Question I'm dumb. Is DLSS supposed to be used or not?

[Stg-Flame]

From what I've read, it appears to be similar to V-Sync in that if you don't need it, don't use it, but I've heard so many differing opinions on a game-by-game basis that I'm thoroughly confused now. Granted, 99% of my information is coming from users on Reddit and Steam discussions and I'm aware that different hardware configurations will change a user's experience so I take everything I read with a massive grain of salt but I'd like to understand whether or not this option is good or not. For a game like Escape From Tarkov, I don't see any noticeable improvement to FPS with or without DLSS and a lot of users report they see a significant boost without it enabled. For Cyberpunk, I saw a very slight increase to performance but it seemed like some of the graphics appeared blurry or out of focus in some sequences after enabling it. I had a similar effect with Tarkov when DLSS was enabled, some of my movement made certain scenery objects appear to have a "warp-speed" effect if I turned too sharp. However, when I was playing Dying Light 2, the graphics appeared sharp and much more clear with DLSS enabled while not seeing any change to my FPS.

I've been out of the graphical loop for over a decade so I never kept up with this feature but I kept hearing people rave about DLSS cards and I honestly can't tell the difference when playing a game. Can someone break this down for me? Hardware is in my signature (I just got my new PSU back from EVGA so I need to stress test the absolute **** out of my machine tonight to see if my past crashing issues were in-fact PSU related).

Edit: All my games are being played at 4K resolution (3840X2160) @ 144hz G-Sync.

 

[Heartbreaker]

DLSS is basically running the game at lower resolution and scaling it up, with varying degrees image quality impact.

Since gaming almost always GPU limited, It would be strange if you didn't get a big boost in FPS when enabling it.

 

[Zepp]

but I kept hearing people rave about DLSS cards and I honestly can't tell the difference when playing a game.

everything nvidia does gets overhyped by their fans and marketing

It's an AI based resolution upscaling tech. IIRC it's implemented by nvidia for each game individually so it may look better in some than others. Their AI engine has to learn each game to upscale. It's fancy for sure but the hype around it made people talk like why buy radeon when nvidia has DLSS. as if everyone should be stoked to play on a fake AI interpolated resolution upscale.

 

[Heartbreaker]

Their AI engine has to learn each game to upscale.

Hasn't been that way since DLSS 1, at the very beginning. DLSS 3 is out now.

 

[Khanan]

It’s something you only use when your fps are too low, otherwise unimportant tech. There’s also FSR an open alternative that works with all modern gpus. Same story there

edit: you should use DLSS auto in CP2077, for me it works well, in 1440p that is, what’s your resolution?

Generally DLSS is fine unless the resolution is too low, the resolution it uses itself or your starting resolution which it uses to upscale. Sometimes it’s better than native, sometimes it’s not. Sometimes it’s a compromise you need to play fluently.

If you want some general knowledge about upscaling: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_scaling

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_learning_super_sampling

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPUOpen#FidelityFX_Super_Resolution

All you need to know.

 

[CakeMonster]

If you want a very general rule of thumb, enable Quality DLSS2 if you're not happy with native performance at your monitor's resolution.

DLSS is now so mature that its more or less a wash when it comes to image quality compared to native (and the performance gain is so substantial that 90% of cases will probably favor the compromise of using DLSS).

Disclaimers: If you run a 1080p monitor it can degrade image quality more because the native input resolution is very low, so you might want to skip it then. Also, you will want to turn off sharpening in-game if that effect bothers you.

 

[Stuka87]

If you play games with vsync on at 60fps (or whatever your refresh is set at), and your system doesn't drop below 60fps ever, there is no point in turning on DLSS/FSR.

The purpose of these is to give better performance when your GPU is not able to otherwise sustain the level of performance that you want.

If you are CPU bound, DLSS will not improve FPS at all.

 

[blckgrffn]

@OP, I mean, a 3090Ti with a 13900K? What resolution?

That's essentially the poster child of "DLSS not needed"

As others have said, this is way handier getting playable frames out of a 3060 at 1440P compared to what you are experiencing at say, 1440p with your setup.

Maybe high refresh 4K is a scenario it would come in handy for you.

Otherwise, nice beastly setup The 3090ti gets panned a little bit for poor value per $, but it is a super solid card in my experience. May it serve you well!

 

[GodisanAtheist]

@Stg-Flame what resolution are you playing at?

Just to mirror the comments here: DLSS is NV's proprietary upscaling algorithm to basically take a render a game at a lower resolution (for more performance in GPU limited scenarios) and use an algorithm to minimize the loss of image quality (as opposed to just setting your resolution lower than your monitor, which would result in the game looking like crap).

The tech is more useful/functions better at higher resolutions since it will start with a higher resolution base image. So users will see a good performance uplift with very little loss in quality if their monitor has a native 4K resolution, while not seeing much performance improvement and typically pretty poor image quality at a native 1080P resolution.

DLSS also usually has a number of quality settings ranging from High Quality (best image quality with lowest boost in performance) to High Performance (biggest hit to image quality for generally pretty substantial performance gains).

IMO leave it off if you're happy with a game's performance.

However, if you're not happy with the framerate you're getting in a game and you're running your games at one of the higher resolutions (1440p or 4K), then go ahead and turn on DLSS. Worst case scenario you're not happy with the hit to image quality for the performance gain and turn it off, best case scenario you don't really notice any drop in image quality but suddenly your game is running better.

 

[pj-]

If you play games with vsync on at 60fps (or whatever your refresh is set at), and your system doesn't drop below 60fps ever, there is no point in turning on DLSS/FSR.

The purpose of these is to give better performance when your GPU is not able to otherwise sustain the level of performance that you want.

If you are CPU bound, DLSS will not improve FPS at all.

At this point I think there's really no reason to not turn on DLSS/FSR Quality unless there are particularly annoying visual artifacts in a particular game. Those are quite rare these days in my experience and when I do see something weird it's for a fraction of a second and could be due to DLSS or could be due to one of the other million processing effects modern games use.

If you're already at the refresh of your screen, you'll get the same perf with less power draw.

 

[Leeea]

From what I've read, it appears to be similar to V-Sync in that if you don't need it, don't use it, but I've heard so many differing opinions on a game-by-game basis that I'm thoroughly confused now. Granted, 99% of my information is coming from users on Reddit and Steam discussions and I'm aware that different hardware configurations will change a user's experience so I take everything I read with a massive grain of salt but I'd like to understand whether or not this option is good or not. For a game like Escape From Tarkov, I don't see any noticeable improvement to FPS with or without DLSS and a lot of users report they see a significant boost without it enabled. For Cyberpunk, I saw a very slight increase to performance but it seemed like some of the graphics appeared blurry or out of focus in some sequences after enabling it. I had a similar effect with Tarkov when DLSS was enabled, some of my movement made certain scenery objects appear to have a "warp-speed" effect if I turned too sharp. However, when I was playing Dying Light 2, the graphics appeared sharp and much more clear with DLSS enabled while not seeing any change to my FPS.

I've been out of the graphical loop for over a decade so I never kept up with this feature but I kept hearing people rave about DLSS cards and I honestly can't tell the difference when playing a game. Can someone break this down for me? Hardware is in my signature (I just got my new PSU back from EVGA so I need to stress test the absolute **** out of my machine tonight to see if my past crashing issues were in-fact PSU related).

DLSS sacrifices image quality for additional performance.


Only use it if you need it. You may get better results from just turning down the settings in game to medium.


The other thing with DLSS is in some games the implementation is "good" and in others it is "awful". Unless your willing to do the research and you feel like you need additional FPS you probably should leave it off.

 

[Genx87]

I turned it on in MSFlightsim at 1440p and saw noticeable image degradation.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Sorry, I thought I added my resolution but that's just more reason why I shouldn't be posting right after work/before bed.

I'm playing at 4k (3840X2160) @144hz G-Sync with all my games.

Thanks a lot for all the replies. I had the impression this was mainly only to be used if I needed it, but given all the hype surrounding this feature, I figured it was something that I should be enabling everywhere.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I'm playing at 4k (3840X2160) @144hz G-Sync with all my games.

You only need DLSS if your card is unable to maintain 120-144 Hz at 4K. Or if you don't want your card's raster engine to get too stressed doing native 4K (I'm not sure but I think DLSS quality 4K would result in lower GPU temperatures than native 4K).

You would need FSR for games that don't support DLSS, though.

 

[Shmee]

DLSS is a good tech for getting higher FPS with little quality loss. I used it on my 3090 in some games, to help maintain 200+ FPS on my 1440p monitor. If you don't need it, don't worry about it, though it may depend on the game.

Also, from what I am hearing, the new DLSS 3 is not a good tech due to the fake frames issue, but that shouldn't be relevant to you, as I believe it is only supported on RTX 4000 series.

 

[Stuka87]

Sorry, I thought I added my resolution but that's just more reason why I shouldn't be posting right after work/before bed.

I'm playing at 4k (3840X2160) @144hz G-Sync with all my games.

Thanks a lot for all the replies. I had the impression this was mainly only to be used if I needed it, but given all the hype surrounding this feature, I figured it was something that I should be enabling everywhere.

If you have GSync enabled, you won't notice when you drop below 144fps. So you may be dropping to 120 or so now and then, but G-Sync will hide that.

But if you have an FPS overlay setup, you will see the FPS dip below 144, or for some games, you may not even hit 144.

 

[Dribble]

One thing to note is DLSS is often configured with no sharpening by default. If the image is looking a bit soft you can try sharpening - Nvidia has the ability to add sharpening to games (while using DLSS if it's enabled) via the control panel and ingame overlay. Some games also have a DLSS sharpening option.

 

[Khanan]

Sorry, I thought I added my resolution but that's just more reason why I shouldn't be posting right after work/before bed.

I'm playing at 4k (3840X2160) @144hz G-Sync with all my games.

Thanks a lot for all the replies. I had the impression this was mainly only to be used if I needed it, but given all the hype surrounding this feature, I figured it was something that I should be enabling everywhere.

You shouldn’t use it always but you can always try it out if the game has a integrated TAA solution, because DLSS or FSR replace that solution with their own and this can mean it looks better, as TAA has certain issues these don’t have (hence the slogan “it looks better than native”).

 

[Heartbreaker]

Some games also have a DLSS sharpening option.

They should do this for all. Some are oversharpened, some are undersharpened. Both are annoying.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

If you have GSync enabled, you won't notice when you drop below 144fps. So you may be dropping to 120 or so now and then, but G-Sync will hide that.

But if you have an FPS overlay setup, you will see the FPS dip below 144, or for some games, you may not even hit 144.

- Yeah, Freesync/Gsync are like magic, its incredible what a difference just eliminating screen tearing does for how your eyes perceive the "smoothness" of a game.

 

[CP5670]

I only use it with RT. It does improve performance a lot but the image quality difference is noticeable, especially in games like Cyberpunk where you can see stuff far away.

 

[Racan]

Imo DLSS works best for laptops with weaker graphics cards combined with the small screen which helps to hide the fact that the image is upscaled a lot better.

 

[Khanan]

I only use it with RT. It does improve performance a lot but the image quality difference is noticeable, especially in games like Cyberpunk where you can see stuff far away.

I tried to see the difference in CP2077 even with DLSS on auto and couldn’t find it, maybe with a side by side comparison I could but not like this. In my opinion, people only see the difference either if DLSS is in a low mode or if they tryhard at seeing differences instead of playing normally.

 

[Stuka87]

I tried to see the difference in CP2077 even with DLSS on auto and couldn’t find it, maybe with a side by side comparison I could but not like this. In my opinion, people only see the difference either if DLSS is in a low mode or if they tryhard at seeing differences instead of playing normally.

With auto, it depends on how well your GPU is doing. If you have a slower card that struggles, its more likely to go to a higher performance (lower quality) preset. But if you have a card that otherwise hits the required framerate without issue, it will go to the highest quality mode.

But different people notice different things. Where I tend to notice upscaling is around character hair. Both DLSS and FSR will often struggle in this area where there will be a fuzziness around it. And for me, it drives me nuts. But others may not notice it at all. Another places is if there is some sort of fencing or the like that has lots of openings, upscalers can do a poor job there too. It will end up flickering.

 

[Khanan]

With auto, it depends on how well your GPU is doing. If you have a slower card that struggles, its more likely to go to a higher performance (lower quality) preset. But if you have a card that otherwise hits the required framerate without issue, it will go to the highest quality mode.

But different people notice different things. Where I tend to notice upscaling is around character hair. Both DLSS and FSR will often struggle in this area where there will be a fuzziness around it. And for me, it drives me nuts. But others may not notice it at all. Another places is if there is some sort of fencing or the like that has lots of openings, upscalers can do a poor job there too. It will end up flickering.

Barely, I have set everything on Ultra, even RT, I tried to find any shortcomings while just standing around and looking multiple times but couldn’t find any. Fps is around 45-60, this is with FreeSync on ofc.