What is DLSS?

Want more frames without lowering your resolution? That’s what DLSS is for. DLSS is NVIDIA’s name for a suite of neural rendering technologies that run on a GeForce RTX card, in a game that lists them. The letters stand for Deep Learning Super Sampling. The switch people usually mean is Super Resolution: the game draws a smaller picture than the resolution you chose, then a model on the card’s Tensor Cores rebuilds that frame to fill the screen. The monitor still shows the resolution you picked. The card’s job got easier because it painted fewer pixels.

I play on a desktop RTX 5080 + AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2, on a 1080p 240 Hz and a 1440p 155 Hz monitor. NVIDIA’s [: Super Resolution, Frame Generation, Ray Reconstruction, and Reflex. Raising the frame rate is still the rest of the settings, one change at a time. More guides.

What to check first

DLSS is NVIDIA's upscaler on an RTX card. The game draws a smaller picture and rebuilds the resolution you chose. Start at Quality. A card that is not RTX does not run it.

The graphics cardNot sure yetThe name says RTXIt is not an RTX cardThe game menuDLSS is not in the listDLSS is in the listWhat is shortThe frame rateThe picture is softFrames, without going soft

What this means

Read the GPU name

DLSS runs on an NVIDIA RTX card. The name has to say RTX. GTX does not run it. Find that name before you hunt for a menu line.

Read the graphics card’s name before you open the game. RTX is the word that matters. GTX is an older NVIDIA card, and it does not run DLSS. A card from another company does not run NVIDIA’s suite either. Then look in the game’s graphics menu, not in Windows. If the line is missing, this game does not offer it.

The parts of DLSS

• The card I actually play on: GeForce RTX 5080. Official spec table: Blackwell, 16 GB GDDR7, DLSS 4 Super Resolution, DLAA, Ray Reconstruction, Frame Generation, Multi Frame Generation, Reflex 2 Low Latency Mode, Frame Warp marked Coming Soon. More on my RTX 5080 PC.
• Super Resolution: NVIDIA’s DLSS page. AI output of a higher-resolution frame from a lower-resolution input, using motion data and feedback from prior frames. Quality, Balanced, Performance, and Ultra Performance are the mode names that change how small that input is.
• The other named switches: Frame Generation invents a picture between two frames the game drew. Reflex holds the CPU until the GPU can take the next frame. Ray Reconstruction replaces hand-tuned denoisers in ray-traced scenes. They are not the Quality slider.

The short version: set Super Resolution to Quality, leave every other upscaler off, and treat Frame Generation and Ray Reconstruction as later, separate clicks.

Those fractions are NVIDIA’s Super Resolution scales, from the Ray Reconstruction integration guide and the Unreal Engine plugin note. Each number is a side, not a vague “a bit softer.” Two thirds of the width and two thirds of the height is under half the pixels. Half the width and half the height is a quarter of the pixels. On a 4K output, Performance is drawing a 1080p picture and rebuilding it. The output stays 4K. Ultra Performance at 4K is drawing 720p. The same NVIDIA note says Ultra Performance at 1440p becomes an 853×480 input, and they advise against that.

The rebuild is not a stretch

A plain resolution drop throws pixels away and then stretches them. Edges stair-step, and thin detail turns to mush. Super Resolution asks the game for motion information and for the frames it already drew, and a model on the RTX card’s Tensor Cores rebuilds the missing detail. NVIDIA’s developer page says the library samples multiple lower-resolution images and uses motion data and feedback from prior frames. That is why it can look closer to the full picture than a stretch of the same small render.

It is still a guess filled in by a model. Fine lines, a chain-link fence, and small text in the distance are where the guess shows. You see softness, a shimmer, or a short trail when the camera moves. A lower mode makes that easier to notice because the model has less to work from. If the trail bothers you more than the frame rate, step back toward Quality or turn Super Resolution off. There is no mode that is free sharpness and free frames.

NVIDIA’s DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution post says a second-generation transformer model improves stability, anti-aliasing, and visual clarity, and that the largest change is in Performance and Ultra Performance, where fewer rendered pixels are available. That post also says Performance can be comparable to, and can even beat, native image quality on NVIDIA’s tests. Those are NVIDIA’s scenes.

The version number on a box is the whole feature set. DLSS 3 added Frame Generation. DLSS 3.5 added Ray Reconstruction. DLSS 4 added Multi Frame Generation and a transformer model. DLSS 4.5 added Dynamic Multi Frame Generation and a second-generation transformer. DLSS 5, on NVIDIA’s current DLSS page, adds 3D-Guided Neural Rendering for lighting and materials on RTX 50 cards. The control that changes how many pixels the game draws is still the Super Resolution mode in the table. A newer model can change how the rebuild looks. It does not change the job: fewer pixels in, the resolution you chose out.

Where you turn it on

The card’s name is in Task Manager, under Performance, on the GPU line. A laptop often lists two: the chip built into the processor, and the RTX card. Super Resolution uses the RTX one. If the game is running on the built-in chip, the menu can hide DLSS even when the laptop has an RTX card. Pointing the game at the high performance GPU is part of the frame-rate guide, and it has to happen before this switch will show. The Blade is not this 5080 tower.

The label is not always the four letters. Look for DLSS, or for Super Resolution with NVIDIA selected. A slider called render scale, with no NVIDIA name, is a plain shrink. It does not rebuild the frame. Leave that slider at the game’s default while Super Resolution is on, so you are not shrinking the picture twice.

Set the game’s resolution to the one the monitor is using. Then set the upscaler to DLSS and the mode to Quality. Leave every other upscaler off. Two of them at once fight, and the picture does not get a second rebuild for free. Another brand has its own line in games that offer it. Turn on the one that matches the card.

Replay one busy moment you already know. Read the frame-rate counter there, not in a menu. If Quality is smooth enough, stop. If it is still short of the refresh you want, try Balanced, then Performance. Stop when the picture gets softer than you will keep. Ultra Performance, when the menu lists it, draws each side at about a third. NVIDIA wrote that mode for a 4K or 8K output. It is not the place to start on a typical 1080p or 1440p desk.

If the line is missing, the game does not offer Super Resolution, or the card is not RTX. A driver update is worth doing once, because a very old driver can hide a feature the game expects. After that, a missing line stays missing. Do not install a mod to invent the switch. The other work in the frame-rate guide is the path: one heavy setting at a time, in a game that will not show this name.

The other boxes are not the upscaler

NVIDIA’s DLSS page lists several named technologies. Super Resolution is the scale in the table. The others solve different problems.

DLAA, when the menu has it, is the same cleanup at the full resolution. NVIDIA’s Ray Reconstruction guide lists it as no upscale. Nothing is shrunk, so the frame does not get the easy pass that Quality gives you. Use it when the frame rate is already fine and the edges are what you dislike. It is the sharp end of Super Resolution, not a faster one.

Frame Generation inserts a picture the game never simulated. NVIDIA’s version needs an RTX 40 or RTX 50 card. Multi Frame Generation, on the same official hardware table, is an RTX 50 line and can generate more than one extra frame. Dynamic Multi Frame Generation, also RTX 50, adjusts that multiplier. The frame generation page is that switch. Start with one extra frame. The overlay will count invented pictures. The game did not take an extra step for them.

Ray Reconstruction replaces hand-tuned denoisers with an AI network that generates pixels between sampled rays. NVIDIA’s developer page says Super Resolution, Ray Reconstruction, and DLAA use transformer models. The Ray Reconstruction guide says that when Ray Reconstruction is on, it overrides Super Resolution execution: you are not running both rebuilds at once. It still uses the same Quality / Balanced / Performance / Ultra Performance / DLAA scale. Turn it on when the lighting is ray-traced and the denoiser is the mess. It is not required to use Quality.

Reflex is the latency line, not the pixel-count line. NVIDIA’s Frame Generation copy says that feature maintains responsiveness with Reflex. The Reflex page is the queue. Set On when the game lists it. It does not replace Super Resolution, and Super Resolution does not time the click.

Ray tracing itself is still expensive. Super Resolution can buy back some of the frames that lighting spent. Ray Reconstruction can clean that lighting. Neither one makes the lighting free. Leave those boxes off until you know which problem you are solving.

NVIDIA’s hardware table on the DLSS page, puts Super Resolution, Ray Reconstruction, and DLAA on RTX 20, 30, 40, and 50. Frame Generation starts at RTX 40. Dynamic Multi Frame Generation and 3D-Guided Neural Rendering are RTX 50. The 5080 sits in that last column.

NVIDIA App is an override, not a new mode

NVIDIA’s current DLSS page says the NVIDIA App can update games to the latest Super Resolution, Frame Generation, and Ray Reconstruction models. The DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution post tells you to open Graphics, then DLSS Override - Model Presets, and choose Recommended. That sets Preset M for Performance, Preset L for Ultra Performance, and Preset K for the remaining modes. RTX 20 and 30 cards lack native FP8, so NVIDIA says Models M and L cost those cards more, and those users may prefer Model K.

That override changes the model. It does not invent a game menu the title never shipped. It does not change the Quality / Balanced / Performance names. If the game still has no Super Resolution line after one Game Ready Driver update, the App will not grow one.

What Super Resolution does not change

It does not raise the monitor’s refresh rate. A 60 Hz screen still shows 60. It does not add frames the card never earned. The gain is the smaller picture, minus the cost of the rebuild. If the same scene does not get faster, the limit is somewhere else: the processor, a heat cap, or a setting you have not touched. A 1% low that stays ugly while the average climbs is the same warning.

It does not replace the card. A modest RTX card at Quality is still that card. Native resolution with Super Resolution off is the heavier picture, and some games will not hold your refresh there. That is the trade you measured, not a defect in the mode. The 5080 is a fast card. I still will not print a frame rate I did not capture.

It does not time the click. Reflex is that wait. Frame Generation can make the overlay look busier while the game still simulates on the real frames. A frame-rate cap is a different line. Super Resolution is not a cap.

It does not change the resolution the monitor is set to. Leave the game at that resolution. Keep the game at your monitor’s native resolution. Super Resolution changes the size of the picture the game draws inside that output.

If the card is RTX, the game lists Super Resolution, and Quality already holds the refresh without a trail you hate, leave it. A lower mode is for a scene that is still short. Another upscaler on top of it is not the next step. Frame Generation is the next named click only after that same scene, Super Resolution on, is already steady. More guides.

Common questions

What is DLSS?

DLSS is NVIDIA's set of AI rendering features for GeForce RTX cards. Its best-known part, Super Resolution, renders the game at a lower resolution and then uses AI to rebuild a sharp image at your monitor's resolution. It also includes Frame Generation, Ray Reconstruction and DLAA.

Does DLSS increase FPS?

Yes, usually. Because your GPU renders fewer pixels, you get more frames per second. If your FPS doesn't go up, your CPU is probably the bottleneck rather than your GPU.

Which DLSS mode should I use?

Start with Quality, which renders at about 66% of your resolution on each side. Only drop to Balanced, Performance or Ultra Performance if you still need more FPS, since each step looks a bit softer.

Does DLSS work on any graphics card?

No. DLSS Super Resolution needs an NVIDIA RTX card and a game that supports it. Frame Generation needs an RTX 40 or 50 series card, and Multi Frame Generation needs RTX 50. AMD and Intel cards use their own upscalers instead.

What is the difference between DLSS and DLAA?

DLAA uses the same AI cleanup as DLSS but at your full native resolution, so it improves image quality without boosting FPS. DLSS renders at a lower resolution to gain frames.

Does DLSS change my monitor resolution?

No. Keep your game at your monitor's native resolution. DLSS renders internally at a lower resolution and upscales the result, so your screen still gets a full-resolution image.

What is the difference between DLSS Super Resolution and Frame Generation?

Super Resolution renders each frame at fewer pixels and rebuilds it sharply. Frame Generation creates extra frames in between the real ones. You can use them together, but Frame Generation doesn't reduce input lag.

Does DLSS work with ray tracing?

Yes, and it's a great combo. DLSS wins back a lot of the FPS that ray tracing costs, and Ray Reconstruction uses AI to make ray-traced lighting cleaner. Ray tracing is still demanding even with both on.

Is DLSS better than native resolution?

Sometimes it looks nearly as good, or even cleaner, especially with DLSS 4.5 in Quality mode. Native still has the most detail, so if you see shimmering or ghosting, switch to Quality or turn DLSS off.