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| Nvidia DLSS 4.5 aims to address some of the pain points with the original Transformer model. |
CES 2026 was buzzing with anticipation for a potential RTX 50 Super series reveal. Instead, Nvidia made a strategic power play, shifting the spotlight squarely onto software with the announcement of DLSS 4.5. This isn't just a routine update; it's a foundational upgrade to the AI that powers your games, promising stunning visual clarity but with important caveats for owners of older GPUs.
The core of this upgrade is the 2nd Generation Transformer model for Super Resolution. DLSS 4's initial shift to a Transformer AI model was a game-changer over the older CNN approach, offering a leap in detail reconstruction. However, it introduced challenges like ghosting and temporal instability in certain titles. Nvidia claims DLSS 4.5's refined Transformer directly tackles these issues, delivering enhanced temporal stability for a sharper image, significantly reduced ghosting, and improved anti-aliasing.
But here’s the catch: performance will vary dramatically based on your GPU generation.
The new AI model is computationally hungry. As experts at Digital Foundry highlighted in their DLSS 4 deep-dive, the first-gen Transformer already strained older Tensor Cores. The reason is architectural: RTX 20 (Turing) and RTX 30 (Ampere) series cards natively handle FP16 operations on their Tensor Cores. The Ada Lovelace (RTX 40) architecture added native FP8 support, which is far more efficient for this AI workload. The latest Blackwell (RTX 50) series GPUs go further with FP4 support.
Nvidia states the DLSS 4.5 2nd Gen Transformer is 5x more compute-intensive. This means RTX 40 and 50 series cards, with their FP8/FP4 capabilities, will handle it with relative ease. For RTX 20 and 30 series owners, enabling the new model may come with a more noticeable performance cost. The company is allowing users to choose their balance, offering a toggle between the old CNN, Transformer v1, and the new Transformer v2 in the settings.
For a visual breakdown of what these generational differences mean in practice, this performance analysis is invaluable.
Pushing Frame Generation to New Heights: Introducing 6x MFG
Beyond upscaling, DLSS 4.5 is supercharging frame generation. The RTX 50 series' standout feature, Multi-Frame Generation (MFG), which could generate up to 4x the base frame rate, is getting a boost. Nvidia is now enabling MFG up to 6x exclusively on Blackwell GPUs.
This is designed to target the growing market of 240Hz monitors. A new Dynamic Multi Frame Generation feature will automatically select the optimal MFG multiplier (up to 6x) to match your display's refresh rate. Nvidia claims an RTX 5080 can achieve up to 246 fps at 4K with path tracing enabled in Black Myth: Wukong using DLSS 4.5 and 6x MFG.
However, MFG 6x won't arrive until Spring 2026 and remains an RTX 50 series-exclusive feature, leveraging the unique hardware capabilities of the Blackwell architecture.
Available Today, But Should You Enable It?
The good news is you don't have to wait for game patches. Starting today, the Nvidia App will allow a DLSS 4.5 override for any game in your library that already supports DLSS. This gives you immediate access to the new AI upscaling model.
For RTX 40 and 50 series users, this is a compelling free upgrade. For those on older hardware, the recommendation will be to test and compare. The ability to toggle between AI models provides crucial flexibility to find the perfect sweet spot between image quality and performance for your specific card.
The Bottom Line
Nvidia's CES move makes its strategy clear: the future is as much about software intelligence as it is about raw silicon. DLSS 4.5 reinforces the ecosystem advantage, offering tangible next-gen improvements to existing owners while creating a clear performance divide that incentivizes upgrading to the latest hardware.
If you're on an older GPU and considering an upgrade to fully experience features like MFG 6x, the latest Ada and Blackwell architectures offer the complete package.
DLSS 4.5 is available now via the Nvidia App. MFG 6x is scheduled for a Spring 2026 release for RTX 50 series graphics cards.
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| Relative DLSS 4 Transformer super resolution and ray reconstruction performance from Nvidia Turing to Blackwell. |
