Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Nvidia DLSS 3 predicts frames to deliver next-level gaming performance

Nvidia has just announced DLSS 3 at its GeForce Beyond event, a new generation of its deep learning super sampling technology that will be available on next-gen Nvidia RTX 40-Series graphics cards.

DLSS 3 is a new AI that predicts entire frames instead of just pixels. This time around, it will even boost CPU-reliant games, and Nvidia showed off that capability in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Nvidia's DLSS 3.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Nvidia introduced DLSS 3 as part of its GTC 2022 keynote, announcing the tech as part of the perks delivered by the new RTX 40-Series graphics cards. The tech has four components, including a new optical flow accelerator and game engine motion vectors. DLSS 3 processes the previous frame and the new frame and then predicts how the scene is changing. As a result, DLSS 3 generates new frames all of its own, boosting gaming performance and visuals.

Recommended Videos

Nvidia promises that DLSS 3 will be up to four times faster thanks to its ability to multiply frame rates with its new optical flow accelerator. The new tech actually bundles three different technologies into one, including the DLSS Super Resolution, DLSS Frame Generation, and Nvidia Reflex, which improves responsiveness and brings the latency down considerably. This is done by synchronizing the GPU and the CPU, and as Nvidia claims, it can reduce the latency by up to 2 times.

The company’s CEO, Jensen Huang, talked about the capabilities of DLSS 3 and described the whole process, including how the technology is able to capture pixel-level information while also utilizing game engine motion vectors in order to follow the movement and geometry in each scene. In Nvidia’s example, shown in its blog post, DLSS 3 was able to reconstruct seven-eights of the total displayed pixels, resulting in a huge performance leap.

DLSS 3 is able to boost the performance of games that traditionally rely more on the CPU than on the GPU, such as Microsoft Flight Simulator, because it allows the RTX 40-Series GPU to render the game at a much higher frame rate. Nvidia proved this by showing little clips from the game; with DLSS off, the frames per second (fps) hovered around the 65 mark, but with DLSS 3 on, the game was able to reach as high as 135 fps. The tech was also seen pushing new heights in Cyberpunk 2077.

Nvidia DLSS 3 fps comparison.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

When all is said and done, DLSS 3 will “boost game performance by up to four times over brute-force rendering,” said Jensen Huang. Nvidia will release DLSS 3 in October, and more than 35 games and applications will be supporting it at that time. There’s also a fun new thing coming out: Portal RTX, a reimagined version of the iconic game, now with DLSS 3 and ray tracing.

In addition to DLSS 3, Nvidia has also announced the new Shader Execution Reordering (SER) technology that will dynamically reorganize shader workloads in order to make them more efficient. This tech is said to boost shader performance by up to 2x, and as a result, offers a 25% in-game frame rate boost.

Nvidia is launching three RTX 40-Series GPUs: the RTX 4090, available on October 12, and two versions of the RTX 4080 to follow in November.

Monica J. White
Monica is a computing writer at Digital Trends, focusing on PC hardware. Since joining the team in 2021, Monica has written…
Nvidia’s DLSS 4 is almost here — but many questions remain
A box for the Nvidia RTX 5080.

Nvidia's RTX 50-series is right around the corner, and now, one of the most prominent GPU leakers just confirmed that we can also look forward to a new version of Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS). According to kopite7kimi on X (Twitter), Nvidia will launch DLSS 4 alongside some of its best graphics cards. Still, that just leaves us with even more unanswered questions.

The main question that comes to mind is whether DLSS 4 will be an RTX 50-series exclusive or not. DLSS 3, with its impressive frame generation, was only available in the RTX 40-series. It's not out of the realm of possibility that Nvidia might, once again, introduce some kind of a major improvement for DLSS 4 that would be locked to next-gen cards. In fact, with some of the GPUs rumored to deliver minor performance increases, DLSS 4 could be a big deal for Nvidia's RTX 50-series marketing.

Read more
We might see a new version of DLSS next month
A hand grabbing MSI's RTX 4090 Suprim X.

As the year comes to a close, we're hearing more about what Nvidia might have in store at CES next month. Not only is the company rumored to launch its RTX 50-series GPUs, which could take Nvidia's best graphics cards to the next level, it could also introduce new software features. At least, that's what Nvidia board partner Inno3D is suggesting.

The company, which is an exclusive Nvidia board partner, posted a press release detailing what it will cover at CES next month. In addition to its various GPU models, including the Frostbite range with a "new liquid cooling solution" and the SFF range for small form factor PCs, Inno3D highlighted an AI feature set including "advanced DLSS technology," "improved AI-driven upscaling," and "neural rendering capabilities."

Read more
Nvidia’s next-gen GPU plans could be good news for Intel and AMD
Two RTX 4070 Ti Super graphics cards sitting next to each other.

According to a new leak from Benchlife, Nvidia may launch the vast majority of the RTX 50-series in the first quarter of 2025 -- but one GPU is notably missing from the early lineup. That could be very good news for AMD and Intel. While Nvidia will rule the high-end market, the other two brands may get to swoop in with some of the best graphics cards for gamers on a budget and get some breathing room before Nvidia strikes back.

Benchlife reveals that we'll see many of the RTX 50-series staples arrive in the first quarter of the year. The flagship RTX 5090 and the RTX 5080 arriving in January feel like a sure thing at this point, but many leakers also suggest that we'll see other GPUs make their debut during CES 2025.

Read more