At a Glance
- DLSS 4.5’s refined transformer model boosts fps by 5-12 on mid-tier GPUs
- Sparks, foliage and textures now render sharper with less ghosting
- Dynamic 6× frame generation won’t land until spring for developers
- Why it matters: Owners of budget RTX 50-series laptops gain free performance without buying new hardware
Nvidia released DLSS 4.5 on Wednesday, delivering a modest but visible upgrade to the AI upscaler introduced last year. The update sharpens small environmental details, curbs ghosting and squeezes extra frames from lower-end RTX 50-series cards, though the promised dynamic 6× frame generation remains months away.
DLSS 4.5 vs DLSS 4 Head-to-Head
Testing on a Framework Laptop 16 with an RTX 5070 laptop GPU and a 1440p monitor revealed clear gains:
- Black Myth: Wukong – Model M preset lifted average fps from 45-48 to 50-60 with very high settings and medium ray tracing
- Marvel’s Spider-Man II – Foliage looked crisper at medium settings with high ray tracing; frame rates held steady
- The Outer Worlds II – Ground foliage and distant plants appeared sharper, though the same scene lost a few frames, requiring minor setting tweaks
Fire pits and spark effects that older models smeared now stay visible, and texture ghosting around thin objects is reduced. Latency with frame generation is also marginally lower.
How the New Transformer Model Works
DLSS 4.5 keeps the same core approach: render at a lower resolution, then use an AI-trained transformer to reconstruct a higher-resolution image. The difference lies in refined weighting that better recognizes minute scene data-sparks, leaves, wires-without hallucinating extra artifacts. Players can force the new model through the latest Nvidia app, choosing preset “L” for ultra-performance toward 4K or “M” for balanced 1440p gains.
Because upscalers rely on computational headroom, budget GPUs benefit most. An RTX 5070 with only 8 GB VRAM gains breathing room, whereas high-end desktop cards already push triple-digit fps with less reliance on upscaling.
Missing Piece: Dynamic Frame Generation
Nvidia’s CES 2026 reveal also teased dynamic 6× frame generation that would scale between 4× and 6× to match a monitor’s top refresh rate. That code is not in the public driver yet. Nvidia told News Of Fort Worth the dynamic frame-gen plugin will reach developers this spring via the DLSS Multi Frame Generation Streamline Plugin; consumer availability depends on studios integrating the feature.
Frame generation still requires a playable baseline-around 50 fps minimum, ideally 60 fps-before the AI-inserted frames feel smooth rather than jittery.
Key Takeaways
- DLSS 4.5 is available now through the Nvidia app override
- Expect 5-12 fps gains on mid-tier hardware at 1440p
- Visual boosts center on fine details, not grand new effects
- Dynamic 6× frame generation remains a future developer tool, not a user toggle
