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Why this matters: While most people think about Nvidia DLSS 4 when they hear the word, the transformer model upgrade included in DLSS Super Resolution could be the most significant upgrade of the update. The feature is already available in many games, and will likely become standard for upcoming releases.
Nvidia released the latest version of its DLSS Super Resolution SDK on Wednesday. This brings out the transformer model from beta. The upscaling tech will be more widely adopted in upcoming PC Games if it is promoted into DLSS stable branch.
The vision transformer model, first introduced in January along with Nvidia’s RTX series graphics cards and the long-standing neural network convolutional previously used in DLSS, replaces the longstanding convolutional network previously used. This is the most significant improvement to Nvidia’s image reconstruction technology since DLSS 2 was popularized in 2020.
Read also: DLSS 4 upscaling in 4K is actually pretty amazing
DLSS is not without flaws. It has been praised for its ability to use machine learning to scale up images to higher resolutions while maintaining good image quality. Ghosting, shimmering and smearing are common issues. Ray Reconstruction can sometimes worsen this problem, as it combines denoising with DLSS.
DLSS 4’s transformer model alters its algorithm to minimize these blemishes. This results in a noticeably clean image, even when scaling up from half resolution in the performance mode.
While AMD’s FSR 4 method is superior to DLSS 3, DLSS 4’s transformer model wins. Nvidia’s marketing of DLSS 4 focuses mainly on multi-frame generation which is exclusive to RTX 50 series GPUs. However, the transformer model that improves upscaling on games supports RTX20 series and newer.
Check out: DLSS 4 Reconstruction Analysis: Fixing Unpleasant Ray Tracing Noise
Diablo IV will be the next major game to upgrade from DLSS 3 to DLSS 4 when the Season 9 Update launches on July 1. Users can also force DLSS 4, the transformer model, into older DLSS compatible titles by using the Nvidia App. To do this, navigate to Graphics> select the desired game> click on DLSS Model Presets in Driver Settings> then select Latest from the drop-down list.
Third-party apps such as DLSS Updater or Optiscaler are also available.
