What is frame generation?

Ever flipped a setting and watched your FPS jump? That might be frame generation. It’s a picture the graphics card invents between two frames the game actually drew. The game still simulated the first and the third, and the middle one was filled in from how the scene moved. Your frame-rate counter counts that middle picture, so the number goes up even though the game didn’t run an extra step.

I play on a desktop RTX 5080 + AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2, on a 1080p 240 Hz and a 1440p 155 Hz monitor. NVIDIA’s DLSS page covers NVIDIA’s version, and AMD’s Fluid Motion Frames page covers AFMF. Reflex is the click-timing setting NVIDIA pairs with it, and raising the frame rate covers the rest of the settings, one change at a time. More guides.

What to check first

Frame generation inserts a picture between frames the game drew. NVIDIA's version needs an RTX 40 or 50 card. Start with one generated frame. Another brand uses its own line, and you turn on only one.

The graphics cardNot sure yetThe name says RTX 40The name says RTX 50It is not an RTX 40 or 50The game menuFrame generation is not listedA frame-generation line is listedThe rate with it offNot sure yetThat scene is already unevenThat scene is already steady

What this means

Read the GPU name

NVIDIA frame generation needs a GeForce RTX 40 or RTX 50 card. Another brand uses its own line. Read the GPU name in Task Manager, under Performance, before you look for the switch.

Read the graphics card before you open the menu. NVIDIA’s version needs the name RTX 40 or RTX 50. An older RTX card can run Super Resolution and still have no Frame Generation. A card from another company does not run NVIDIA’s version. It may have its own line, and you turn on only one.

The cards and features by name

• 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.
• NVIDIA Frame Generation / Multi Frame Generation: NVIDIA’s DLSS page. AI generates frames between frames the game drew. Frame Generation is listed for GeForce RTX 40 and RTX 50. Multi Frame Generation and Dynamic Multi Frame Generation are RTX 50. The same page says Multi Frame Generation can generate up to five frames per rendered frame, shown as 6X Mode.
• AMD Fluid Motion Frames 2.1: AMD’s AFMF page. A driver frame-generation switch inside AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 25.3.1 and above. Listed for Radeon RX 6000 and RX 7000 cards and listed Ryzen graphics, with VSync disabled in the driver and in the game. HYPR-RX is the one-click profile on RX 7000 and newer.

The short version: start at one generated frame. Keep the matching latency line on. Leave every other frame-generation box off.

The upscaler and this switch can be on together. They are not two upscalers. Two upscalers still fight. Two frame-generation boxes fight the same way. One of each is the pair. Two of either is a mess.

The middle picture is a guess

The game draws a frame, then another, and reports how the camera and the objects moved. NVIDIA’s developer DLSS page says Frame Generation uses sequential frames and motion data to create additional frames. The card paints what probably sat between them, and the monitor shows that generated picture in the gap. Nothing in the game advanced for that picture. A shot you fired, a jump, and a physics step still happen on the frames the game drew.

That guess is why the counter climbs and why the picture can lie. A crosshair, a nameplate, or a menu that doubles for a moment is the usual tell, because the interface was not part of the moving scene. NVIDIA’s Streamline Frame Generation guide asks the game for a HUD-less color buffer and a UI buffer for that reason. A fence, a wheel, or a wing can smear when the camera whips, because the gap was too wide. If you see that, step back to one generated frame or turn the switch off.

The overlay is counting pictures, not steps the game took. A number that doubles after you enable the switch has not doubled the rate the match is simulating. Judge it by the same busy moment, with the switch off and then on. If the number moved and the scene looks worse, the generated frames were not worth it. A 1% low that stays ugly while the average climbs is the same warning.

One extra frame, then a higher count

NVIDIA’s first version of this switch inserts one frame. That is the RTX 40 card, and it is the right first step on an RTX 50 card too. A menu marked 2x means one generated frame for each frame the game drew. The screen is shown two pictures for one step of the game.

NVIDIA’s Streamline DLSS 4 integration note is explicit about the count. For Multi Frame Generation, numFramesToGenerate is set one less than the multiplier: 1 for 2x, 2 for 3x, and 3 for 4x. A higher mark invents more than one picture in the same gap, from the same two real frames.

NVIDIA’s current DLSS page goes further for RTX 50: Multi Frame Generation can generate up to five frames per rendered frame, shown in their caption as 6X Mode. Dynamic Multi Frame Generation, also RTX 50, “dynamically adjusts the frame generation multiplier to maximize smoothness across different games and scenes.” An RTX 40 card does not gain that higher count from a menu that only offers on or off. On that card, on means the single generated frame. The same DLSS page’s hardware table puts Frame Generation on RTX 40 and RTX 50, and puts Multi Frame Generation and Dynamic Multi Frame Generation on RTX 50 only. Super Resolution still starts at RTX 20.

Start at one. Replay the scene. Move to a higher count only when one frame is already clean and the monitor’s refresh is still short. The highest count asks the card to invent the most, from the same two real frames, so the tells show up sooner. Stop at the count you can look at.

NVIDIA’s DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation post is the CES 2025 launch note. It described up to three additional frames, and “up to 8X” on a GeForce RTX 5090 in NVIDIA’s own 4K caption.

AMD’s line is a driver, not that game menu

AMD Fluid Motion Frames is a separate line. It is not limited to an RTX 40 or 50 card, and it does not live in NVIDIA’s menu. AMD’s AFMF page calls AFMF a frame generation technology integrated into AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition. AFMF 2.1 is the current named version on that page: AI-optimized enhancements, support for Vulkan and OpenGL games, borderless full screen on the newer hardware, and it works with Radeon Chill.

Hardware, from that page:

• Radeon RX 7000 (desktop and mobile) and Ryzen 7000 processors with Radeon 700M graphics and higher: HYPR-RX and AFMF 2 in borderless full screen.
• Radeon RX 6000 (desktop and mobile): exclusive full screen only.
• A FreeSync display is recommended.
• APIs: DirectX 11, DirectX 12, Vulkan, and OpenGL.
• OS: Windows 10 and 11.
• Software: Adrenalin 25.3.1 and above. VSync disabled in both the driver and the game.

HYPR-RX is AMD’s one-click profile on RX 7000 and newer, or listed Ryzen 7040-class APUs with RDNA 3 graphics and newer. The AFMF footnote says that profile can turn on Radeon Super Resolution, FidelityFX Super Resolution, Radeon Anti-Lag, Radeon Boost, and Fluid Motion Frames together where the title allows it. That is AMD’s pairing, the way NVIDIA pairs Frame Generation with Reflex.

AMD also prints its own “2.5x Higher Frame Rates” caption on that page, from HYPR-RX plus AFMF 2 tests in 2024.

AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution is a different line. The same AFMF footnote says FSR 1, 2, and 3 need the game to include them. AFMF does not. If a game already lists an in-game AMD frame-generation box, that is the game-integrated line. Read the name. Turn on the one line that matches the card. Leave the other box off. The upscaler beside it stays at Quality.

Some Arc menus list Intel’s own line. The rule does not change.

Reflex is the click, not the extra picture

NVIDIA’s Frame Generation sentence on the DLSS page is “generate frames while maintaining great responsiveness with NVIDIA Reflex.” The Reflex page is that wait. The CPU finishes work, and that work sits in a queue when the GPU is still busy. Reflex holds the CPU until the GPU can take the next frame, so the click inside that frame is a later one.

NVIDIA’s Streamline Frame Generation programming guide is blunt: it is required for sl.reflex to be integrated, and an older Reflex SDK that does not use Streamline cannot be used with DLSS Frame Generation. That is why a game that lists Frame Generation almost always lists Reflex next to it. Set On. On + Boost is extra power when the CPU is the limit.

The generated picture can still sit a little later than your click, because the click is tied to a frame the game drew. Reflex shortens the queue in front of those real frames. Frame Warp, on NVIDIA’s Reflex page and on the RTX 5080 table, isn’t out yet. It is a later camera warp, not this switch.

I play Zarya in Overwatch on a 1080p 240 Hz monitor, 1200 DPI, in-game sens 3.5, FOV 103. More on the Zarya guide. For a fight I care about, Super Resolution at Quality and Reflex On are the first two clicks. Frame Generation is the later one, and only after that same scene, switch off, is already steady.

AMD’s answer to that pairing is Anti-Lag inside HYPR-RX, not Reflex. Do not stack both brands’ latency lines on one card.

Where you turn it on

The card’s name is in Task Manager, under Performance, on the GPU line. A laptop often lists two chips. Pointing the game at the high performance GPU is part of the frame-rate guide. The Blade is not this 5080 tower.

Then look in the game’s graphics menu, not in Windows, for NVIDIA’s version. The label is Frame Generation, DLSS Frame Generation, or a 2x / 3x / 4x / 6x multiplier. Quality, Balanced, and Performance are Super Resolution.

Set the resolution to the one the monitor uses. Set one upscaler to Quality. Set Reflex to On if the game lists it. Then set frame generation to one generated frame, which is 2x or simply on. Leave every other frame-generation box off.

AFMF is the other path. Open AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition. On an RX 7000 or newer, HYPR-RX is the one-click profile. On an RX 6000 or newer you can also open the Graphics tab and enable AFMF globally, or enable it on one game under Games. Exclusive full screen on RX 6000. Borderless is the newer hardware. VSync stays off. A missing AFMF line after Adrenalin 25.3.1 is still a missing line. Don’t use mods to force it on.

A very old NVIDIA Game Ready Driver can hide a line the game expects, so one driver update is worth doing. After that, a missing line stays missing. NVIDIA’s current DLSS page says the NVIDIA App can update games to the latest Frame Generation model, and can unlock Multi Frame Generation on RTX 50 cards when Frame Generation is already on in the game. If the game still has no Frame Generation line, the App will not grow one.

If the scene with the switch off is already uneven, this is the wrong next click. The generated frames need two real frames that are close together. A long gap becomes a smear, and the game is still playing at that low rate. Use Super Resolution first. Come back when the same scene, switch off, is steady.

What frame generation does not change

It does not raise the monitor’s refresh rate. A 60 Hz panel still shows 60 pictures a second. Capping FPS is a different line: it stops the card from drawing real frames above a number you chose. Frame Generation is not a cap.

It does not make ray tracing cheap. It can show more pictures after that lighting has already cost you real frames. Super Resolution can buy some of those frames back. Neither one makes the lighting free.

It does not replace the card. A modest card that cannot draw the scene is still that card, with extra guesses in between.

It does not time the click by itself. Reflex is that wait. G-SYNC or FreeSync is the panel waiting for a late real frame so the picture does not tear. AFMF wants VSync off so that wait does not pile up in the driver.

If one generated frame already fills the refresh and the crosshair stays single, leave the count there. A higher number is for an RTX 50 card that is still short.

Start at one generated frame on the line that matches the card, keep Reflex or Anti-Lag on, and leave it off when the real scene is already uneven. More guides.

Common questions

What is frame generation?

Frame generation is when your graphics card creates extra frames between the ones the game actually renders. It makes motion look smoother, but the game itself isn't running faster.

Does frame generation increase FPS?

Yes, the FPS counter goes up because generated frames are counted. The game still responds based on the real frames, so it feels smoother but not more responsive.

Does frame generation work on every graphics card?

No. NVIDIA Frame Generation needs an RTX 40 or 50 series card, and Multi Frame Generation needs RTX 50. AMD Fluid Motion Frames works on supported Radeon RX 6000 and 7000 cards and some Ryzen graphics.

What is the difference between frame generation and DLSS?

DLSS is NVIDIA's whole suite of features. DLSS Super Resolution renders at a lower resolution and upscales, while Frame Generation adds new frames; you can use both together.

Should I use 2x, 3x or 4x frame generation?

Start at 2x, which adds one generated frame. Only try 3x or 4x if 2x looks clean and your base frame rate is already good.

Can frame generation replace a better graphics card?

No. Your card still has to render the real frames, so if it can't hold a decent base frame rate, frame generation won't fix that.

Does frame generation add input lag?

Yes, a little. That's why NVIDIA pairs it with Reflex to keep latency low; turn it on and off in the same scene to judge whether you notice the difference.

What is the difference between NVIDIA Frame Generation and AMD AFMF?

NVIDIA Frame Generation is an in-game setting for RTX 40 and 50 cards, while AMD's AFMF is a driver setting in AMD Adrenalin. Never turn both on at once.

Does frame generation work with G-SYNC and VSync?

NVIDIA Frame Generation works with Reflex and G-SYNC. AMD's AFMF requires VSync to be off and works best with a FreeSync monitor.