Nvidia DLSS 4 to launch with RTX 5090 and 5080, says leaker

According to the latest developments, Nvidia DLSS 4 might launch with the RTX 5090 and 5080. The flagship GPUs are often the first to hit the market as part of any generation. Thus, we could be weeks away from a new iteration of image upscaling technology, which industry insiders believe will be paired with the host of improvements brought by the Blackwell lineup.

The latest details come from Kopite7kimi, a well-known gaming hardware leak market name. They have previously pointed out multiple leaks of unreleased CPUs and GPUs, almost all of which have materialized. The DLSS tip was spotted in one of his comments on X, where a user shared a photo of an RTX 5080 listing GDDR7 and DLSS 4 marketing terms displayed.

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How is DLSS 4 expected to improve AI upscaling in video games?

Much isn't known about exactly the tech stack the new DLSS generation would bring to the table. However, a couple of previous leaks have hinted that it could be a significant leap in how AI upscaling is done.

Currently, Nvidia offers deep learning-based image upscaling and frame generation techniques. There are certain AI-based image quality enhancers for powerful GPUs as well. However, a recent teaser from the AIB card maker Inno3D pointed at "Neural Rendering" among "Generative AI Acceleration" and "AI-Accelerated Graphics." In terms of how to define the former term, the company writes "Revolutionizing how graphics are processed and displayed."

Both the term and its description are pretty cryptic, and don't do a good job of defining the exact technology used. We might have to wait for Nvidia's CES 2025 presentation which is scheduled for January 6 at 6.30 PM PT to find out more.

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Will DLSS 4 be available on the Nvidia RTX 40, 30, and 20 series?

A look at how DLSS 3 works (Image via Nvidia)

A Videocardz report recently claimed that Nvidia is considering bringing some of the new technologies launched with DLSS 4 to older GPUs. However, how many will make the cut remains to be seen.

This is much like how DLSS 3 was introduced. While some of the technologies like Super Resolution and DLAA were made available to the older 30 and 20 series offerings, frame generation stayed exclusive to 40 series cards. At launch, Nvidia cited the lack of Optical Flow Accelerators on the older GPUs for the move. These cores guide the generation of new frames to be more precise and prevent visual artifacts.

We speculate the new GPUs will also pack certain innovations that could lock out some of the technologies that will be introduced with DLSS 4.