00:00AI is rapidly changing how our video games look and perform and NVIDIA's DLSS is leading that shift.
00:07NVIDIA recently announced DLSS 5, which has been a controversial reveal to say the least.
00:11But is DLSS really a game changer or just clever tech marketing that makes you think you need a new
00:17GPU?
00:18Technology is its own language and I'm here to translate it.
00:20I'm Phil Rodriguez and welcome back to Tech Translated.
00:28DLSS stands for Deep Learning Super Sampling and it's NVIDIA's method of using AI to boost
00:33your game's performance. The benefit is simple, you get to enjoy games the way that you want,
00:38whether it's focusing on visuals, frame rate or a nice balance of both.
00:42What's great about DLSS is it continues to improve as NVIDIA releases new GPUs.
00:47Older cards often get DLSS upgrades through free updates,
00:51so you don't have to replace your GPU every year, which is great because graphics cards are not cheap.
00:56With that said, some newer DLSS features as well as evolutions of DLSS are reserved for the latest GPUs,
01:03but we'll get into that in a bit.
01:05If my explanation of DLSS hasn't translated yet for you, that's okay,
01:09because I'm going to dumb it down to the point a five-year-old can understand it.
01:12This segment of Tech Translated is called Explain It Like I'm Five.
01:17Imagine you are drawing a picture of a cat, but you only have a very small piece of paper.
01:22Because the paper is tiny, you can't draw all the whiskers or the individual hairs.
01:26Your drawing looks a bit blurry and blocky. DLSS is like having a super smart robot friend who looks
01:32at your tiny blurry drawing and says, I've seen millions of cats before. I know exactly where those
01:37whiskers should go. Then the robot takes your tiny drawing and recreates it on a giant poster,
01:42filling in all the missing details so it looks sharp, clear, and beautiful,
01:46even though you only did the work for the tiny version.
01:49Now that I've simplified DLSS as much as possible, I can elaborate more on the different kinds of DLSS.
01:55One of the most used forms of DLSS is super resolution.
01:59Normally, your PC has to render each individual frame at full resolution, which can really strain
02:04performance. Super resolution changes that by rendering the game at a lower resolution,
02:08then using AI to upscale the image so it still looks close to native quality.
02:13So, frames could be rendered at 1080p, then upscaled to 4K.
02:18Ray tracing is another type of technology that involves making your game look as sharp and realistic
02:22as possible, and we broke that down into a YouTube short, so check out our channel for that translation.
02:27Spoiler alert, it's really cool.
02:32Another popular kind of DLSS is frame generation.
02:35It performs a similar task as super resolution, but this time with frame rate.
02:40It uses AI to analyze every frame rendered by the GPU and fills in the gaps with AI frames,
02:46all without hurting the resolution.
02:48This is for the people who want to achieve that smoother performance on their PC, prioritizing frames
02:54above all else.
02:56By using various types of DLSS, you essentially get better performance from your game, since you don't
03:01actually have to push your PC to render in native 4K or play in frames that are too high.
03:07I feel like I just made DLSS sound pretty awesome, so you're probably wondering,
03:12how do I turn it on or enable DLSS?
03:15And is there a best setting to enable?
03:17On PCs, DLSS can usually be enabled within settings, so you can decide which DLSS setting
03:23you want to turn on or off.
03:25As much as I wish I could provide you with optimal settings, it really depends on the game and the
03:30GPU you have.
03:31However, if you guys want a full DLSS breakdown video with some of the most popular PC builds for
03:372026, let me know and we can make a Setup Essentials episode about it on the channel.
03:43Now that you know what DLSS is and how it works, I have to break the news that DLSS is
03:48just one version
03:49of game upscaling technology. DLSS is exclusive to devices and software for Nvidia, but other big
03:56players in the gaming world have their own DLSS. AMD's is called FSR, which stands for Fidelity
04:02FX Super Resolution, while PlayStation has PSSR, or PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution.
04:10No matter what each of these companies calls their tech or how confusing it may sound,
04:14each is attempting to do the same thing – upscale your games. PSSR in particular is currently only
04:20available on the PS5 Pro, while FSR and DLSS are available primarily on PCs. AMD-based consoles
04:28like the PS5 and Xbox Series X also have FSR, although the Nintendo Switch 2 gets DLSS because
04:35of their Nvidia GPU.
04:37You're probably asking yourself, okay, so which company does the best job making my game look
04:42better? Honestly, the results vary. Optimization from the developer, partnerships with companies
04:48and game studios are a few examples of the factors that may make a game look better on DLSS versus
04:53FSR.
04:56DLSS 4.0, which was released in January 2025, was just recently upgraded to DLSS 4.5. So,
05:02what are some of the differences? Remember earlier when I talked about frame generation? DLSS 4.0 created
05:09a new version of that called multi-frame generation, which improved it even further by generating up to
05:14four times more frames than the original frame generation. DLSS 4.5 improves multi-frame generation
05:21even further by allowing up to six times the frame generation and improving the performance of super
05:27resolution, which is crazy to me because I think it works so well already. Both of these are
05:32examples of updates reserved only for the 50 series GPUs. And if you ask me, DLSS 4.5 is a
05:39slight
05:39upgrade over 4.0 and not worth upgrading over if you have a 40 series, but anyone with a 30
05:45series or
05:46below who games on their PC should absolutely upgrade if they can even find the model they're
05:51looking for in stock. DLSS 5.0 will release in fall 2026 and it's taking DLSS to a whole new
06:00level.
06:00It uses AI to improve character models and NVIDIA is promising collaboration with studios to make sure
06:05DLSS doesn't harm but only enhance the artist's intent. It's been a controversial announcement to say the
06:11least, as some people feel like it changes too much of the character design, but I definitely want to hear
06:16what you guys have to say in the comments. Okay, we are just about at the end of translating DLSS,
06:22and at this point it's time for me to label our subject as a breakthrough or shit. NVIDIA's DLSS is
06:28definitely a breakthrough. By using AI, gamers like myself are able to enjoy incredible visuals and
06:34frame rates with all sorts of budgets, and that is a huge win. And I do have to give credit
06:39where it's
06:40due to NVIDIA here because they basically pioneered this technology themselves while the industry plays
06:45catch up. Fair play, NVIDIA. Fair play. Anyways, thank you guys for tuning in to another episode of
06:52Tech Translated. Links are in the description for your GPU needs, and while you're down there,
06:57leave us a like and subscribe so you don't miss the next episode of Tech Translated.
07:01As always, I'm Phil Rodriguez, this is Tom's Guide, and I will see you in the next video.
07:26I'm Phil Rodriguez.
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