Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 - PC Tech Review - DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction Deep Dive

The new 2.0 edition of Cyberpunk 2077 features the latest and most advanced DLSS ray reconstruction technology - but what is it and how does it work? Alex explains what denoising is, why we need it, and the tremendous image quality benefits it delivers. At the same time this is what you might call a '1.0' version, and there are clearly improvements it requires. Beyond that, we take a look at the 2.0 game itself, including how heavy it is on the CPU compared to the prior version. 26 minutes of Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 content? Let's do this.

00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:04 What is DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction?
00:05:37 Reflections and Textures Detail
00:09:50 Diffuse Lighting Detail, Shadows, and Flicker
00:13:06 Reflections, Shadows and Diffuse Lighting while moving
00:19:06 Issues and Artefacts
00:22:58 The DF Verdict on DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction
00:24:08 GPU and CPU performance differences in Version 2.0
00:25:24 Conclusion

[mikes]

For me the biggest difference is how it is creating shadows on all objects, even small ones in the distance. It really deepens and enriches the image.

[TwinOpinion]

It's great to see how quickly these techniques are improving. Graphics haven't been this exciting to me since the Voodoo 2 and the Dreamcast dropped in 1998. 🤯

[filipborch-solem]

The opacity micro map thing deserves more praise. When I tested out rt overdrive before the fps would tank so much whenever vegetation was there, and it was a big issue.

[kuruptzZz]

It's absolutely amazing. Running around, everything looks so crisp now. I thought it would just be sharper reflections...but for some reason even distant objects like fences look clearer. I toggled it on and off repeatedly to confirm. I think cyberpunk 2077 is the best looking game out right now..and it's 3 years old!

[astreakaito]

This actually looks incredible now. There was something wrong with smaller details and assets before with Pathtracing.

[HybridHumaan]

From all the dlss 3.5 reviews i have see so far this was the most in depth and insightful one.

[Compusemble]

This tech is very impressive for the first iteration. It's not without issues, but in many cases it has an appreciable and positive effect on image quality, while also improving performance. Great work from NVIDIA here.

[LastDreamy]

Props to the studio for this marvel of graphical prowess and thanks to the team for this amazing review it's always so insightful!

[FSAPOJake]

Honestly, I say this as an all-AMD user - CP2077 with ray tracing overdrive is probably the first example since Crysis of PC as a platform jumping several generations ahead of the consoles in one fell swoop, and it makes me excited for the future of graphics. Like Crysis, the console versions of CP2077 look good and are impressive but are not even close to being on the same level as the PC version fully maxed out, even if you completely equalize the resolution and cap the framerate on PC to 60fps.

[chrisv]

I booted the game up last night with the update and I was very impressed with what I saw with ray reconstruction. I was literally just wandering around the city admiring everything. Playing this game at 4k DLSS is absolutely stunning. There's still some jank with some NPC character model animations but this game has improved so much since launch, it's crazy.

[weskandel]

One area where the edge fringing is particular noticeable is in the first scene with Dex smoking in the car. That's where I was like... oh... all is not perfect in 3.5 land. Otherwise, a really nice update to the game's visuals.

[adamdabrowski]

As always amazing tech video! Thank you for all effort that went into making that video and sharing your incredible knowledge. Plus, fair play for pronunciation of Polish names. Legend!

[anthonynuttall]

Great vid Alex. How you find these details and report on them is truly amazing. (Ps, I don't understand most of it though 😅)

[Macho_Fantastico]

I've been blown away by the visual improvements with Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 and DLSS 3.5. But I'd argue the most impressed I've been is in small compact environments, Ray Reconstruction gives locations and characters so much more detail it's crazy at times. Excited to see where the tech goes next.

[lawyerlawyer]

We were all waiting for this video and you know it!

[JFLTX]

The color pop in accordance with DLSS is very impressive.

[nightblau]

finally the review we all've been waiting for

[andrewsimper]

The thin grass grass was wobbling a small amount and it looks like the denoiser "stabilised" it by making it wider, instead of keeping it thin and allowing it to move. I suppose there is ambiguity in the jitter of light rays vs the jitter of movement and the denoiser is preferring stability - still excellent results for the first release and on the whole a big win for image quality that will hopefully only get better as the tech matures.

[Ivan-prku]

Looks like RR has difficulty with very narrow ranges of brightness contrast. The reconstruction model need more targeted re-training and tuning to address this. Very promising, if Nvidia sticks with refining DLSS even more.

[Helifax]

Alex.. Kudos for the Interview with CDPR & Nvidia AND for this in-depth video! You ROCK (as is the whole DF team!)