Nvidia says its DLSS 5 neural rendering model now runs twice as fast as the September version and uses up to 20% less video memory at 4K. The October update also shrinks the model's footprint by roughly 24%, to about 118 million parameters. The company claims a 10x performance gain since March.

The gains come from what Nvidia describes as "systematic pipeline optimizations and neural model refinements." In plain terms, the company worked on two fronts at once: it streamlined the software path that moves frames through the pipeline, and it made the neural network itself smaller. The result is that the transformation DLSS applies to games, through lighting and other effects, now runs at higher frame rates or more demanding settings.

Nvidia claims the GPU overhead versus the September model has been halved at similar visual fidelity. It also says the change can lift frame rates by up to 1.4x. The distinction matters: the 2x figure describes the model's raw speed, while the 1.4x figure describes what players may actually see in supported titles.

Where does the faster model arrive first?

The new model debuts in NBA 2K27 on October 16. Nvidia also confirmed that DLSS 5 will arrive in Hogwarts Legacy next month. The technology runs on RTX 50-series GPUs, GeForce NOW, and the new RTX Spark lineup.

The rollout shows a staged deployment rather than a broad platform switch. Nvidia is validating the faster model title by title, which fits a rendering technique that must be tuned per game to hold visual quality.

What is the new Preset C mode?

Alongside the model update, Nvidia is introducing a faster Performance Mode for Frame Generation on RTX 50-series and RTX 40-series GPUs, as well as RTX Spark laptops. A new "Preset C" mode replaces the AI model previously used, in Nvidia's words, "to calculate optical flow for elements like UI or ray-traced effects" with a new algorithm that is faster and lighter.

The change boosts DLSS Frame Generation, Multi Frame Generation, and Dynamic MFG. Nvidia puts the gain at 35% on the RTX 5060, a mid-range card where frame generation carries the most weight for buyers.

The swap also widens hardware support. Preset C reaches back to RTX 40-series GPUs, which previously carried the older optical flow approach, so owners of last-generation cards get part of the update without buying new silicon.

Why a smaller model matters commercially

For a consumer GPU line, memory bandwidth and VRAM headroom set real limits on how much neural rendering a card can carry while a game runs. Cutting 4K VRAM use by 20% frees capacity for higher resolutions, textures, and ray tracing on the same hardware. It also matters for GeForce NOW, where the server GPU serves each stream and efficiency translates directly into density.

Nvidia has shipped DLSS 5 as the centerpiece feature of its RTX 50 series, and the pace of refinement, a 10x claimed gain in roughly seven months, signals how fast the company intends to iterate on neural rendering as a product differentiator. With Preset C extending gains to RTX 40-series owners and new titles such as Hogwarts Legacy arriving next month, the update tightens the gap between what current cards can run and what the neural pipeline can deliver.