When we first took a look at the PC version of Anthem, one thing was abundantly clear – this game is highly demanding on hardware. Average frame-rates are fine overall, but once the title’s signature pyrotechnics kick off in full force, performance can drop alarmingly. Running at 4K resolution on max settings, not even Nvidia’s top-tier RTX 2080 Ti graphics hardware can consistently run this game at 60 frames per second. However, the arrival of a new Anthem patch supporting Nvidia’s deep learning super-sampling could potentially help.
DLSS is a fascinating technology that’s still in its early days but has some remarkable properties. The idea looks simple on paper, and sounds almost too good to be true. The game renders natively at a lower resolution (4K DLSS tends to have a native 1440p base pixel-count) and then Nvidia’s deep learning algorithm steps in to extrapolate the detail level up to 4K. In essence, new pixel detail is algorithmically generated to enrich the image.
DLSS is designed to replace temporal anti-aliasing (TAA) within a game’s post-process pipeline, and it is fair to say that results thus far have been mixed. Early demos based around Final Fantasy 15 and Epic’s Infiltrator showed the promise of the technology, while implementations like Battlefield 5’s have not been so well received. Metro Exodus is a fascinating case: DLSS support at launch was extremely blurry, but a later patch radically improved the quality tremendously. And that’s good, as DLSS opens the door for allowing higher resolutions to work at much higher frame-rates when paired with Nvidia’s DXR-powered ray tracing.
Anthem doesn’t benefit from DXR, but there is the question of its massive variation in frame-rates. Typically, DLSS adds around 35 to 40 per cent more performance, meaning a potentially significant reduction in the game’s notorious frame-rate bottlenecks. Due to Anthem’s unique frame-rate issues and its heavy CPU requirement, the reality is that DLSS can add anything from around 20 per cent to 65 per cent more performance, depending on context. The good news is that the top-end boost kicks in where you really need it most.
DLSS is a controversial technology because in common with other reconstruction technologies, while there is an increase in detail, 4K DLSS can look quite different to native 4K with TAA. Nvidia’s deep learning technique actually has its own distinct look – it no longer has that per-pixel precision you may be used to with native rendering, or even some examples of TAA-based reconstruction techniques. I think it’s still attractive and a massive, massive boost in quality over its native 1440p rendering, but the resolve of shapes and detail is and that must be noted.