World of Warcraft: Forever DLSS 5 Tested on RTX 5090 at 4K

We finally have our first real look at DLSS 5 in World of Warcraft: Forever, and honestly? It's looking pretty slick.

YouTuber Jansn Benchmarks dropped a new video showing the game's beta running with DLSS 5 enabled, and the footage focuses on two classic zones: Blackrock Mountain and the Burning Steppes. Both are being rendered at 4K UHD, so if you've ever wanted to see those lava-soaked landscapes in crisp, modern detail, this is your chance.

According to the creator, the demo was running on a PC packing an RTX 5090, set to 4K resolution with the game's highest graphics preset. That's about as beefy as it gets right now, and it gives us a good idea of what the new upscaling tech can do in a game as old as Azeroth itself.

Here's where things get interesting, though. DLSS 5 isn't actually being injected directly into the game. The reason? World of Warcraft: Forever has an anti-cheat system that blocks that kind of external injection. So instead, Jansn Benchmarks ran DLSS 5 through a separate PC equipped with an RTX 5080, applying it externally rather than from inside the game.

It's a clever workaround, and it shows just how far people are willing to go to test new tech on a game that wasn't necessarily built with it in mind. The lighting and shadow effects in the footage are getting plenty of attention, with the Burning Steppes in particular benefiting from the improved rendering.

Of course, this is still beta footage, and the setup is far from your average gaming rig. But for anyone curious about how DLSS 5 might handle a massive MMO like World of Warcraft: Forever, this is a solid early glimpse.

We'll keep an eye out for more details as the beta rolls on. In the meantime, what do you think of the visuals? Would you run a two-PC setup just to test DLSS 5, or is that a step too far? Let us know in the comments.