DLSS 5 Spikes Power Consumption

DLSS 5 doesn’t just tank frame rates and weather faces; it might also spike power consumption on GPUs. Tom’s Hardware tested various games with high-end graphics cards running DLSS 5 and found that, in some cases, power consumption jumped by hundreds of watts when the card had headroom. Where it didn’t, performance fell further, suggesting the already fire-happy 12v-2×6 connector may be limiting performance with DLSS 5 enabled.

DLSS 5, which brings AI-powered photorealism to PC games, launched today on NBA 2K27. Whether it actually makes games look better is still up for debate. It’s more efficient than when we first saw it, but the RTX 5090 still loses nearly half its FPS. When running Hogwarts Legacy at 4K with ray tracing and DLSS set to Performance mode, Tom’s Hardware found that the RTX 5090 FE jumped from 417 watts without it to 547 watts with it. For the RTX 5090 Lightning Z, with a much higher power limit, it leaped from 480W without DLSS 5 to 720W with it.

In comparison, the Founders Edition 5090 performance dipped by 49% with DLSS 5 enabled, while the Lightning dropped by just 42%, and its 1% lows were much less impacted. You can argue the Lightning Z is the more powerful card, but it was only 3fps higher than the FE card without DLSS 5, so DLSS 5 has the biggest impact here.

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The same story was true in Cyberpunk 2077, where the Lightning Z version went from 580W to 723W, losing 39% of its overall FPS in the process. The 5090 FE went from 482W to 551W but lost 42% performance, dropping below 60fps even with DLSS on Performance.

Control had the highest power consumption and, therefore, the greatest limitation on the FE card. The Lightning Z version went from 691W to 802W, while the standard 5090 pulled 563W and only 575W with DLSS 5 enabled. While both cards saw their frame rates drop by 42% with DLSS 5 enabled, the Lightning Z still held above 60fps average, while the 5090 fell to just 51fps.

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So, DLSS 5 appears to benefit most from the latest tensor cores and greater power limits. Like the original DLSS release, it is likely to be a multi-generational technology that will be far more useful in the years and generations to come. More powerful cards with faster tensor units, with greater power limits, may be needed to take full advantage of it. But Nvidia will have to address that connector if it tries to push even more power through these things. Maybe something extra stealthy like the BTF method?

About Our Expert

Jon Martindale
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Jon Martindale is a tech journalist from the UK, with 20 years of experience covering all manner of PC components and associated gadgets. He’s written for a range of publications, including ExtremeTech, Digital Trends, Forbes, U.S. News & World Report, and Lifewire, among others. When not writing, he’s a big board gamer and reader, with a particular habit of speed-reading through long manga sagas. 

Jon covers the latest PC components, as well as how-to guides on everything from how to take a screenshot to how to set up your cryptocurrency wallet. He particularly enjoys the battles between the top tech giants in CPUs and GPUs, and tries his best not to take sides.

Jon’s gaming PC is built around the iconic 7950X3D CPU, with a 7900XTX backing it up. That’s all the power he needs to play lightweight indie and casual games, as well as more demanding sim titles like Kerbal Space Program. He uses a pair of Jabra Active 8 earbuds and a SteelSeries Arctis Pro wireless headset, and types all day on a Logitech G915 mechanical keyboard.

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