DLSS 5's Neural Rendering model just got a lot lighter. NVIDIA says its October update shrinks the model by 24%, to roughly 118 million parameters, and cuts VRAM use at 4K by 20%. NVIDIA says that's half the GPU overhead of the September version with comparable image quality, and up to 2x faster processing. NBA 2K27 was set to get the new model on October 16.
Modders didn't wait long. Tom's Hardware reports that Renan Maniero extracted the new 310.9.16.0 DLSS NR build, so others can run it in games without official DLSS 5 support. Comparing is easy because the new DLL includes both models: Preset A is the old model and Preset B is the new one.
Results depend on the game. Tom's Hardware says modders have found the new model up to 40% faster, and Gaming Optimized on X reported gains of up to 90% in The Witcher 3 while noting the boost varies from game to game. The mods inject DLSS through RenoDX or OptiScaler, and per the OptiScaler README, the runtime has also been modified to work on RTX 20-series cards.
Tom's Hardware says NVIDIA plans to bring DLSS 5 to RTX 40-series GPUs, with no reports of official RTX 30 or 20 support. NVIDIA says Hogwarts Legacy gets DLSS 5 on November 5 for GeForce RTX 50 Series, GeForce NOW and RTX Spark, with Where Winds Meet in the coming weeks.
My take: I've been building PCs for about 30 years, and VRAM is usually the first thing that holds a card back as it ages. A model that gets smaller and faster instead of bigger is the right direction, especially for RTX 40-series cards and laptops. Modded results are fun, but I'd wait for official support before reading too much into that 90% figure.