PC gaming refuses to slow down, and the technology behind it keeps getting better. The frames displayed on your screen are often no longer a “raw” look at your favorite game, created by your favorite graphics card. They’re instead fed through numerous pipelines that make them look much sharper and clearer, while framerates also get a boost. It sounds like magic, but it’s mostly Super Resolution and some accompanying technologies that rely on AI training and crafted algorithms.
The original version of DLSS worked by leveraging super-resolution techniques to make your games look better without seriously affecting overall performance. Games developed to be compatible with DLSS were broken down into what NVIDIA calls supersampled “perfect frames” which were then examined by the supercomputer and neural network NVIDIA created. Initially done at a lower resolution with a focus on antialiasing, concurrent runs through the frames focus more on sharpening the image with extra pixels for a higher resolution.
DLSS 3 was then introduced in September 2022 for NVIDIA’s RTX 40-series GPUs. It combines DLSS Super Resolution, NVIDIA Reflex, and DLSS Frame Generation techniques to deliver impressive performance boosts in compatible games. DLSS 3 uses its Super Resolution AI to recreate three-quarters of an initial frame, roping in Frame Generation to complete the second frame.
NVIDIA Reflex then syncs the CPU and GPU to reduce latency, making your inputs seem more responsive (especially important for competitive gaming).DLSS 3.5 is now here with Ray Reconstruction which improves ray tracing even further with the help of AI.
There’s also RTX Video HDR capable of taking streamed video content from the Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) to High Dynamic Range (HDR). You’ll need a monitor with HDR abilities to properly view the content.
AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution is certainly a mouthful, but it’s usually shortened to a much more manageable “FSR.” This is AMD’s answer to NVIDIA DLSS, and it originally launched in 2021.
One of the best parts of FSR is that it works across AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA GPUs. It’s also available in tons of games as listed on AMD’s website, no doubt filling in some gaps where other technologies are not available.
It didn’t take long for AMD to make the move to FSR 3, launching toward the end of 2023 with limited game support. It’s still limited to about 25 games at the time of writing, but there are hundreds more titles with FSR and FSR 2 support.
Like NVIDIA’s DLSS, Intel’s XeSS leverages AI model training to upscale resolution, improving performance and increasing frame rates in the process. Intel lists 145 games compatible with XeSS, filling in some gaps left over by NVIDIA and AMD.
Intel Arc Alchemist GPUs have XMX cores for AI acceleration, similar to NVIDIA’s Tensor cores. This is the best way to employ XeSS, though you can still use some AMD and NVIDIA GPUs with DP4a support. These cards include AMD’s Radeon RX 6000 and RX 7000, as well as NVIDIA GTX 10-series through RTX 40-series.
In the discrete GPU, Intel suggested an average 10% increase in frame rates across supported titles. On the integrated graphics side, the average suggested by Intel fell to about 8%. Still not bad at all. Intel says this was mostly achieved through updates to its AI models.
DirectSR is not its own Super Resolution technology to go up against NVIDIA DLSS, AMD FSR, and Intel XeSS. It is instead an Application Programming Interface (API) designed to support the different Super Resolution techs with one code path.
Instead of developers having to choose optimizations for NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel when designing a game, they can now work with common inputs and outputs compatible with all three Super Resolution technologies.
“Super Resolution is a cutting-edge technique that increases the resolution and visual quality in games. DirectSR is the missing link developers have been waiting for when approaching SR integration, providing a smoother, more efficient experience that scales across hardware.”
Powered by AI, Auto SR is one of the new features coming exclusively to Copilot+ PCs powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chips with Neural Processing Unit (NPU). Like other Super Resolution technologies, Auto SR generates frames at a lower resolution before leveraging AI to improve clarity and sharpness to match your monitor’s resolution.
Cale Hunt brings to Windows Central more than eight years of experience writing about laptops, PCs, accessories, games, and beyond. If it runs Windows or in some way complements the hardware, there’s a good chance he knows about it, has written about it, or is already busy testing it.
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