RTX 4090 Owners Beat DLSS 5 Power Spike With One Simple Undervolt

A simple undervolt cuts up to 47W from the RTX 4090's DLSS 5 power draw with almost no performance loss, easing heat and 12VHPWR worries.

DLSS 5 looks gorgeous, but your power bill (and your 12VHPWR cable) might not be thrilled about it. Turns out there's a dead-simple fix, and one RTX 4090 owner just showed everyone how it's done.

The new neural rendering mode in DLSS 5 delivers a clear jump in image quality, but it comes with a seriously hefty power cost. In real-world testing, an RTX 4090 running DLSS 5 spiked as high as 435W, and sustained heavy loads at that level can even put the 12VHPWR power connector at risk of overheating.

Enter MSI Afterburner. The user dropped the RTX 4090's core voltage from its default range of 1.00V to 1.10V down to just 925mV, and the results speak for themselves. In a 4K test of Hogwarts Legacy with DLSS 5 enabled but frame generation off, power draw fell from 426W to 387W — while frame rates actually ticked up to 52FPS instead of dropping.

The gains hold up across every workload the user threw at it. With DLSS 5 plus Multi Frame Generation at MFG x4, power dropped from 435W to 388W, saving a full 47W, with frame rates locked steady at 175FPS. The same tweak was verified in Cyberpunk 2077 too, where power fell from around 426W to 386W.

And it's not just about watts. Undervolting also brings down GPU heat and fan noise at the same time. For RTX 4090 owners, that means you can enjoy everything DLSS 5's neural rendering brings to the table while keeping your 12VHPWR connector safe from the long-term overheating and melting risks that come with prolonged high-load sessions.

So if you've been eyeing DLSS 5 but dreading the power spike, a quick trip into Afterburner might be all you need. Have you tried undervolting your own card yet? Drop your settings and results in the comments — we'd love to see what numbers you're getting.