Cyberpunk 2077 has officially and finally received an update that allows the game to take full advantage of NVIDIA’s new DLSS AI upscaling technology. First announced and introduced with the launch of GPU maker’s GeForce RTX 4090, we saw how the feature raised our framerates considerably when it was applied.
By considerable, we’re not even in talking about 10 to 20 fps either. As a point of reference, playing Cyberpunk 2077 with DLSS 2 Super Resolution – introduced initially with the release of patch 1.61 – with the graphics presets at the highest setting, resolution at 4K, and ray-tracing set to Psycho. the game would eke out and comfortable 89 fps throughout.
Swapping out DLSS 2 Super Resolution with DLSS 3 and its key technology, Frame Generation, the average in-game framerate of our Cyberpunk 2077 experience jumped up to 120 fps. For the numbers-crunching lovers among you, that is approximately a 55% uplift in performance. Not only that, but because NVIDIA’s Reflex is turned on by default whenever it is active, we found that we were able to drive a lot better too. And again, this was all in 4K.
One of the reasons why we believe DLSS 3 coming to Cyberpunk 2077 is such a big deal is because, unlike previous DLSS iterations, DLSS 3 and Frame Generation actually create entirely new frames, instead of just predicting the next sequence and simply rendering new pixels. The new and improved upscaling technology isn’t without setbacks though: because of what it does, latency actually increases and can be an issue if left unfettered. Which is why Reflex is automatically turned on along with it.
But our biggest gripe with this update is the priority and timing for the release of DLSS 3: as we mentioned, we first tested the press build of the feature when we reviewed the RTX 4090. However, instead of making it the main game to roll it out to, Cyberpunk 2077’s developer, CD Projekt Red (CDPR) decided to make it available to the remake of its older title, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. To that, we have only one thing to say: what the hell, CDPR.
But, with all that is said and done, we’re glad that DLSS 3 is finally available in Cyberpunk 2077. For those of you who wish to experience it, though, you’re going to need one of NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs, as the upscaling technology won’t work with any other card, not even the previous generation RTX 30 Series.
(Source: NVIDIA)
