Hardware & Technical Geforce DSR is misleading at best

[Synthetic Frost]

Be very wary )) when using Geforce DSR.

I've got a high spec (ish) gaming desktop from last year (gtx780), and it runs E: D smooth as silk in 1920 x 1080, 60 fps v-sync on. Inside stations as well.

But Geforce Experience interface recommends that I use their DSR (Dynamic Super Resolution) feature to make the game even smoother. While in fact the feature does the exact opposite.

In stations, while noticing arguably smoother surfaces, the fps is chopped from fluent 60 to choppy 30. I quickly removed DSR again, and can only warn others to look out if trying this feature.

I think we can all agree that frames per second are more important than resolution, eh? (Let the war begin... )

You're completely misunderstanding the tech here. By smoothing things out, they don't mean the frame rate. They mean the jagged lines of textures. DSR, or Dynamic Super Resolution, basically uncaps the resolution limit so the game is running at a higher, more demanding screen resolution that your monitor is capable of, and then scales it down to your monitor's resolution. As shown in Anvh's post, it results in smoother textures at the cost of performance. So if you don't want your GPU's working a lot harder, don't use it. But if you have a GPU powerful enough to render the game at those resolutions without breaking a sweat, it's a great way to increase the texture resolution.

Also, of course you're going to dip down to 30fps with V-Sync on. That's what V-Sync is DESIGNED to do. Keep the frame rate at a factor that's evenly divisible by your monitor's refresh rate to avoid screen tearing when the GPU and the monitor can't stay in sync with each other. This keeps things in sync, but as you mentioned, as soon as the fps dips below 60, it won't drop to 59. That'd cause a screen tear because it becomes out of sync. Since most monitors are running at 60Hz, or 60fps, It'll drop it all the way to 30 just to avoid the tear, because 60 divided by 2 is 30.

V-Sync also adds a pretty significant margin of input lag. So much so that I decided pretty quickly in my gaming career to just always leave V-Sync off. The tearing bothered me a lot less than the inconsistent frame rate.

 

[sutex]

BF4 has this http://www.realmware.co.uk/ a setting editor

Elite dangerous needs a standalone out of game settings Editor which explains all the graphic setting in Elite dangerous A guide , that spells out the meanings of Graphic settings and the FPS hits for users, would be great to see, instead of using Geforce experience , which excludes AMD users

 

[Aussiedroid]

Just to add to the convo, I have a 780Ti, running about 2300 ish x whatever resolution. Get around 180 frames in space, around 80-100 in combat/busy areas and around 60-70 in stations. From memory, I only disabled the AA (since you do not need it) and left everything else at the highest detail settings.

I noticed immediately the improvement on the stepping on the orbital lines and the like, much better using DSR.

Perhaps try playing with the settings a little, turn things down and slowly ramp them up till you find your own sweet spot.

This is the first game I have used DSR in but it certainly is a great feature and will be using in other games now for sure.

Best of luck with it!

 

[Zieman]

Just to add to the convo, I have a 780Ti, running about 2300 ish x whatever resolution. Get around 180 frames in space, around 80-100 in combat/busy areas and around 60-70 in stations. From memory, I only disabled the AA (since you do not need it) and left everything else at the highest detail settings.

I noticed immediately the improvement on the stepping on the orbital lines and the like, much better using DSR.

Perhaps try playing with the settings a little, turn things down and slowly ramp them up till you find your own sweet spot.

This is the first game I have used DSR in but it certainly is a great feature and will be using in other games now for sure.

Best of luck with it!

What DSR smoothness you use?
I tried the 1.2x setting with default 33% smoothness and to me E: D looked worse than with native 1080p & FXAA.
Yes, there are some jaggies, but I can live with them. Didn't like what the DSR did to for example the circles in scanner.

 

[Aussiedroid]

What DSR smoothness you use?
I tried the 1.2x setting with default 33% smoothness and to me E: D looked worse than with native 1080p & FXAA.
Yes, there are some jaggies, but I can live with them. Didn't like what the DSR did to for example the circles in scanner.

Umm, basically all I did on my config was to go into NVidia control panel and enable DSR.

In-game, I set the resolution higher, disabled AA and that was about it really. I don't use supersampling at all in ED, so my setting is still 1.0x. Not sure about that smoothness setting you mention. Is that in the NVidia control panel or in ED?

I think everything else I have setup is on and set to High/Ultra settings.

Hope it helps!

 

[Synthetic Frost]

What DSR smoothness you use?
I tried the 1.2x setting with default 33% smoothness and to me E: D looked worse than with native 1080p & FXAA.
Yes, there are some jaggies, but I can live with them. Didn't like what the DSR did to for example the circles in scanner.

That sounds more like FXAA than the DSR. FXAA is nVidia's "cheap way" of applying Anti-Aliasing for weaker computers that can't handle MSAA.

Instead of just applying a smoothing factor to the edges of textures, FXAA adds a blurring overlay to the entire screen, including your HUD elements. You should turn off AA altogether when using DSR, as they both strive to achieve the same goal, using very different approaches.

 

[Zieman]

Umm, basically all I did on my config was to go into NVidia control panel and enable DSR.

In-game, I set the resolution higher, disabled AA and that was about it really. I don't use supersampling at all in ED, so my setting is still 1.0x. Not sure about that smoothness setting you mention. Is that in the NVidia control panel or in ED?

I think everything else I have setup is on and set to High/Ultra settings.

Hope it helps!

That sounds more like FXAA than the DSR. FXAA is nVidia's "cheap way" of applying Anti-Aliasing for weaker computers that can't handle MSAA.

Instead of just applying a smoothing factor to the edges of textures, FXAA adds a blurring overlay to the entire screen, including your HUD elements. You should turn off AA altogether when using DSR, as they both strive to achieve the same goal, using very different approaches.

I enabled DSR in Nvidia control panel, 1.2x - smoothness attribute 33% (default).
In game ultra settings (but no AA), supersampling 1.0x, resolution 2304x1296.
Looked worse to me than me regular settings for E: D (no DSR, no SS, 1920x1080, ultra but FXAA).

 

[Aussiedroid]

I enabled DSR in Nvidia control panel, 1.2x - smoothness attribute 33% (default).
In game ultra settings (but no AA), supersampling 1.0x, resolution 2304x1296.
Looked worse to me than me regular settings for E: D (no DSR, no SS, 1920x1080, ultra but FXAA).

Not sure mate, I just checked my settings and I have all the 1.2x (1.3x, 1.4x etc) variables ticked and smoothness is set to 33%. Pretty much everything else in the NVidia control panel is application managed.

Stepping on lines etc is practically non-existent on my screen, picture looks sharp and detailed.

Not sure what else might be causing your issues.

 

[Antmax]

I find the in game supersampling settings of 2x on a 1080p monitor much better than equivalent DSR setting. The games own supersampling interpolates and antialiases the pixels better so you have less sparkles on horizontal and vertical spaces. DSR seems to still be quite pixelated in this game. It still uses the same pixels that flicker just the same as without DSR. It's especially noticeable with the orbit lines in supercruise and the specular highlights on beams inside the hangar.

Normally I prefer DSR in most games but the supersampling built into ED does better Antialiasing. 1.5 isn't quite there though, 2x looks fantastic.

 

[Zelos1983]

DSR is a superb feature and a great way to do anti-aliasing, as traditional methods are beginning to see their limits as textures in games become more detailed over time. However, it costs GPU performance. With 4k resolution, a GTX780 is understandably not enough. You need a 4k rig to do that. On less powered rigs, it's very useful for making screenshots.

 

[Nagual]

I enabled DSR in Nvidia control panel, 1.2x - smoothness attribute 33% (default).
In game ultra settings (but no AA), supersampling 1.0x, resolution 2304x1296.
Looked worse to me than me regular settings for E: D (no DSR, no SS, 1920x1080, ultra but FXAA).

I thought it was just me. These settings worked a treat before, but the beta 1.3 something broke'd so it did. Looks awful, flickery graphics and stuff. Tried out the Supersampling, and it worked although a much higher fps loss. Will double check my main game and see what it's like there.

 

[Dr Wookie]

DSR used to work for me, but doesn't any more... I don't even get the option! I have a 970, but have changed my output from my TV to a monitor, so it might be that. Anyone else have similar issues?

 

[Estorial]

I used to run 1.5X supersampling but started to get choppy performance inside stations after a while. Now I fired up Geforce experience and it wants me to run the game at 3620X2036. Is there any advantage of doing that other than to get that pesky "Game not optimised" notification ???

 

[Ferryclacker]

I am so annoyed with Nvidia.... Why did they have to use some wierd filter and make text horrible.
AMD VSR is crystal sharp no matter the resolution you pick.

Got one PC with A 290x at 4K VSR looking great, my other PC with a 980 just looks crap desite having a better GPU, its because DSR make's it awfull and i have to run only at 1920x1080
I am playing mostly with my 290x while my 980 is stronger but it cant downsample properly !
Hugely annoyed.........