A new DLSS 5 foveated rendering mod promises sharply higher frame rates on ultrawide monitors by borrowing a trick long used in VR headsets: rendering full detail only where the eye naturally looks, then easing off toward the edges of the screen. Early testing shows gains of more than 60 percent in one demanding title, though the mod remains limited to a single game and carries some notable caveats.
Key takeaways
- ✓FoveatedDLSS5 is a ReShade mod that reduces neural rendering load toward screen edges
- ✓The Witcher 3 jumped from 49 FPS to about 80 FPS on an RTX 4090 at 7680×2160
- ✓Gains shrink at smaller resolutions and the mod disables itself at 3440×1440
- ✓It only works when neural rendering runs after upscaling, ruling out the Neural Upstream trick
- ✓A separate project, CheekyFoveatedDLSS, already adds eye-tracked foveation for VR headsets
The project, called FoveatedDLSS5, is a ReShade add-on built by a developer going by maximedgoulet. It targets one of the clearest weaknesses in NVIDIA’s Neural Rendering pipeline: the computational cost scales with every pixel on screen, and ultrawide and super-ultrawide panels simply have far more pixels to process than a standard 16:9 display.
Table of Contents
How the DLSS 5 foveated rendering mod works
Foveated rendering is not a new idea. VR headsets have used it for years, tracking where a user’s eyes are pointed and rendering that area in crisp detail while letting peripheral vision, which notices far less fine detail anyway, make do with a lower-resolution pass. FoveatedDLSS5 adapts that same logic for a flat monitor, without eye tracking, by assuming the centre of the screen is where most of a player’s attention sits during normal gameplay.
In practice, the mod keeps Neural Rendering running at full resolution in a central zone of the display and steps the processing down progressively toward the outer edges. Because Neural Rendering’s cost is tied directly to total pixel count, cutting the workload at the margins frees up a meaningful chunk of GPU time without most players noticing a visible drop in sharpness where it matters most.
The approach only functions when Neural Rendering runs after the upscaling stage, which means it cannot be combined with the so-called Neural Upstream trick that some other mods use to rework DLSS 5’s rendering order for a separate performance gain.
Benchmark results on ultrawide monitors
The modder shared results from The Witcher 3 in a Reddit post, running an RTX 4090 at a 7680×2160 resolution with 2x multipass enabled. Frame rates climbed from roughly 49 FPS to around 80 FPS, a gain of more than 60 percent. That is a substantial jump for a single ReShade add-on, and it illustrates just how much headroom exists on extreme-width displays once the rendering load is redistributed intelligently.
The size of the benefit depends heavily on resolution, because the mod’s savings come from how many pixels sit outside its central zone. The table below shows how much of the original pixel count Neural Rendering still processes under the mod’s default settings at different resolutions.
| Resolution | Pixels still processed (default settings) | Mod effect |
|---|---|---|
| 7680×2160 (super-ultrawide) | About 71% | Largest gains, close to the tested 60%+ uplift |
| 3840×2160 (4K, 16:9) | About 93% | Much smaller benefit by default |
| 3440×1440 (21:9 ultrawide) | N/A | Mod disables itself at this resolution by default |
That last row matters for a lot of gamers. Standard 16:9 and common 3440×1440 ultrawide owners will need to manually shrink the mod’s central zone to see any benefit at all, since the default configuration is tuned around the widest screens on the market.
Limitations of this early DLSS 5 mod
FoveatedDLSS5 is still pre-release software, and so far it has only been verified in one game. That is not unusual for a community mod at this stage, but it does mean broader compatibility, visual artefacts in other titles, and long-term stability are all still open questions. Anyone trying it should expect some trial and error with the zone settings, particularly on screens outside the super-ultrawide category the mod was built around.
Coverage from Videocardz also flagged a related but distinct project called CheekyFoveatedDLSS, which has been available since early September. Rather than targeting flat ultrawide monitors, that mod adds genuine eye-tracked foveation for VR headsets, using actual gaze data instead of assuming the centre of the frame is always where a player is looking. The two projects tackle the same underlying inefficiency in Neural Rendering from different angles, one for VR, one for wide desktop displays.
What it means for PC gamers with ultrawide setups
NVIDIA’s Neural Rendering pipeline has delivered strong image quality gains with DLSS 5, but the computational overhead has been a persistent trade-off, especially for anyone running a panel wider than standard 16:9. A mod like this points to a workaround the community can apply right now, rather than waiting on NVIDIA to ship native foveated support of its own.
It also fits into a broader pattern around DLSS 5 since launch, where independent modders keep finding ways to squeeze more performance or compatibility out of the technology than the official release offers out of the box. Readers who want to get the most from their hardware without relying on unofficial tools might also find value in general guidance on optimising PC gaming settings for better performance, which covers more conventional tuning options.
For now, FoveatedDLSS5 is best treated as an experimental tool for enthusiasts with high-end GPUs and genuinely wide monitors, rather than a polished solution ready for mainstream use. Its single-game testing and resolution quirks mean it needs more validation before it becomes a reliable fixture in the ultrawide gaming toolkit, but the early numbers suggest NVIDIA and other modders alike have good reason to keep exploring foveation as a serious performance lever.
Frequently asked questions
What is the DLSS 5 foveated rendering mod?
FoveatedDLSS5 is a community-made ReShade add-on that reduces Neural Rendering’s workload toward the edges of the screen while keeping the centre at full quality, similar to how VR headsets handle foveated rendering.
How much faster does it make ultrawide gaming?
In testing with The Witcher 3 on an RTX 4090 at 7680×2160, frame rates rose from about 49 FPS to roughly 80 FPS, an improvement of more than 60 percent.
Does the mod work on all monitor sizes?
Not by default. It delivers the biggest gains on super-ultrawide 7680×2160 displays, offers much smaller benefits at 4K, and switches itself off entirely at 3440×1440 unless the central zone is adjusted manually.
Can it be combined with other DLSS 5 mods?
No. It requires Neural Rendering to run after upscaling, which makes it incompatible with the Neural Upstream mod that reorders DLSS 5’s rendering pipeline for a separate performance boost.
