I saw Nvidia's new DLSS 4 in action on the RTX 5090 and it's a true game changer – here's why

Image of Cyberpunk 2077 running on RTX 5090 at Nvidia event

(Image credit: Future)

DLSS 4 is about to change the game for all RTX GPU users
The super resolution performance mode has seen a significant boost in terms of image quality and clarity
Frame Generation's smearing and ghosting has been reduced

After its long-awaited reveal at CES 2025, Nvidia's RTX 5090 and 5080 graphics cards have now officially launched, which has opened the gateway to improved performance across numerous games with both more raw power and better Frame Generation over the last RTX 4000 series generation - but from what I've seen first hand after sitting down with Team Green at its office in Reading, its biggest enhancements stem from its work on DLSS 4.

DLSS 4 is now available on all RTX GPUs with support for titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Alan Wake 2, and Hogwarts Legacy - but a new feature, DLSS Override, allows users to utilize DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation (the latter of which is exclusive to RTX 5000 series GPUs) in games that don't have native support yet. While that's great to hear, you might be wondering why DLSS 4 is receiving so much praise from other users (and myself).

A new era of upscaling fidelity

I didn’t personally review the RTX 5090 for TechRadar, but having now seen DLSS 4 in action running on the GPU thanks to Nvidia's press invite, I can tell you that DLSS 4's new transformer model is a genuine game changer. With the previous CNN (Convolutional Neural Network) model for older DLSS versions, ghosting and smearing were a big issue and part of the reason many worried about upscaling becoming the quick fix for game developers (which I do still believe is true to a degree) - but with this new transformer model, the likes of DLSS 4's performance mode is visually on par if not better than DLSS 3's quality mode (despite having a lower internal resolution).

GIF of Alan Wake 2 using DLSS 4 performance — DLSS 4 performance mode running in Alan Wake 2 on an RTX 5090 with path tracing enabled... trust me, it was magnificent, if you'll excuse my crappy video quality. (Image credit: Future)

It's evident in the gif above showing Alan Wake 2 (and in Nvidia's video below), along with my first tests in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 on PC despite its current crashing and stability issues (based on current Steam reviews), as results were consistent - for once, I could actually use DLSS performance mode without feeling disgusted by slightly - but noticeably - blurry image quality with flickering and ghosting in every sequence. This is all possible thanks to the new transformer AI model, which significantly enhances image clarity and stability, especially in motion, with Insomniac's title taking advantage of Nvidia’s ‘ray reconstruction’ feature in this case.

I continuously flicked back and forth between the quality and performance modes, assuming my eyes were playing tricks on me, but believe me, the latter is truly that good.

The same applies to scenarios where Frame Generation for RTX 4000 series GPUs or Multi Frame Generation for RTX 5000 series GPUs is in use - as I said, input lag and ghosting were the two biggest constraints of DLSS 3's frame-gen, and this has now been addressed with DLSS 4 along with Reflex 2 (which I saw significantly reduced input lag in competitive games like The Finals), which Nvidia confirmed will first be available to RTX 5000 series GPUs before coming to older graphics cards.

DLSS Ray Reconstruction with New Transformer Model | Alan Wake 2 - YouTube

Watch On

While the demos showcased to me were with the new generation's flagship GPU (which is unsurprisingly a powerhouse), this makes the 'Overdrive' path tracing preset in Cyberpunk 2077 on RTX 4000 or maybe even 3000 series GPUs possible - those with access to frame-gen will certainly yield even better frame rates, but the transformer super-resolution model set to performance mode will make it playable on GPUs that don't have access to frame gen, without compromising image quality like the CNN model did.

What does this mean for future PC ports?

Now, considering my stance on concerns about game developers taking their hands off the wheel in terms of game optimization on PC, DLSS 4 has genuinely lightened my worries - at least by a bit. While I'm still absolutely adamant that PC ports should launch without the drastic performance issues found in games like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, DLSS 4's performance mode (which has always been great at providing better performance in previous iterations of DLSS) now maintains fantastic image quality with the new transformer model.

In unfortunate cases where games are still poorly optimized, I have a strong feeling that DLSS 4 will work wonders with patching things up where necessary - and with DLSS Override, this can effectively be done with minimal effort on the developer’s part, although manual implementation will still be ideal. It's especially the case for those who own an RTX 4000 series or 5000 series GPU with access to frame generation (and there's still a chance frame-gen could come to RTX 3000 GPUs), as the enhancements made to the original Frame Generation model reduce VRAM consumption to boost performance across the board.

I've already acknowledged that AI upscaling is most likely the future of gaming - as much as that makes me nervous about game development, Nvidia has done a great job here at potentially helping future cases of bad PC ports, while also catering to older GPUs. In my eyes, that's worth heaps of praise - keep doing good stuff like this, okay Nvidia?