DLSS question.

[Ianrivaldosmith 5,317]

So, with DLSS coming, what will it bring us? At the moment I run 4K. I could reduce the render scale to 80 to get more fps, but, I don’t. Reason being, is that if I keep it at 100, using a 3090, I can maintain my target fps, and eliminate stutters as I become limited by gpu and not main thread. How will DLSS help in this scenario? 

Edited April 9, 2022 by Ianrivaldosmith

[ChaoticBeauty 6,692]

If you are deliberately keeping render scale to 100% to avoid being CPU-limited, then DLSS will not help with that. It comes with four presets, Ultra Performance (33%), Performance (50%), Balanced (58%) and Quality (66%), and performance at each preset should be rather similar to setting render scale to that value.

DLSS will bring superior quality though. For example, DLSS Performance could perform and look better than TAAU 75%, and DLSS Quality could achieve parity with native rendering, while better resolving fine detail like thin lines, and still perform better. But choosing any of these modes will mean you'll be CPU-limited in your case because they all upsample from a base resolution lower than 80%.

Unless you are willing to cap the frame rate to avoid maxing out the MainThread, your only hope is that Asobo implement DLAA as well, which uses NVIDIA's same world-class TAA solution but without the upsampling component, yielding the best possible image quality but slightly worse performance than native with standard TAA.

[Ianrivaldosmith 5,317]

3 minutes ago, ChaoticBeauty said:

Unless you are willing to cap the frame rate to avoid maxing out the MainThread

All ready capped at 40. So, DLSS at 4K doesn’t seem as appetising as it once did for me then. Pretty pointless if it means I’ll become cpu limited again, which I don’t want, as that induces main thread limited and stuttering. 

[iFlySimX 751]

How would DLSS help me if I was was running the sim with with a 1440p monitor/res? 

[ChaoticBeauty 6,692]

1 minute ago, Ianrivaldosmith said:

All ready capped at 40. So, DLSS at 4K doesn’t seem as appetising as it once did for me then. Pretty pointless if it means I’ll become cpu limited again, which I don’t want, as that induces main thread limited and stuttering. 

I see. Still it might be worth waiting to see what else the updated DirectX 12 implementation brings to the table. I believe they mentioned in a somewhat recent Q&A that they could further get about 10% better CPU performance by optimising the DirectX 12 render path, which might be just enough to make you GPU-limited with DLSS Quality on.

Also I just remembered that DSR is a thing, which could allow you to boost the output resolution beyond 4K and then enable DLSS Quality, targeting similar GPU performance but much better image quality. But if I recall correctly you are playing in VR? I have no idea if DSR works with that.

Just now, iFlySimX said:

How would DLSS help me if I was was running the sim with with a 1440p monitor/res?

If you are GPU-limited at native 1440p (which I kind of doubt considering you have an RTX 3080), using DLSS would be similar to turning down the render scale with TAAU enabled, but with a much smaller decrease in image quality.

[Ianrivaldosmith 5,317]

3 minutes ago, ChaoticBeauty said:

But if I recall correctly you are playing in VR? I have no idea if DSR works with that.

No VR here. 2D. 

[iFlySimX 751]

4 minutes ago, ChaoticBeauty said:

If you are GPU-limited at native 1440p (which I kind of doubt considering you have an RTX 3080), using DLSS would be similar to turning down the render scale with TAAU enabled, but with a much smaller decrease in image quality.

Gotcha, thank you! Yea my i9-9900k is hurting more than more 3080...So it would be a little beneficial but not as much as if I was GPU limited. 

[turbomax 3,286]

why would Asobo invest precious resources into this if they didn't already know that it will improve performance considerably? they wouldn't talk about DLSS if they hadn't already successfully done proof of concept tests.

wondering why we don't hear anything re. DLSS from the other 2 simulator developers? 😊

Edited April 9, 2022 by turbomax

[ChaoticBeauty 6,692]

8 minutes ago, Ianrivaldosmith said:

No VR here. 2D. 

Sounds like DSR might be possible then. Can you go to the NVIDIA Control Panel, Manage 3D Settings and then see if DSR - Factors is available? If yes, should factor 2.25x be available, it should give you a resolution of 5760x3240 (which then you have to select from the MSFS settings), and when you set render scale to 65% the render resolution should be close to native 2160p. If possible, it would be a good simulation of a DSR/DLSS combination when it comes to performance (because quality will be better).

5 minutes ago, turbomax said:

why would Asobo invest precious resources into this if they didn't already know that it will improve performance? they wouldn't talk about DLSS if they hadn't already successfully done proof of concept tests.

It will improve performance only when the user is GPU-limited, which should be the majority of users actually. I doubt the portion of the userbase pushing Terrain LOD beyond 200 while playing on an RTX 3080 or so is significant. Still, Asobo seemed more excited about the quality improvements compared to their existing TAAU. For example, they claimed that DLSS would fix the shimmering buildings which even the standard TAA is unable to resolve properly.

8 minutes ago, turbomax said:

I am looking forward to this, wondering why we don't hear anything re. DLSS from the other 2 simulator developers?

Because DLSS requires motion vectors to be provided from the game engine. DLSS should be possible once/if the other two simulators get a TAA solution of their own.

[JSmith2112 317]

I posted some numbers a while ago showing what DLSS does in other games. In a nutshell, DLSS should be a massive improvement for 4k users. Hopefully MS/Asobo implement an 'Auto' DLSS  setting in addition to the various other modes as some games do.

[turbomax 3,286]

33 minutes ago, ChaoticBeauty said:

45 minutes ago, turbomax said:

I am looking forward to this, wondering why we don't hear anything re. DLSS from the other 2 simulator developers?

Because DLSS requires

that was meant rather as a rhetoric question. It requires additional coding = manpower.

[Ianrivaldosmith 5,317]

42 minutes ago, JSmith2112 said:

In a nutshell, DLSS should be a massive improvement for 4k users.

4K users with lesser graphics cards? I can’t see the benefit  when using 3080/3090 onwards. You just become mainthread limited…. 

[jrw4 624]

Can I safely assume that this is irrelevant for those of us who are running GTX 1080s with an HD monitor?

Many thanks.

[Emerson67 248]

18 minutes ago, jrw4 said:

Can I safely assume that this is irrelevant for those of us who are running GTX 1080s with an HD monitor?

Unfortunately, only RTX cards have Tensor cores to enable DLSS

[JSmith2112 317]

44 minutes ago, Ianrivaldosmith said:

4K users with lesser graphics cards? I can’t see the benefit  when using 3080/3090 onwards. You just become mainthread limited…. 

if you're getting a smooth 60 FPS or more at 4k with your preferred graphics settings then DLSS probably won't do anything for you. If not, with DLSS you should be able to bump up your settings and /or your FPS without incurring much of an image quality hit. You'll still be GPU limited.