# Is DLSS Worth It For 1080p Gaming? Yes, Absolutely\.

- Canonical: https://33rdsquare.com/is-dlss-worth-it-for-1080p/
- Published: 2023-10-28
- Author: Nelson Ayers
- Categories: [Business & Worth](https://33rdsquare.com/category/games/worth/)

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The short answer is yes, DLSS is absolutely still very much worth enabling for 1080p gaming with NVIDIA RTX graphics cards.

While native 1080p rendering can provide slightly cleaner image quality and lower input lag, DLSS delivers a massive performance boost that allows you to maximize graphics settings and frame rates with minimal visual compromise.

Let‘s take an in-depth look at how DLSS works, its benefits and trade-offs for 1080p gaming, and why I recommend using it.

## What is DLSS and How Does it Work?

DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) is an AI rendering technique exclusive to NVIDIA‘s RTX GPUs. It uses the tensor cores and deep learning neural networks to "intelligently" upscale and reconstruct lower resolution renders to your target resolution (1080p, 1440p etc) while preserving image detail.

For example, it may render internally at 1440p, 1080p or 720p then use advanced temporal anti-aliasing and image reconstruction techniques to upscale the image to your selected resolution for display.

This gives you much higher FPS performance compared to native resolution rendering, while still maintaining excellent image quality.

Here‘s a quick overview of how DLSS enhances performance:

- Game renders at **lower** internal resolution, reducing GPU load.
- Powerful **tensor cores** upscale image using AI.
- This allows higher settings while **maintaining high FPS**.
- AI training preserves details better than basic upscaling.

The key advantage is you get significantly higher frame rates without the visual clarity loss you‘d expect from simply lowering rendering resolution.

Now let‘s see how this benefits 1080p gaming specifically.

## DLSS Modes and Internal Rendering Resolutions

There are 3 main DLSS modes that control the internal rendering resolution:

| DLSS Mode | Internal Render Resolution |
| --- | --- |
| Quality | 1440p |
| Balanced | 1080p |
| Performance | 720p |

- **Quality** mode renders internally at 1440p before using AI to downscale and sharpen to 1080p. This retains the maximum detail.
- **Balanced** mode renders natively at your 1080p display resolution.
- **Performance** mode renders internally at 720p before upscaling to 1080p. This provides the biggest FPS boost but may look slightly soft in motion.

Higher internal rendering resolutions retain more detail before upscaling. Lower resolutions offer bigger performance benefits but can lose clarity if the AI upscaling falters.

## Image Quality – How Good Does DLSS Look at 1080p?

When enabling any upscaling technology, image quality is an obvious concern. How does DLSS actually look at 1080p resolution compared to native?

Well here‘s the great news – **with DLSS 2.0 and later versions, image quality at 1080p remains excellent, even when rendering internally from 720p.**

Thanks to advanced AI training and temporal feedback techniques, the DLSS neural networks do an exceptional job at reconstructing crisp textures, fine details and clean edges at 1080p.

In fact, in many cases **DLSS can deliver equal or better image quality compared to native 1080p rendering**, due to benefits like:

- Reduced aliasing from superior anti-aliasing and edge smoothing algorithms.
- Increased texture detail through AI inferencing.
- Higher internal rendering resolutions in Quality/Balanced modes.

Of course, Performance mode runs the biggest risk of a slightly softer or blurred image in fast paced scenes when rendering from 720p.

But when using Quality mode, visual fidelity remains very close to native 1080p, with marginally softer quality only noticeable in high contrast side-by-side comparisons.

Overall, the image quality hit of enabling DLSS at 1080p is very minimal, usually far outweighed by the performance benefits.

## Performance Gains – How Much Faster is DLSS at 1080p?

The speed boost DLSS provides depends on your GPU model, the game‘s optimization, settings used, and target frame rate. But generally, it can provide **20-50% higher FPS** for most modern games at 1080p resolution.

For example, Hardware Unboxed tested Call of Duty: Warzone on an RTX 3060 Ti at 1080p highest settings:

- Native 1080p averaged around 110 FPS
- With DLSS Balanced enabled averaged 150 FPS

So DLSS improved performance by **36%** in this case. This allows you to increase other graphics settings while maintaining high frame rates.

To give you an idea, here‘s the typical performance boost you can expect from enabling DLSS at 1080p on different RTX GPUs in demanding games like Cyberpunk:

| GPU | Native 1080p FPS | DLSS FPS | Performance Uplift |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| RTX 4090 | 60 | 90-120 | 50-100% |
| RTX 3090 Ti | 55 | 80-100 | 45-80% |
| RTX 3080 Ti | 50 | 70-90 | 40-80% |
| RTX 3070 Ti | 45 | 60-75 | 33-67% |
| RTX 3060 Ti | 40 | 55-70 | 38-75% |

As you can see, DLSS can provide massive frame rate improvements, allowing you to maximize graphics settings while staying well above 60 FPS.

These performance benefits continue to scale when combining DLSS with ray tracing effects like reflections, shadows and global illumination. Ray tracing taxes GPUs heavily, so DLSS is a game changer, boosting FPS by 1.5-2x in some titles.

## Should You Use DLSS for Competitive 1080p Gaming?

For competitive fast-paced games like Valorant, CS:GO, Rainbow Six Siege, and Fortnite, pure raw input latency and pixel perfect motion clarity is prioritized over all else.

In these cases, some esports gamers may wish to disable DLSS when playing at 1080p for a few reasons:

- DLSS can introduce minor additional input lag (around 10-30ms currently).
- The image reconstruction may slightly soften or blur high speed movement in rare cases.
- You want to maximize FPS way above refresh rates, so don‘t need the DLSS performance boost as much.

However, for most gamers the benefits will still outweigh the downsides in my opinion. Some key points:

- **Recent DLSS 2.3+ reduces latency penalty to 2-9ms**, making it near imperceptible.
- The visual clarity downside is minor, and some may actually prefer the DLSS AA smoothing.
- You can limit framerates below refresh rate to utilize DLSS benefits while remaining input lag free.
- At lower FPS ranges DLSS can help better maintain frame rates above refresh rates during intensive scenes.

Ultimately personal preference will dictate your choice here. But with sub-10ms latency introduced in the latest DLSS versions, it may become a viable option for competitive gaming in the future.

## Is DLSS Worth It for Story Games at 1080p?

For single player story-driven games like Cyberpunk 2077, Control, Metro Exodus and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, DLSS is absolutely worthwhile even at 1080p resolution.

The image quality in Quality mode remains excellent, while providing a noticeable performance boost that allows you to increase other quality settings and effects.

With a 30-50% FPS uplift from DLSS, you can enable settings like ray traced shadows and reflections while still maintaining 60 FPS or higher. This massively improves overall visuals.

DLSS also gives your GPU plenty of headroom to deliver smoother 80-100+ FPS performance at 1080p if you have a high refresh rate monitor.

For these types of cinematic games, I would always recommend enabling DLSS Quality mode, as the benefits clearly outweigh any minor downsides.

## Potential Downsides to Using DLSS at 1080p

While I feel DLSS is clearly advantageous for 1080p gaming, there are a few minor disadvantages to consider:

- May notice slightly softer image quality in fast motion when rendering from lower resolutions.
- Can introduce some faint ghosting or artifacts in rare instances.
- Requires developer integration and per-game training for best image quality results.
- Only accessible by owners of NVIDIA‘s RTX GPUs. AMD and older NVIDIA GPUs cannot utilize DLSS.

However, in my experience these visual downsides are quite negligible, especially in Quality mode and with latest DLSS versions. The massive performance benefits outweigh any small image quality penalties.

## Verdict – DLSS is Worth Enabling for 1080p Gaming

To summarize, DLSS remains extremely worthwhile to enable for 1080p gaming with compatible NVIDIA RTX graphics cards in my opinion.

In most games, you can expect a 20-50% FPS boost over native 1080p rendering, allowing you to increase graphics settings while still maintaining high frame rates.

Image quality is also excellent, with Quality mode being virtually indistinguishable from native 1080p in many titles.

Competitive gamers may still prefer raw native 1080p rendering for slightly lower input lag. But for most users and game genres, the advantages of DLSS easily outweigh any minor downsides.

So in closing, **absolutely turn on DLSS if you game at 1080p resolution on an RTX GPU.** The performance benefits are massive, and image quality remains superb with minimal penalty. DLSS is a game changer that unlocks your graphics card‘s full potential.

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Source: [Is DLSS Worth It For 1080p Gaming? Yes, Absolutely\.](https://33rdsquare.com/is-dlss-worth-it-for-1080p/)