The best graphics cards these days aren’t just about raw performance — features like ray tracing, frame generation, and upscaling techniques are just as important. If you have an Nvidia GeForce RTX GPU, then DLSS is one of these new techniques you can use to improve your experience. It’s an AI-powered upscaling technology that’s exclusive to the RTX series, meaning you can’t use it on AMD GPUs.
DLSS can give you a considerable uplift in performance and breathe some new life into slightly older cards. If you have an RTX 40-series card, like the 4070, you can even use more advanced DLSS 3.5 features like Frame Generation. This all gets a bit confusing, so let’s take a deeper look at what DLSS is, how it works, and how you can use it in your favorite games.
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What is DLSS and which graphics cards support it?
DLSS 3.5 is the latest version of DLSS, and it brings new features like Frame Generation and Ray Reconstruction for better performance and ray tracing effects. While the Ray Reconstruction feature is available on all RTX GPUs (including the RTX 20 and 30 series), Frame Generation is only available on the newer RTX 40-series. It’s also worth noting that both features might not be available in every game.
The main selling point of DLSS is upscaling, and this is available on all RTX GPUs. When enabled, the GPU will render your game at a lower resolution and then upscale the image to make it look like it’s running at native resolution. It works surprisingly well, and DLSS 2.0 and beyond doesn’t sacrifice image quality much either. Since you’re essentially playing at a lower resolution, you get better framerate and performance.
Unfortunately, if you have a GTX-series card like the GTX 1080 Ti or the newer GTX 1660 Ti, you can’t use DLSS. Instead, you can try FSR or Intel XeSS in supported games.
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Update your Nvidia GPU
Before enabling DLSS in a game, it’s important to make sure that your GPU driver is up to date. This is most easily done through the Nvidia GeForce Experience application.
- Open Nvidia GeForce Experience.
- Click on the Drivers tab at the top left of the screen.
- Look for a Download button in the middle of the screen. Otherwise, you will see a message saying your drivers are up to date.
- Once the driver has finished downloading, click the Express Installation button to begin the update.
- After the installation is complete, exit GeForce Experience.
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How to enable Nvidia DLSS in a video game
Unfortunately, you don’t automatically get the benefits of DLSS with most games. Instead, you must enable DLSS in each game through its settings menu.
- First, launch a game that supports DLSS.
- Open the Settings menu and go to the Graphics tab.
- Toggle DLSS to On. If you don’t see DLSS, then you may first have to select an upscale method. Toggle through the upscale options until you get to Nvidia DLSSthen you should be able to select DLSS and its presets. The three common preset options here are DLSS Performance, Balancedand Quality.
- Finally, play the game and enjoy the performance improvement. If you don’t see a noticeable difference, then check your FPS to see if it has gone up. In case you’re not getting a noticeable improvement, try changing the DLSS setting to Performance instead.
The process will vary from game to game, but you can usually find a DLSS setting within the graphics or video setting pages. If you have an RTX 40-series GPU, you might also be able to use the Frame Generation feature if the game supports it.
Better performance for free
After enabling DLSS, you’ll notice its impact varies depending on the games you play, but you should see a noticeable improvement in most modern titles. You’ll not only get higher frame rates at sharper resolutions, but also ray tracing in all its glory on cards that struggle to deliver the technology without DLSS enabled.
DLSS has become so good that enabling it feels like upgrading to a brand-new GPU. In the event that you cannot find the DLSS setting in your game, check for any updates from the developer. DLSS has come and gone in several games, including Fortnite. The good news is that many games coming out today are DLSS-compatible.