MSP Explained: What is DLSS and How it Works?

Nvidia has recently announced its highly-anticipated RTX 50 Series graphics cards at CES 2025. These GPUs also come with DLSS 4 with which the latest RTX 5070 can match last-gen flagship RTX 4090’s performance. In this guide, let’s understand what DLSS means, and how it improves gaming performance.

What is DLSS?

DLSS stands for Deep Learning Super Sampling. It’s a technology developed by Nvidia for its consumer-grade GPUs, which uses artificial intelligence and real-time deep learning to boost the frame rates in gaming. Here’s a simplified explanation of how it works.

When you play any game on your computer, your gaming experience depends on the frame rate, which is the number of frames your computer generates per second, aka FPS. The higher the FPS, the smoother your gaming experience.

If you are gaming at 120fps, your computer, mainly your GPU, is generating 120 individual frames every second. However, modern games have higher amounts of detail, textures, and other elements. The traditional method of generating those many frames each second requires a lot of computing power and increases the stress on your GPU.

This is where DLSS comes into the picture. It uses AI and deep learning models to analyse each frame in detail. It identifies the common elements between two consecutive frames and temporarily reduces its resolution. After this, the GPU generates the remaining number of unique elements in the next frame while carrying forward the common elements from the previous frame.

In simple words, copy-paste the common pixels between two frames, and only generate the new unique pixels in each frame.

Note that this is just an oversimplified explanation for the sake of understanding and the actual implementation process is a lot technical, which is beyond the scope of understanding for a normal person, including us.

DLSS reduces the stress on your GPU allowing it to generate more frames per second. Hence, using DLSS, you can achieve a higher frame rate in your games using the same hardware.

DLSS 4 Explained

The biggest upgrade in DLSS 4 compared to previous generations is the new Multi Frame Generation technology. It can generate up to three new frames from a single frame using AI. For example, DLSS 4 can transform a 30fps gameplay into 120fps by inserting those additional frames in real time.

The biggest challenge in DLSS is the time taken to generate a new frame. Remember that these operations need to be executed in nano-seconds, otherwise you will feel a significant delay and latency in gaming.

Up until DLSS 3.5, Nvidia cards were generating one new frame using AI between two regular frames. DLSS 4 increases the number to up to 3 frames or even more, depending on the scenario.

This functionality is made possible by the AI prowess of the latest RTX 50 Series GPUs. Hence, DLSS 4 is only available on the RTX 5090, 5080, 5070Ti, and 5070. Nvidia has not revealed whether it will roll out to previous-gen cards or not.

DLSS Generations Explained

DLSS was first introduced with the RTX 20 Series GPUs in February 2019. The first generation of DLSS was based on spatial image upscaling, which renders the frame at a lower resolution and then upscales it without causing any major loss of detail. The idea is the same — to reduce the stress on GPU in generating each frame to achieve higher FPS. Here’s a quick history of the technology from DLSS 1 to the latest DLSS 4:

Through its four generations, the concept of DLSS has remained the same. It utilises the power of modern GPUs to generate frames using AI and offer a better gaming experience.

Does DLSS Work in All Games?

While DLSS is a truly innovative technology, it depends on multiple factors to work at its full potential. It only works on selected games where the game developers have implemented support for DLSS. If your favourite games do not support it, you can’t enjoy the benefits of DLSS even if you have a compatible Nvidia GPU.

DLSS has been out for over five years and most popular games have already added support for it. So if you have any Nvidia RTX 2050 and above GPU, you can enable DLSS in your game settings and get higher FPS with a single click. Depending on the game, DLSS can achieve up to four times higher frame rates. But realistically speaking, the performance boost is up to 15-20% in most cases.

Controversies Around DLSS

While DLSS improves the gaming experience by a huge margin, some enthusiasts argue and call it unnatural instead. Critics say the use of AI to generate frames in gaming creates an inconsistent gaming experience. Hence, it is often referred to as an artificial FPS boost instead of a true FPS.

However, many gamers have pointed out that the latest versions of DLSS work almost flawlessly. The benefits of DLSS outweigh the minor flaws, which occur due to the use of AI.

The number of people who appreciate and use DLSS is way higher than those who criticize it. Nevertheless, Nvidia has huge roadmaps for DLSS and the technology will only get better from where it stands today.

For reference, DLSS 4 helps the RTX 5070 to achieve equivalent gaming performance as the last-gen RTX 4090. When you compare the two GPUs, the RTX 4090 has more raw power, but DLSS 4 helps the 5070 offer a similar FPS as the RTX 4090.

DLSS: The Present and Future of Gaming Graphics

Since its introduction in 2019, DLSS has helped gamers achieve higher FPS in games with a single click. The latest DLSS 4 can boost the frame rate by four times using Multi Frame Generation technology. It offers a much smoother gaming experience without any major compromises. If you have a compatible Nvidia GPU, we recommend using DLSS, even if it’s DLSS 3.5 or any older generation of the technology.