Tech Focus: Nvidia DLDSR - What Does AI Downsampling Actually Do?

Downsampling or super-sampling down from a higher resolution is a brute-force form of anti-aliasing. Nvidia's new DLDSR aims to do the same job with lower pixel counts, improved performance and maybe improved quality. What does it do? How does it work? Can a downsampled 1620p really look as good as a downsampled 2160p? And what happens if you combine DLSS with DLDSR? Alex Battaglia has answers!

[Lukyz]

I don't know which makes me more excited. Fact that DLDSR is a really good technique or that Alex made a video where 90% of footage is bathtub Geralt. Well played sir :))))

[Mozts]

I use downsampling all the time to play older games in 4k in a 1080p screen, great to see it hasn't been forgotten about.

[MrSiloterio]

I can confirm that DLDSR is some sorcery. Currently playing Tomb Raider 2013 using 1.75 resolution and it looks far better than even 5k (1440p 4x). And yes, you don't need any form of anti-aliasing whatsoever. It's madness. But above all, the performance loss is very efficient.

Update: just tested this on GTA V and it has finally made MSAA extinct as an AA solution. I've benchmarked the foliage-dense areas which report the lowest possible framerate and found that not only is 1.75x DLDSR able to resolve jagged edges far better than 4x MSAA, but it is even more superior in performance (especially when lots of alpha effects are close to the screen). It's just amazing guys.

[jonny-b]

Always nice to see further progress on eradication of shimmering and aliasing. Shimmering was most annoying thing of 360-PS3 era. I remember hoping Witcher 3's default AA would handle it when I read it had a temporal component but its minor and subtle

[MichaelChan]

The awkward moment my parents stares at me and silently shut the door as I paused the video and zoomed into Geralt's body to compare and contrast the minute technical difference between native and DSR...
You planned this huh, Alex?!

[guywithalltheanswers]

The results of DLDSR and DLSS together work much better once the internal res is 1440p or better. The end result is so much better with great framerate too.

[SHGames]

I’ve been waiting for more Tech Focus, you never disappoint mister Alex!

[mathesar]

Finally DLDSR explained in detail along with optimal settings for us 1080P users, Thanks once again.

[nathanjohnson]

I’ve always wanted to use DLSS for image quality instead of performance and it’s sick that DLDSR let’s us do it in the best way possible. Looks fantastic combined like that.

[ReedGarzone]

I've been replaying through the MCC and I'm on Halo 4 now. Playing at 1440p Ultrawide with 2.25 DLDSR, making the internal render 5120p. Still getting a locked 144fps and it looks amazing. So happy with this tech to play through older games and be way more crisp.

[Ferdam]

I still hope to see a driver-level DLSS implementation/feature in the future, making it not dependent on Developers anymore

[ewerton]

this is probably going to be very useful for older games that use archaic forms of anti aliasing

[dx-qcze]

Thanks Alex. As always an excellent video

[arthurbonds-ch]

Great vid! Always nice to see the performance and quality benefits up close.

I've personally used DLDSR in Yakuza: Like a Dragon @ 1080p on the 2.25x setting - it really cleans up the flickering/shimmering that's always been my pet peeve with Dragon Engine. Hair both still and in motion look superb and the performance hit is totally acceptable in a game like this.

[DaiDidStuff]

I’m so glad you brought up that last tip! I’ve been doing that with Shadow of the Tomb Raider for the past few days and the image quality looks amazing! DLSS is just such a good form of anti-aliasing as is that the higher rez downscale on it is such a massive gain for little performance loss, it’s fantastic 😌

[superjakegough]

The Nvidia subreddit found that the DLDSR smoothness seems to be acting the same as the image sharpening option in reverse. They found that a DLDSR image with 0% smoothness gave the same sharpening look mentioned on textures in this video as an image at 100% sharpening at the same internal resolution.

[existentialselkath]

So far the best use I've found for dldsr is to help improve terrible TAA in games like Halo infinite.
I use an internal resolution of 1440p which is upscaled to the dldsr resolution of 4k by the in game TAA, and then it's downsampled back to 1440p again by dldsr for my monitor.

Its a complete joke that you have to do this to get halo infinite to look crisp, but I'm happy the tool exists that actually allows me to do this in the first place

[lowebowski]

Red Dead Redemption looks like a totally different game with DLDSR enabled. All the blurriness when moving is eliminated, and looks so amazing!

[JerryFlowersIII]

I was looking forward to this and very interesting.
Especially combining DLSS with DLDSR. I think I've wrapped my head around it.

[davidb]

It is amazing that we have come to a point where up- and downsampling a picture multiple times makes it look better!