Debuting alongside the new Blackwell GPU architecture, Nvidia gifted a remarkable new technology to owners of all existing RTX GPUs – the DLSS 4 transformer model. We’ve already talked about how the new ray reconstruction produces some outstanding results, but what about upscaling, or super resolution? Outlets like Hardware Unboxed have already put out excellent analysis of the new DLSS, so we went for a slightly different approach. Based on our years of testing games and isolating specific DLSS issues within these titles, we decided to go back and re-test DLSS pain points, swapping out the old convolutional neural network (CNN) model for the brand-new transformer alternative with a view to seeing how well the new technology copes in known trouble spots.
The concept of being able to improve existing games with brand-new DLSS technology is wonderful – but how do you do it? Well, new games offer the choice between CNN and transformer models within their menu systems, while others have been patched. Beyond that, Nvidia has added a function into its new app that does the same job. This is handy when it works, but sometimes it does not – like in Assassin’s Creed Shadows for example.
Thankfully, third party apps have been injecting new DLSS into older games for some time now, and DLSS Tweaker is a good alternative. With this you merely grab the latest DLSS super res DLL from a place like Tech Power-Up, drop it into the targeted game folder, click on DLSS tweaker’s config .exe and then change the DLSS version to preset model “K” – which is the latest transformer model. It’s slightly more convoluted but easy enough to get to grips with – but ultimately, Nvidia really needs to address the issue properly within its app.
In terms of our test suite – well, this is definitely a situation where watching is more illuminating than reading, so do check out the video above for actual head-to-head comparisons – but before we go deep into the weeds, let’s not forget that the transformer model has been proven to be more effective in terms of quality, albeit with a larger hit to resources than the CNN alternative. However, those fewer frames are traded for higher image quality, to the point where in many cases, you can comfortably lower the DLSS setting while still achieving the same – or better – image quality.
However, the focus of our testing is to see just how well the transformer model improves over known DLSS drawbacks and we start with Death Stranding, or more specifically the Director’s Cut, one of the earliest DLSS 2 games. We tested at 1440p resolution with the balanced mode and it’s obvious to see improved detail with a lower level of softness, without introducing aliasing. It’s a big improvement. However, there was a weakness: rain around Sam Porter, with DLSS virtually eliminating rain around his backpack – which is there in super-sampled ‘ground truth’ comparisons.