Video Cards & GPUs News - Page 2

With the arrival of DLSS 3.5 and the new AI-powered Ray Reconstruction technology delivering some truly game-changing results in Cyberpunk 2077's Update 2.0 and Phantom Liberty expansion, we're now at a point where AI tech and DLSS can deliver image quality that is noticeably superior to native rendering.

DLSS 3.5 uses AI to create truly stunning image quality in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty on PC, image credit: CD Projekt RED.

As bold a statement as that is, it's about the AI-powered Ray Reconstruction in Cyberpunk 2077 with the full ray-tracing RT Overdrive Mode enabled. DLSS 3.5 delivers a far less noisy image, improving reflection quality, crisper detail in shadows and ambient occlusion, and better RT lighting effects. Per my in-depth, hands-on, it's incredible stuff.

As part of a fascinating roundtable discussion hosted by Digital Foundry, Bryan Catanzaro, Vice President of Applied Deep Learning Research at NVIDIA, is already thinking about the future of DLSS - and how a hypothetical DLSS 10 is going to be a complete "neural rendering system that interfaces with a game engine."

Cyberpunk 2077's game-changing Update 2.0 is here. With the new expansion Phantom Liberty dropping next week, NVIDIA's latest GeForce Game Ready 537.42 WHQL driver adds full support for all of the new Night City 2.0 action - plus the arrival of DLSS 3.5.

DLSS 3.5 and the new AI-powered Ray Reconstruction are game changers for RT image quality.

For a closer look at DLSS 3.5 in Cyberpunk 2077, which takes the already beautiful ray-traced visuals in the game to the next level, be sure to check out our in-depth look with images and video.

"A true game changer, and [it applies] to ray-traced effects as the more you play, the more you begin to pick up on," I wrote. "In 4K on a GeForce RTX 4090, with performance sitting at well over 60 fps for my entire playtime, the only way to describe DLSS 3.5 in Cyberpunk 2077 is that it feels like that first time you went from 1080p to 1440p or 1440p to 4K - it's all just crisper, smoother, more realistic, and ultimately more immersive. Plus, the game runs faster with DLSS 3.5 enabled."

The best visuals in the world and the most technically advanced graphics mean very little if the game isn't great - it always begins and ends with gameplay. After spending several hours with Cyberpunk 2077's Update 2.0 and the new Phantom Liberty expansion, it's safe to say that the massive amount of changes, the new story, and the new district of Dogtown to explore delivers on that initial hype surrounding the game back in 2020.

From the revamped combat, skills, and policing system to a Night City that feels alive with things to see and do, Cyberpunk 2077 is a revelation three years later. On top of this, the new RT Overdrive mode brings full path-traced lighting to the game, and the brand new DLSS 3.5 AI-powered 'Ray Reconstruction' takes the ray-traced visuals to a whole new level.

With or without DLSS 3.5, Cyberpunk 2077 is still one of the best-looking and most technically advanced games you can play on PC, assuming you've got a powerful enough GPU from the GeForce RTX 30 or 40 Series. With Ray Reconstruction, let's just say it's the beginning of a bright, neon-lit future.

Cable management is a big part of building your own PC and sits alongside choosing the right components, case, power supply, and even system fans. No matter how great a build could potentially look, with a white GPU here and an RGB-lit AIO CPU cooler over there, all of that goes out of the window if you see cables everywhere.

INNO3D's GeForce RTX 4070 Twin X2 OC White with Stealth Cable Management.

Cable management has been a key part of chassis design for several years now, and when you're dealing with so many cables running to and from a motherboard and power supply, keeping all of that out of sight adds more to the overall aesthetic than you'd think. This is why the recent rise in getting rid of cables sticking out of a graphics card is great news.

There are a number of solutions on the table, but the INNO3D's GeForce RTX 4070 Twin X2 OC White 'Stealth' Edition offers a simple, elegant, and beautiful solution because it's compatible with most cases and builds. The popular GPU from the GeForce RTX 40 Series is the first to feature the company's Stealth Cable Management, and after going hands-on, we feel like Solid Snake or Splinter Cell's Sam Fisher - we don't want to break cover.

They call it a flagship for a reason, something that sits on top of a lineup as the most premium edition or version. And with the launch of ASUS's most powerful GPU to date, the ROG Matrix GeForce RTX 4090 all-in-one with liquid metal cooling and a 360mm radiator, you're looking at a world-record-setting GPU setting a new record. For price.

The GeForce RTX 4090 is powerful, and the ROG Matrix GeForce RTX 4090 is the pinnacle of that power, image credit: ASUS.

With the GeForce RTX 4090 carrying an MSRP of USD 1,599, the ROG Matrix GeForce RTX 4090 is currently being sold for almost double that, USD 3,199. An eyewatering figure that makes this more of a luxury item than a GPU you'd consider while browning a storefront. It's the most expensive GeForce RTX 4090 model available but also the most powerful.

Sporting the highest out-of-the-box GPU boost clock of any GeForce RTX 4090 GPU, an impressive 2670 MHz (which is a 6% increase over NVIDIA's reference specs), it also sees a power-limited increase to 600W to support overclocking. Plus, it's the first ASUS GPU to sport T1000-like liquid metal.

Three years later, it's hard to deny that Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the most technically advanced and visually impressive PC games currently available. The upcoming release of the highly anticipated Update 2.0 and Phantom Liberty expansion on PC with full path-traced lighting, Frame Generation, and DLSS 3.5's Ray Reconstruction make it look like something from the future.

DLSS 3.5's Ray Reconstruction replaces traditional hand-tuned denoisers (a technique used to clean up an image and fill in missing details) with an AI denoiser trained on 6 times the data used to create Frame Generation.

The result is improved ray-traced reflection detail, lighting, ambient occlusion, and more - Bryan Catanzaro, Vice President of Applied Deep Learning Research at NVIDIA, believes it makes the game look better than what's possible with native rendering.

We're now at a stage where NVIDIA's DLSS rendering technology on PC has matured to the point where if it's not included in a major AAA-style release, many begin to wonder why. This led to the recent community backlash and speculation surrounding the PC launch of Starfield, which only featured support for AMD's impressive but inferior FSR 2 technology.

NVIDIA DLSS is officially coming to Starfield in an upcoming update, image credit: Bethesda.

Was its omission a calculated move that was part of the overall partnership between Bethesda and AMD? We'll probably never know, but the good news is that DLSS is officially being integrated into Starfield. The better news? Modders managed to add DLSS Super Resolution and Frame Generation support into the game ahead of its full release in a single day.

NVIDIA is amazed by how easily the technology can inserted into games like Starfield and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (another example of DLSS being modded in), with Bryan Catanzaro, Vice President of Applied Deep Learning Research at NVIDIA, opening up about fan-made DLSS mods in a recent discussion.

Intel's latest driver non-WHQL driver release for Arc graphics (version 31.0.101.4826) not only supports some of the biggest PC game releases on the horizon but also dips into the back catalog to boost performance for a few classics. Namely, Hitman Absolution and Bioshock Infinite, two titles getting a sizable bump to 1080p performance when running on Intel Arc graphics cards.

Intel's latest driver for Arc graphics cards adds day-one support for the Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty expansion, image credit: CD Projekt Red.

Up to 17% for Hitman Absolution and 27% for Bioshock Infinite. This builds on the major driver update we got in August, which focused on improving performance on some of the most popular and most-played DirectX 11 titles, including Apex Legends, GTA V, and Overwatch 2.

At the time, Intel told us that the per-game optimizations were being approached from the perspective of what's highest on the Steam charts and then working their way down. Seeing more DirectX 11 titles get some Arc love is great, especially when it arrives alongside Day One support for new titles.

NVIDIA's next-generation GPU architecture, codenamed Blackwell, is the successor to the current Ada Lovelace generation and the beginning of a new era of GPU design for the company. This is due to Blackwell being used for both the company's data center and AI side in addition to consumer GPUs for PC gaming and creators - a shake-up from the Hopper and Ada mix we see today.

Information on Blackwell has been swirling around the internet for a few years, with the early word indicating that the next generation of GPU architecture will adopt a chiplet design similar to AMD's approach with RDNA and the flagship Radeon RX 7900 Series. New info from NVIDIA insider kopite7kimi points to NVIDIA's Blackwell being very different at the top end - between the data center and consumer versions.

GB100, rumored to be the flagship Blackwell GPU, will adopt a chiplet or Multi-Chip Module (MCM) design, pointing to NVIDIA making a major change to packaging. With new info outlining that the consumer flagship GeForce RTX 5090 will use GB202, the PC gaming side will remain monolithic.

Although the GeForce RTX 4090 is still considered to be the absolute pinnacle (and overkill) of modern gaming GPUs capable of delivering triple-digit 4K performance, rumors are already swirling around NVIDIA's next-generation GeForce RTX 50 hardware - specifically the flagship GeForce RTX 5090.

The GeForce RTX 5090 is rumored to be 1.7X more powerful than the GeForce RTX 4090.

The latest round of information on what will be the top Blackwell architecture cutting-edge 3nm GPU for PC gaming comes via multiple sources: panzerlied at Chiphell, NVIDIA insider Kopite7kimi, and GPU news outlet Videocardz.com. The GeForce RTX 5090 is set to be as much of a monster and upgrade over the previous generation as the GeForce RTX 4090.

First up, though, it looks like NVIDIA will be producing two Blackwell GPU series, one for high-performance computing (HPC) and AI with the 'GB1' label, with 'GB2' GPUs for gaming. So, what's in store for the GeForce RTX 5090 and GB202 GPU? A lot, let's dig in.