RTX 40 Gets DLSS 5, GPU Prices Rise and Next Xbox May Drop Discs

PC and console players are facing several changes at once this week. NVIDIA has reversed course and confirmed that RTX 40-series GPUs will eventually support DLSS 5, graphics card prices are rising again in September, and Microsoft's next Xbox may reportedly ship without a disc drive.

For players trying to decide whether to upgrade their hardware or hold on to what they already have, all three developments are worth watching.

NVIDIA Confirms DLSS 5 Is Coming to RTX 40 GPUs After All

NVIDIA has changed its position on DLSS 5 support for older GeForce cards. After previously confirming that the technology was exclusive to RTX 50-series GPUs, the company has now said that RTX 40-series cards based on the Ada Lovelace architecture will eventually receive official support.

NVIDIA previously told TechPowerUP that DLSS 5 was limited to RTX 50 when asked directly about compatibility. The company has now clarified that RTX 40 support is planned, although it will not arrive immediately.

According to TweakTown, NVIDIA says DLSS 5 is its most computationally demanding model yet. The company claims it has already improved performance by five times since the technology was first announced in March and plans to release another model update later this fall.

For RTX 4070, RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 owners, the important part is that the upgrade path has not been cut off. NVIDIA says it is currently concentrating on optimizing DLSS 5 for RTX 50-series GPUs and will expand official support to RTX 40 after those improvements are completed.

That also makes the earlier leaked DLSS 5 files more interesting. Technical users had already discovered that the apparent hardware restrictions were partly enforced through software checks. After those restrictions were removed, modified versions of the technology were reportedly able to run on RTX 20- and RTX 30-series cards as well, although the results were not particularly impressive.

That does not mean NVIDIA plans to officially support those older GPUs. For now, the company's confirmed expansion only covers RTX 40.

Still, the reversal is good news for players who bought a recent Ada Lovelace GPU and were worried that DLSS 5 would become another reason to upgrade again so soon. RTX 40 owners will have to wait for the new models and further optimization, but they are now officially part of NVIDIA's future DLSS 5 plans.

Graphics Card Prices Are Rising Again in September

While RTX 40 owners have received some good news, anyone actually shopping for a new graphics card is facing a less pleasant situation.

ASUS, Gigabyte and other board partners are reportedly preparing another round of price increases in the Chinese market this September, with some individual models rising by as much as 500 yuan.

ASUS is reportedly increasing the net cost of its RTX 5070 series by around 150 to 300 yuan. Gigabyte is raising RTX 5060 Ti 16GB models by around 200 yuan, while several AMD cards are also expected to become more expensive. The RX 9070 XT could rise by around 200 yuan, RX 9060 XT 16GB and 8GB models by around 200 to 250 yuan, and the RX 7650 GRE by around 400 yuan.

The main reason is the continued shortage of memory and other components, combined with manufacturers shifting production capacity toward AI-focused GPUs. NVIDIA is also reportedly reducing third-quarter consumer GPU shipments by around 15% to 20%.

That leaves little room for retailers and board partners to build up inventory.

The higher-end RTX 5080 and RTX 5070 Ti remain among the more difficult cards to find, although their prices are expected to stabilize after the large increases seen in August. The RTX 5070 may also remain relatively stable, although some brands that were previously priced below the market could still raise prices by another 100 to 200 yuan.

The RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti 8GB remain the main RTX 50-series volume products, accounting for roughly 60% to 70% of shipments. Even there, demand is still expected to remain higher than supply during September.

For players waiting for GPU prices to fall, that is not exactly what they wanted to hear. A shortage of consumer GPUs combined with strong demand for AI hardware means that waiting another month does not necessarily guarantee a better deal.

Some models may stay at their current prices, but there is currently little evidence of a broad price drop across the market.

Next-Gen Xbox Could Launch Without a Disc Drive

The Xbox side of the hardware market may be heading in a completely different direction.

Recent reports suggest that Microsoft's next-generation Xbox, reportedly known internally as Helix, may launch without a built-in disc drive. The issue may not simply be Microsoft's decision to go digital, however. The company could reportedly be having difficulty sourcing enough optical drives in the first place.

The optical-drive market has been shrinking for years as laptops, Blu-ray players and other consumer devices have moved away from physical media. According to reports from Windows Central and Digital Foundry, most of the remaining demand is now concentrated around products such as the PS5 and Xbox Series X.

That could make sourcing drives at the scale needed for a new console increasingly difficult.

Digital Foundry has reportedly heard similar information and believes the chances of Helix shipping with a physical drive are currently quite low. Microsoft has also been pushing initiatives that convert physical game ownership into digital licenses, leading to speculation that the company is already preparing players for a more digital-focused next generation.

For players, this could matter more than it first sounds.

A disc-free Xbox would mean no used physical games, no trading discs with friends and no simple way to resell a game after finishing it. Players who buy everything digitally may not care, but collectors and anyone who still prefers physical releases would lose one of the Xbox ecosystem's options.

There is still no official confirmation that the next Xbox will be digital-only. Microsoft could find a way to secure sufficient drives before the console launches, and its next-generation hardware plans could change.

But if the current reports are accurate, physical media could face another major setback during the next console generation.

And that would put the Xbox situation in an interesting place alongside the GPU market and DLSS 5. PC players are seeing software features expand onto older hardware while hardware prices continue to rise, while console players may soon have to decide whether they are comfortable with a future where the disc drive is no longer part of the machine at all.

For players looking at their next upgrade, the hardware decisions are becoming less straightforward. Keeping an existing RTX 40 card could soon mean access to DLSS 5 without buying a new GPU, but actually purchasing a new graphics card is getting more expensive. On the console side, the next Xbox may offer more power while giving players fewer options for physical games.

The technology keeps moving forward. The choices available to players are not necessarily moving in the same direction.