It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that the GeForce RTX 5090 is shaping up to be the most powerful GPU for gaming, especially considering AMD’s exit from the high-end segment with the Radeon RX 90. While the RTX 5090 represents a significant upgrade over the RTX 4090, it’s still not capable of handling heavy path tracing in demanding games without relying on DLSS.
According to NVIDIA’s official website and a video highlighting the new features of the Blackwell architecture, the RTX 5090 is able to run Cyberpunk 2077 in 4K with maximum settings and Overdrive mode (Path Tracing).
However, even with the RTX 5090, the game struggles to maintain 30 FPS when running natively, as shown in the specific gameplay footage released by NVIDIA. This illustrates that even the most powerful GPUs still require some help, like DLSS, to maintain smooth performance in graphically intensive scenarios.
DLSS 4 saves the RTX 5090 in this scenario
In a video showcasing the benefits of DLSS 4, particularly its exclusive Multi Frame Generator technology on the GeForce RTX 50 series, NVIDIA highlights a dramatic performance boost. With Cyberpunk 2077 running natively, the game performs between 25-28 FPS. However, when DLSS 4 is enabled, the frame rate skyrockets to over 240 FPS — an impressive increase of nearly 9x. This leap is achieved by using the 4X frame multiplier mode, along with Ray Reconstruction and Super Resolution set to performance mode, which involves rendering the game in 1080p and then upscaling it to 4K.
Not only does performance see a significant jump, but NVIDIA also mentions that DLSS 4 brings optimizations in Ray Reconstruction and Super Resolution, resulting in improved image quality.
It’s important to note that Path Tracing, the full implementation of ray tracing, is extremely demanding on a GPU. The RTX 4090, for example, struggles to maintain 20 FPS in certain areas of Cyberpunk 2077, depending on the scene’s complexity.
But does this make the technology a positive or negative development? NVIDIA argues that technologies like DLSS (and similar ones like AMD’s FSR and Intel’s XeSS) aren’t just designed to boost performance—they also enhance graphical quality. Machine learning algorithms continuously refine the experience, improving over time.
We’ll have a clearer understanding of how the GeForce RTX 5090 handles Path Tracing at native resolution (without DLSS) when it launches globally on January 30th.
