next generation of AI upscaling is currently struggling with stability and efficiency.
According to reports from the RenoDX modding community, the leaked software—specifically the nvngx_dlssnr.dll file discovered within NBA 2K27 files—was integrated into Control to test its capabilities. During these trials, an RTX 5070 Ti running at 4K resolution experienced a drastic performance hit. Frame rates plummeted from 71 FPS to just 35 FPS when the leaked DLSS 5 implementation was active, representing a loss of more than half the GPU's output.
The Blackwell Transition
DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) has long been the cornerstone of NVIDIA's strategy to maintain high resolutions while boosting frame rates through AI-driven upscaling. As the industry moves toward the Blackwell architecture, which powers the RTX 50-series, NVIDIA is expected to introduce new iterations of this technology. These updates typically aim to refine image reconstruction and reduce ghosting, but they require tight integration between the GPU hardware and the software drivers to function effectively.
Implications for Next-Gen Hardware
This leak provides a rare, albeit raw, glimpse into the computational demands of the RTX 50-series. The severity of the performance drop suggests that the leaked version of DLSS 5 is either highly unoptimized or that the new features being introduced carry a massive computational overhead. For the industry, this highlights the precarious nature of early-stage AI implementation; if the overhead remains this high, the theoretical gains of the Blackwell architecture could be offset by the very tools meant to enhance them.
What to Watch
It remains unconfirmed whether this performance collapse is a result of the leaked DLL being incompatible with the current driver stack or a fundamental characteristic of the DLSS 5 algorithm. Users and analysts should look for official NVIDIA benchmarks as the RTX 50-series launch approaches to see if these efficiency issues have been resolved. Until then, the RenoDX findings serve as a cautionary note on the gap between leaked prototypes and retail-ready software.