SOUNDING OFF: I went hands-on with Nvidia's DLSS 5 across multiple games at GTC and the "it's just a face filter" isn't the right take. The improvements to shadows, water, foliage, clothing, and even a coffee maker in Starfield are just as impressive as the character enhancements. Here are my full impressions including some details on the dual-GPU demo setup and the developer control story that I think matters quite a bit.
Nvidia dropped DLSS 5 at GTC 2026 this week, and the internet already has opinions.
Ryan Shrout is a longtime technology analyst and industry veteran who has spent over two decades covering PC hardware, graphics, and semiconductors. He previously led technical marketing at Intel and was the founding editor of PC Perspective. He is currently President and GM at Signal65. You can follow him on X @ryanshrout.
I was in the room and I went hands-on. Not watching a sizzle reel, not scrubbing through a carefully curated 30-second trailer, but sitting in front of multiple games with DLSS 5 toggling on and off in real time. Hogwarts Legacy. Starfield. Assassin's Creed Shadows. Oblivion Remastered. The Zorah tech demo. The visual improvements are significant. Not incremental. Significant.
