Nvidia improves the graphics of games for free with a small download

On January 14th the new one appeared Geforce driver in the usual manageable size of around 800 MB. In addition to optimizations for the newly released God of War (here you can find our test of the game), it brings with it two interesting techniques for the visuals of games. On the one hand there is more FPS in higher resolutions via DLDSR, on the other hand there is ray tracing via shaders for over a hundred games via Nvidia Freestyle.

you can see. There are currently around 150 games in total, but we did encounter some graphic errors in the first tests. So the new shaders don’t always work smoothly. Let us know what experiences you have had with it in the comments. At the same time, we are already planning to take a closer look at the new functions in our own field report as soon as possible.

Optimized Upsampling:

With the so-called Deep Learning Dynamic Super Resolution (DLDSR for short), Nvidia is giving new life to an old technology. Because Dynamic Super Resolution (DSR) has been around for a few years. However, Nvidia’s latest driver improves the resolution adjustment via AI.

DSR can increase image quality by increasing the internal rendering resolution. For example, it is also possible to get a sharper picture on a Full HD monitor by playing in 4K resolution. The AI ​​calculations of DLDSR should now ensure that the performance does not decrease as much.

Better graphics with less FPS loss

So it’s about achieving visually comparable results with less computational effort, or in other words: If you want to improve the graphics by means of a higher render resolution via DSR, you now get more FPS than before. However, the AI-controlled variant uses the tensor cores of the RTX graphics cards from Nvidia and is therefore only compatible with them.

In an example on the game Prey, Nvidia shows that with DLDSR you get almost the same frames per second as with the original resolution, but with more details. The old DSR version should also offer a comparable number of details, but at a significantly lower FPS. The optical improvements are not really easy to see in the picture below, but we will take a closer look at the technology ourselves.

The announcement of Nvidia’s DLDSR comes shortly after AMD unveiled its own super resolution technology called Radeon Super Resolution, or RSR for short, at CES 2022. And yes: We sometimes get confused with DSR, DLDSR, RSR, DLSS and other graphics card technology abbreviations. A suitable review article is planned for the future. How do I activate the feature? DLDSR works in every game via driver if you have a suitable RTX graphics card. To activate it, you must first download the latest driver. . Then you open the Nvidia Control Panel, go to the menu itemManage 3D Settings , elects DSR – Factors and tick the box 2.25x DL

This is how you activate DLDSR after the update

This is how you activate DLDSR after the update

Ray tracing by shader for hundreds of games In addition to resolution scaling, the new driver brings three filters for Nvidia’s Freestyle feature. With this feature, you can use the in-game overlay to apply various filters to the gameplay in order to adapt it to your wishes or to improve it graphically. You can see if your favorite game is supportedNvidia’s list of Freestyle games .

Only titles that have an asterisk at the end of their name are included.

Still the most beautiful forest thanks to ray tracing?

• He should improve the light and shadow dynamics and make the lighting look more realistic. So you get ray tracing at least in a slimmed down version in the appropriate freestyle games. There are also two other filters:SSAO (Screen Space Ambient Occlusion)
• : This filter is intended to improve the display of shadows, especially in poorly lit areas.Dynamic DOF (Depth of Field)

: This is a kind of bokeh effect for your game that blurs the background to bring the main lens to the fore.