NVIDIA’s upcoming DLSS 3.5 update could revolutionize ray tracing
NVIDIA is planning to release an update to its Super Sampling (DLSS) technology, known as DLSS 3.5, in the coming months, PC Gamer reports. It promises to improve both the visual quality of ray-traced scenes and the overall performance of RTX graphics cards. The key innovation here is the introduction of Ray Reconstruction into the DLSS 3.5 pipeline, which will replace traditional denoising in the graphics pipeline with an AI-based element.
The current graphics pipeline uses denoising to eliminate noise from the numerous rays that are drawn in real time on the game scene. However, this approach often leads to a loss of information, which results in a blurred final image. A new AI-based ray reconstruction method aims to solve this problem by recognizing patterns in a noisy image and using temporal data from multiple frames to produce a consistently clear image. This not only improves image accuracy, but also slightly increases the performance of the video card.
Nevertheless, DLSS remains a platform-specific technology exclusive to NVIDIA. But the update is not limited to RTX 40-series graphics cards, and will be available for all RTX GPUs.
NVIDIA demonstrated the capabilities of DLSS 3.5 using the Cyberpunk 2077 game from the upcoming Phantom Liberty DLC. The difference in image quality was obvious, especially in scenes with changing, multi-colored lighting. The new technology accurately reflects colors, creating a more vivid and realistic effect.
Performance gains are achieved by removing the denoising stage from the graphics pipeline. The degree of performance gain will depend on the game and the type of ray tracing it uses. For example, path tracing is likely to see the largest performance gains.
The new DLSS 3.5 technology will require some customization for each game due to the removal of the denoising stage. It will not be as simple as dragging and dropping new DLSS 3.5 .dll files into existing games. However, the technology is so promising that users will likely want to enable it wherever possible.