DLSS 5 can narrow the visual gap between ray tracing and path tracing in The Witcher 3 Remastered, but the available comparison is a modded experiment—not an official game mode—and its author still judged path tracing’s lighting superior. The remaster’s official PC feature list names DLSS 4.5 with Ray Reconstruction, not native DLSS 5 support. The comparison below is therefore best read as one reviewer’s test of a mod, not a feature players can enable through the game’s standard settings.
Is DLSS 5 officially supported in The Witcher 3 Remastered?
No. CD PROJEKT RED lists path tracing and NVIDIA DLSS 4.5 with Ray Reconstruction among the remaster’s PC features; its feature list does not name DLSS 5. The comparison discussed here used an RHI mod to add DLSS 5, according to DSOGaming reviewer John Papadopoulos. That distinction matters: modded results may depend on the mod and setup and should not be treated as an official preset or a supported game configuration.
The remaster launched on September 29, 2026, as a free upgrade for owners on supported platforms and includes Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, according to CD PROJEKT RED’s release announcement. Its official PC feature list names DLSS 4.5 with Ray Reconstruction, AMD FSR 4 and Intel XeSS 2.0 alongside path tracing. FSR 4 is listed for Radeon RX 7000-series and newer cards, with FSR 2 used on unsupported GPUs.
What is different about ray tracing and path tracing?
Both are lighting techniques, but they are not interchangeable settings. NVIDIA describes the remaster’s DirectX 12-only renderer as improving ray-traced lighting, reflections and other effects, with path tracing offered as an additional lighting option. Those are NVIDIA’s characterizations; the practical comparison is how each mode renders a particular scene on a particular system.
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In the DSOGaming comparison scene, Papadopoulos found that the modded ray-tracing image with DLSS 5 brought some lighting closer to path tracing than standard ray tracing did. He still preferred path tracing’s lighting. He also reported improvements to character detail and to some environmental lighting, ambient occlusion and shadows after adjusting DLSS 5 settings. These are subjective observations from a particular scene and modded setup, not a result established across every area of the game.
What did the DLSS 5 comparison test?
Papadopoulos reported using an RHI mod because the game did not support DLSS 5 natively. His stated test system included a Ryzen 9 7950X3D, 32 GB of DDR5-6000 memory, an RTX 5080 and RTX 5090, Windows 10 64-bit, and NVIDIA Game Ready driver 617.14. He said he adjusted DLSS 5 to improve character appearance and slightly improve environments while retaining the game’s original color tone.
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The visual conclusion was qualified: DLSS 5 improved some aspects of the ray-traced image and narrowed the gap in the described scene, but did not make the reviewer consider its lighting better than path tracing. Since the evidence is one outlet’s modded comparison and has not been independently reproduced here, it does not establish DLSS 5 as a generally superior or equivalent replacement.
How should the reported frame rates be read?
The reviewer reported two results for an RTX 5090 at 4K/Ultra+, but they are not a clean, matched benchmark. In his test, ray tracing with DLSS 4.5 Performance Mode and Frame Generation off reached 55–57 FPS. His path-tracing-with-DLSS-5 test using DLSS Performance Mode reached 45–49 FPS. He also reported that ray tracing with DLSS 5 ran slower than default path tracing in his tests. Because the modes and settings are not identical in the reported figures, do not use them to calculate a general performance advantage.
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Frame generation also changes what an FPS figure means. The developer says its Path Tracing performance configuration was measured with upscaling and Frame Generation on, and warns that results vary by scene, system, settings and resolution. NVIDIA’s examples are likewise upscaled and generated rather than native-rendering comparisons: it reports up to 245 FPS on an RTX 5080 and up to 385 FPS on an RTX 5090 at 4K Ultra+ path-traced settings with DLSS 4.5 6X Multi Frame Generation and Ray Reconstruction. These are NVIDIA’s stated results and configuration, not independent measurements.
For a useful comparison on your own PC, keep the resolution and image-quality settings fixed, note the upscaling preset, and record base FPS with Frame Generation off before comparing generated output. Also account for the scene, GPU, driver and any mod: apparent output FPS alone does not tell you the native rendering cost, latency or image stability. No controlled DLSS-versus-FSR-versus-XeSS comparison is established by the cited material.
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What should PC players use?
Choose path tracing for the tested lighting result
If your priority is the lighting in the comparison scene, the reviewer favored path tracing over ray tracing with DLSS 5. That is a scene-specific visual judgment, not a claim that path tracing wins every image-quality comparison or runs faster on every PC.
Use the game’s listed reconstruction options for supported play
For a standard, officially listed setup, the PC feature list includes NVIDIA DLSS 4.5 with Ray Reconstruction, AMD FSR 4 on Radeon RX 7000-series and newer cards (with FSR 2 on unsupported GPUs), and Intel XeSS 2.0. These options are not a proven cross-vendor performance ranking: the cited material does not provide a controlled head-to-head test.
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Consider cloud streaming if local hardware is a barrier
NVIDIA says GeForce NOW can stream the remaster for players without a local RTX PC capable of its path-tracing and DLSS features. Streaming availability, system requirements and image quality depend on the service and region; the cited announcement does not establish current coverage or terms for every player.
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