AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR), the company's elusive rival to the NVIDIA DLSS technology, could be arriving next month (June 2021), according to a Coreteks report. The report claims that the technology is already at an advanced stage of development, in the hands of game developers, and offers certain advantages over DLSS. For starters, it doesn't require training from a generative adversarial network (GAN), and doesn't rely on ground truth data. It is a low-overhead algorithmic upscaler (not unlike the various MadVR upscalers you're used to). It is implemented early in the pipeline. Here's the real kicker—the technology is compatible with NVIDIA GPUs, so studios developing with FSR would be serving both AMD Radeon and NVIDIA GeForce gamers.

NVIDIA today released the latest version of GeForce Game Ready drivers. Version 466.11 WHQL comes with optimization for "Mortal Shell," including support for raytracing and DLSS. The drivers also add NVIDIA Reflex support for "Valorant" with its latest patch. The drivers also integrate NVIDIA Broadcast noise reduction feature into OBS. The list of monitors with support for NVIDIA G-SYNC grows, with the addition of LG's 2021 G1, B1, C1, and Z1 series monitors; and the MSI MAG301RF.

Among the bugs fixed with GeForce 466.11 drivers are low frame-rates on "Supreme Commander/Supreme Commander 2," RAW files showing up black on Adobe Lightroom; "Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 VR" stuttering on machines with hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling disabled; and some displays showing incorrect color levels after booting into Windows. Grab the drivers from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 466.11 WHQL

NVIDIA and Unity have announced that they're working on seamlessly integrating the green company's DLSS technology into the Unity game engine, thus allowing developers to more easily enable the technology on their development efforts. This is a sign of NVIDIA's power in the gaming arena - the company is actually leading engine makers to integrate its proprietary, RTX-only technology on their game engines. That is sure to give a boost to DLSS adoption throughout the industry - but of course, whether or not that's what would be best for consumers and gamers is very much up for debate.

NVIDIA said that native DLSS support would reach Unity through the High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP) in the Unity 2021.2. release "before the end of 2021." That means there's still work to be done; however, we have to take into account that this is the second developer of a widespread game engine to adopt the new NVIDIA porprietary technology, after EPIC integrated DLSS into a plugin for its famous (and industry-wide) Unreal Engine. A strong victory for NVIDIA - should developers actually use the plugin instead of AMD's still-coming FidelityFX Super Resolution, which is supposed to be hardware agnostic, and enable the technology for millions of current-gen consoles at the same time. Check after the break for a video announcement.

Nintendo's Switch console is one of the most successful consoles ever made by the Japanese company. It has sold in millions of units and has received great feedback from the gaming community. However, as the hardware inside the console becomes outdated, the company is thinking about launching a new revision of the console, with the latest hardware and technologies. Today, we got ahold of information about the graphics side of things in Nintendo's upcoming console. Powered by NVIDIA Tegra SoC, it will incorporate unknown Arm-based CPU cores. The latest rumors suggest that the CPU will be accommodated with NVIDIA's Ada Lovelace GPU architecture. According to @kopite7kimi, a known hardware leaker, who simply replied to VideoCardz's tweet with "Ada", we are going to see the appearance of Ada Lovelace GPU architecture in the new SoC. Additionally, the new Switch SoC will have hardware accelerated NVIDIA Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) and 4K output.

AMD, via its CVP & GM at AMD Radeon Scott Herkelman, confirmed in video with PCWorld that the company's counterpart to NVIDIA's DLSS technology - which he defines as the most important piece of software currently in development from a graphics perspective - is coming along nicely. Launch of the technology is currently planned for later this year. Scott Herkelman further confirmed that there is still a lot of work to do on the technology before it's ready for prime time, but in the meantime, it has an official acronym: FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution). If you're unfamiliar with DLSS, it's essentially an NVIDIA-locked, proprietary upscaling algorithm that has been implemented in a number of games now, which leverages Machine Learning hardware capabilities (tensor cores) to upscale a game with minimal impact to visual quality. It's important because it allows for much higher performance in even the latest, most demanding titles - especially when they implement raytracing.

As has been the case with AMD, its standing on upscaling technologies defends a multiplatform, compatible approach that only demands implementation of open standards to run in users' systems. The idea is to achieve the broadest possible spectrum of game developers and gamers, with tight, seamless integration with the usual game development workflow. This is done mostly via taking advantage of Microsoft's DirectML implementation that's baked straight into DX 12.

Following the addition of NVIDIA DLSS to Nioh 2 - The Complete Collection, Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, and Unreal Engine 4 last month, we're excited to announce that DLSS is now available in Crysis Remastered and the free System Shock remake demo, and will available in The Fabled Woods when the game launches March 25th.

Just last month, NVIDIA announced that game developers can access DLSS as a plugin for Unreal Engine 4.26 (UE4), making it easier for them to add the technology to their games. Developers were quick to take advantage of the tech, with the new System Shock Demo and The Fabled Woods emerging as the first games to add DLSS using the plugin.

4A Games is one of those rare developers that seemingly gives more to its fans and game-owners than it takes. The company has just announced they're readying a new, Enhanced Edition version of Metro Exodus - receiving significant graphical updates that are mostly focused on added raytracing capabilities. The new version of the game will be made available for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles - but carries additional features in the all-powerful PC version, including Ray Traced Reflections (which will not be included in the console version) as well as support for NVIDIA's DLSS 2.0, the best iteration of the technology so far.

According to the developer, the engine changes are so substantial that they couldn't push it as a simple update/game patch - the entire game has had to be recompiled to allow for the seamless integration of the new features. 4A Games announced that the new, Enhanced Edition, which will be available later this year, will be available for all Metro Exodus owners as a free, additional download. The new version makes such extensive usage of raytracing - every light source is now raytraced, per-pixel-raytraced global illumination, and a plethora of other changes you can see in the feature comparative below - that the company is now listing a raytracing-capable GPU (whether AMD or NVIDIA) as the minimum requirement. Now if only one could find decent raytracing graphics cards readily available...

When NVIDIA launched the second iteration of its Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technique used to upscale lower resolutions using deep learning, everyone was impressed by the quality of the rendering it is putting out. However, have you ever wondered how it all looks from the developer side of things? Usually, games need millions of lines of code and even some small features are not so easy to implement. Today, thanks to Tom Looman, a game developer working with Unreal Engine, we have found out just how the integration process of DLSS 2.0 looks like, and how big are the performance benefits coming from it.

Inthe blog post, you can take a look at the example game shown by the developer. The integration with Unreal Engine 4.26 is easy, as it just requires that you compile your project with a special UE4 RTX branch, and you need to apply your AppID which you can apply for at NVIDIA's website. Right now you are probably wondering how is performance looking like. Well, the baseline for the result was TXAA sampling techniques used in the game demo. The DLSS 2.0 has managed to bring anywhere from 60-180% increase in frame rate, depending on the scene. These are rather impressive numbers and it goes to show just how well NVIDIA has managed to build its DLSS 2.0 technology. For a full overview, please refer to the blog post.

NVIDIA today released the latest version of GeForce Game Ready drivers. The drivers add optimization for "The Medium," including support for RTX raytracing and DLSS. The drivers also introduce support for the Mobile GeForce RTX 30-series "Ampere" graphics. Among the issues fixed with this release include game crashes and broken HUD with "X4: Foundations" on RTX 30-series GPUs; game crashes for games based on the RE2 game engine in DirectX 11 mode; "Error 707" application crash with DaVinci Resolve; an application freeze with MPE GPU acceleration in Adobe Premiere Pro; a problem with color distortion in Zoom meetings with NVENC enabled; random crashes with "Detroit: Become Human;" and stuttering/lagging with game launches in Steam VR. Grab the drivers from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 461.40 WHQL

Palit Microsystems Ltd, the authorized add-in-board partner of NVIDIA, announced the GeForce RTX 3060 Dual and StormX Series graphics cards. With its efficient, high-performance architecture and the second generation of NVIDIA RTX, the GeForce RTX 3060 brings amazing hardware raytracing capabilities and support for NVIDIA DLSS and other technologies.

Like all RTX 30 Series GPUs, the RTX 3060 supports the trifecta of GeForce gaming innovations: NVIDIA DLSS, NVIDIA Reflex and NVIDIA Broadcast, which accelerate performance and enhance image quality. Together with real-time raytracing, these technologies are the foundation of the GeForce gaming platform, which brings unparalleled performance and features to games and gamers everywhere.

NVIDIA's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology uses advanced methods to offload sampling in games to the Tensor Cores, dedicated AI processors that are present on all of the GeForce RTX cards, including the prior Turing generation and now Ampere. NVIDIA promises that the inclusion of DLSS is promising to deliver up to a 40% performance boost, or even more. Today, the company has announced that DLSS is getting support in Cyberpunk 2077, Minecraft RTX, Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, CRSED: F.O.A.D., Scavengers, and Moonlight Blade. The inclusion of these titles is now making NVIDIA's DLSS technology present in a total of 32 titles, which is no small feat for new technology.Below, you can see the company provided charts about the performance of DLSS inclusion in the new titles, except the Cyberpunk 2077.
Update: The Cyberpunk 2077 performance numbers were leaked (thanks to kayjay010101 on TechPowerUp Forums), and you can check them out as well.

The most anticipated (read: hyped) PC game for several years now—Cyberpunk 2077—from CD Projekt Red, is almost here, and several gaming publications posted reviews of the game, as well as the way it handles on the PC. Cyberpunk 2077 is an open-world action-adventure RPG set in the near-future, with a non-linear adventure plot-line joined by dozens upon dozens of main- and side missions—not unlike GTA or RDR. What sets Cyberpunk's premise apart has to be its beautiful world that seems sufficiently futuristic to seem "plausible," and doesn't get carried away by futuristic tropes set by sci-fi franchises like "Star Trek." There's also plenty of social commentary from the creators through the game, which points to where we are likely headed.

As of this writing, review aggregator Metacritic rates Cyberpunk 2077 at 91, based on 44 critic reviews; while OpenCritic bases its bases its Top Critic Average at 91. The single player campaign consists of a main quest with innumerable optional quests. Night City and thereabouts, the fictional post-apocalyptic megapolis the game is based on, is a sprawling techno-concrete jungle with plenty to explore and unravel. Your skill-tree and abilities are based on cybernetic body implants and weapon mods. Critics highly praise the gameplay, the main quest, and the production value of the game—what you're paying for. At the same time, technical reviews point to the game still being extremely heavy on even the latest "Ampere" and "Big Navi" graphics cards, and despite CDPR taking its own sweet time releasing the game; it's still riddled with bugs and glitches that the studio will spend weeks—if not months—fixing.

As a world leading gaming brand, MSI is the most trusted name in gaming and eSports. We stand by our principles of breakthroughs in design, the pursuit of excellence, and technological innovation. Integrating gamers' most coveted extreme performance, realistic visuals, authentic sound, precise control and smooth streaming functions into its gaming rigs, MSI frees gamers from tedious trial and error and pushes gaming performance beyond limits. The determination to surpass past achievements has made MSI a "True Gaming" brand with gaming spirit throughout the industry.

With high anticipations, MSI will begin selling NVIDIA RTX 30 series graphics cards today. For gamers and developers, GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs offer the ultimate performance. They are supported by Ampere, the 2nd generation RTX architecture of NVIDIA, with new RT Cores, Tensor Cores, and multiprocessor streaming for the most practical raytracing graphics and cutting-edge AI features, providing players with an immersive visual perception. With the improvement of RT Cores, the RTX 30 series graphics cards can go up to twice the performance of the previous generation, allowing players to run high-quality game scenes smoothly. The improvement of DLSS technology allows players to balance the picture quality and performance, and raise the visual fidelity to a new level to enjoy high picture quality without losing smoothness.

Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing gaming - from in-game physics and animation simulation, to real-time rendering and AI-assisted broadcasting features. And NVIDIA is at the forefront of this field, bringing gamers, scientists and creators incredible advancements. With Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), NVIDIA set out to redefine real-time rendering through AI-based super resolution - rendering fewer pixels, then using AI to construct sharp, higher resolution images, giving gamers previously unheard-of performance gains.

Powered by dedicated AI processors on GeForce RTX GPUs called Tensor Cores, DLSS has accelerated performance in more than 25 games to date, boosting frame rates significantly, ensuring GeForce RTX gamers receive high-performance gameplay at the highest resolutions and detail settings, and when using immersive ray-traced effects. And now, NVIDIA has delivered four new DLSS titles for gamers to enjoy.

The launch of AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series graphics cards on November 18 will end NVIDIA's monopoly on real-time raytracing. For the first time, gamers will have a choice of GPU vendors when buying a raytracing-capable graphics card. Today, we're releasing a new 3DMark feature test that measures pure raytracing performance. You can use the 3DMark DirectX Raytracing feature test to compare the performance of the dedicated raytracing hardware in the latest graphics cards from AMD and NVIDIA.

Real-time raytracing is incredibly demanding. The latest graphics cards have dedicated hardware that's optimized for raytracing operations. Despite the advances in GPU performance, the demands are still too high for a game to rely on raytracing alone. That's why games use raytracing to complement traditional rendering techniques. The 3DMark DirectX Raytracing feature test is designed to make raytracing performance the limiting factor. Instead of relying on traditional rendering, the whole scene is ray-traced and drawn in one pass.DOWNLOAD: 3DMark v2.15.7078

NVIDIA's add-in-board partners announced bundling Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War with the latest inventories of their GeForce RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 graphics cards. The bundle includes not just the Standard Edition of the game, but also the Woods Operator Pack (a jungle operator pack), and the Confrontation Weapons Pack.

NVIDIA also revealed that in addition to its RTX real-time raytracing technology, Black Ops: Cold War will support the DLSS performance enhancement feature; and NVIDIA Reflex, a whole-system latency reduction feature that should help with the game's competitive online multiplayer. The bundle will be limited to select markets, and through participating retailers.

Ubisoft has today updated the PC system requirements for its Watch Dogs: Legion game. Set to release on October 29th this year, we are just a few weeks away from its release. With the arrival of NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3000 series Ampere graphics cards, Ubisoft has decided to update the official PC system requirements with RTX-on capabilities. The inclusion of raytracing in the game requires a faster CPU, as well as an RTX-capable GPU. At 1080p resolution, you need at least an RTX 2060 GPU to play with high settings, and raytracing turned to the medium, including DLSS. Going up to 1440p, Ubisoft recommends gamers to use at least an RTX 3070 GPU for very high preset, raytracing on high, and DLSS set to quality. If you want to max everything out and play with the highest settings at 4K resolution, you will need an RTX 3080 GPU.

Fortnite, one of the world's most popular games, is about to get faster, more beautiful, and even more responsive on PC with the addition of groundbreaking NVIDIA technologies. Ray-traced visual effects, NVIDIA DLSS, NVIDIA Reflex, and a custom RTX map will be added during Fortnite Chapter 2 - Season 4, thanks to a new Epic Games and NVIDIA partnership.

Immersive ray-traced effects, powered by GeForce RTX's RT Cores, dramatically improve the fidelity and detail of Fortnite's stylized world. With NVIDIA DLSS, performance is greatly accelerated thanks to Tensor Cores, found exclusively on GeForce RTX 20 and 30 Series GPUs. And NVIDIA Reflex reduces the time it takes for your actions, like your character's movements, to be displayed on your monitor, increasing responsiveness.

Update Sep 17th: NVIDIA has announced that these changes will be coming to the game on September 17 when a new GeForce Game Ready Driver is released.

NVIDIA Deep Learning Super Sampling is a deep learning technique developed by NVIDIA that uses AI to intelligently upscale rendered frames. This technology which must be individually added game by game allows for significant performance boosts by running the game at a lower resolution and upscaling the output to a nearly identical level of detail. This technology relies on the Tensor Cores found in RTX 20/30 series GPUs and allows for a performance boost of up to 70%.

In a recent Q&A thread, NVIDIA announced that the new DLSS 2.1 will bring VR compatibility along with 8K, and dynamic resolution support. The introduction of DLSS 2.1 will help enable more immersive VR titles on next generation headsets. VR headsets typically expect a consistent frame rate of 90 FPS at resolutions up to 2880x1600 with some headsets such as the Valve Index taking that up to 144hz. DLSS technology will allow VR games to be natively rendered at half resolution and intelligently upscaled to ensure high frame rates and quality.

NVIDIA's performance expectations from the upcoming GeForce RTX 3090 "Ampere" flagship graphics card underline a massive RTX performance gain generation-over-generation. Measured at 4K UHD with DLSS enabled on both cards, the RTX 3090 is shown offering a 100% performance gain over the RTX 2080 Ti in "Minecraft RTX," greater than 100% gain in "Control," and close to 80% gain in "Wolfenstein: Young Blood." NVIDIA's GeForce "Ampere" architecture introduces second generation RTX, according to leaked Gainward specs sheets. This could entail not just higher numbers of ray-tracing machinery, but also higher IPC for the RT cores. The specs sheets also refer to third generation tensor cores, which could enhance DLSS performance.

Codemasters announced that the year's edition of the official Formula One game, F1 2020, receives NVIDIA DLSS support through an update. When enabled, DLSS (Deep Learning Supersampling) unleashes massive gains in performance by rendering the game at a lower resolution than your display's native resolution, and restoring details back into the game through AI supersampling. With DLSS and maximum game settings, even a $400 GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is capable of playing F1 2020 at 4K UHD resolution with over 60 fps. The RTX 2070 SUPER manages roughly 75 fps, and the top RTX 2080 Ti over 100 fps. There are also handy performance uplifts to be had on the 1440p and Full HD (1080p) resolutions.

"We wanted F1 2020 to be the most authentic and immersive F1 game to date," said Lee Mather, F1 Franchise Game Director at Codemasters. "This required a laser focus on all aspects, from the My Team feature through to every pixel on the screen. NVIDIA DLSS gives users the performance headroom to maximise visual settings, resulting in realistic, immersive graphics."

Millions of Minecraft gamers across the globe will get to experience their self-created worlds more vividly than ever before when Minecraft with RTX moves to open beta on Windows 10 this week and introduces realistic shadows, lighting and vibrant colors to the best-selling videogame of all time.

"We teamed up with Mojang Studios to bring next-generation ray tracing and AI to Minecraft and the results are truly amazing," said Jeff Fisher, senior vice president of gaming at NVIDIA. "There is a ton of excitement from the community for Minecraft with RTX, and we can't wait to see what they create."

NVIDIA today announced its new Deep Learning Supersampling 2.0 (DLSS 2.0) performance enhancement feature, being distributed through the new GeForce 445.75 Game Ready drivers. DLSS 2.0 is NVIDIA's second attempt at a holy grail of performance boost at acceptable levels of quality loss (think what MP3 did to WAV). It works by rendering the 3D scene at a lower resolution than what your display is capable of, and upscaling it with deep-learning reconstructing details using a pre-trained neural network. Perhaps the two biggest differences between DLSS 2.0 and the original DLSS that made its debut with GeForce RTX 20-series in 2018, is the lack of a need for game-specific content for training the DLSS neural net; and implementation of a rendering technique called temporal feedback.

As mentioned earlier, DLSS 2.0 offers image quality comparable to original resolution while only rendering 1/4 or1/2 the pixels. It then uses new temporal feedback techniques to reconstruct details in the image. DLSS 2.0 is also able to use tensor cores on GeForce RTX GPUs "more efficiently," to execute "2x faster" than the original DLSS. Lastly, DLSS 2.0 gives users greater control over the image quality, which affects the rendering resolution of your game: quality, balanced (1:2), and performance (1:4), where the ratio denotes rendering-resolution to display resolution. Resolution scaling is a sure-shot way to gain performance, but at noticeable quality loss. DLSS uses AI to restore some of the details. The difference between performance gained from resolution scaling and AI-based image quality enhancement is the net DLSS performance uplift. In addition to DLSS 2.0, GeForce 445.75 drivers come game-ready for "Half Life: Alyx."

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 445.75 Game Ready Drivers with DLSS 2.0

Top-of-the-line gaming brand AORUS, reveals itself at the 2019 GAMESCOM trade show in Germany Cologne, in which the spotlight shines at the all-new 17 inch flagship gaming laptop, the AORUS 17. AORUS takes the lead yet again through the co-op with world renowned switch manufacture OMRON to innovate and develop a set of unique mechanical switches that is tailored for the AORUS 17, not only does the keys offer exceptional durability, it also offers one of the best feeling keys that gamers can find on a laptop. The AORUS greatness continues through the combination of the brand new Intel 8-core CPU, NVIDIA RTX graphics chip with Ray Tracing technology and an exclusive WINDFORCE INFINITY cooling system, the AORUS 17 steadily sits on the high-end gaming thrown with these specs.

AORUS leads the industry again by working with world renowned mechanical switch manufacture, OMRON in order to create a unique set of mechanical keys for the AORUS laptop, with gamer oriented design details, including an optimal 2.5 mm key travel and an actuation point of 1.6 mm, giving gamers both the sensational touch and sound of a crisp blue switch, which gamers can now enjoy the qualities of a full mechanical keyboard right on their AORUS laptop. AORUS pursues further by redesigning the key caps to produce stunning backlit keys with unique "concentric" keycaps, letting the LED underneath the keycap shine though evenly, increasing the overall lighting intensity by 27%, in addition to the AORUS exclusive FUSION 2.0 keyboard customization software, gamers can truly create a unique personal style.

We've seen NVIDIA's move to provide RTX effects on older, non-RT capable hardware today being met with what the company was certainly expecting: a cry of dismay from users that now get to see exactly what their non-Turing NVIDIA hardware is capable of. The move from NVIDIA could be framed as a way to democratize access to RTX effects via Windows DXR, enabling users of its GTX 1600 and 1000 series of GPUs to take a look at the benefits of raytracing; but also as an upgrade incentive for those that now see how their performance is lacking without the new specialized Turing cores to handle the added burden.

Whatever your side of the fence on that issue, however, NVIDIA has provided users with one more raytraced joy today. Three of them, in fact, in the form of three previously-shown tech demos. The Star Wars tech demo (download) is the most well known, certainly, with its studies on reflections on Captain Phasma's breastplate. Atomic Heart (download) is another one that makes use of RTX for reflections and shadows, while Justice (download) adds caustics to that equation. If you have a Turing graphics card, you can test these demos in their full glory, with added DLSS for improved performance. If you're on Pascal, you won't have that performance-enhancing mode available, and will have to slog it through software computations. Follow the embedded links for our direct downloads of these tech demos.