Nvidia today released the latest 545.84 version of their Game Ready GeForce graphics driver, bringing along a useful quality-of life update to RTX 20-series GPU users in the form of Video Super Resolution (VSR) support. Besides that GeForce family support extension, the new driver also brings about support for DLSS 3-based frame generation for both Naraka: Bladepoint and the already-released, chaotic, bloody fest that is Warhammer: Vermintide 2.
The highlight of this driver in terms of how impactful it will be for the majority of users relates to Nvidia's VSR support. The technology, which aims to improve image quality of stream-compressed videos, now works for even older, lower-resolution content at the mere flick of a driver toggle.
While not directly related to the TensorRT announcement, the AI-acceleration engine that's responsible for an about 70% speedup in AI-related workloads, the added support for AI-based video quality increase does show that Nvidia is still finding more uses for AI and its Tensor cores, even on GPUs that are two product generations old now.
The new VSR 1.5 tech provides even greater clarity and resolution improvements, while also expanding support for RTX 20-series users. It will also improve the quality of video that doesn't need to be upscaled, meaning if you watch a 1080p video on a 1080p monitor, or even 4K content on a 4K monitor. The tech is so good that Microsoft built a version of it straight into the Edge browser.
Elsewhere, the RTX 40-series' exclusive DLSS 3 support may be less impactful for Nvidia's player base, considering the lower number of graphics cards supporting the technology, but the AI-based frame generation technique keeps expanding market support. Both Naraka: Bladepoint and Warhammer: Vermintide 2 will add support for Frame Generation by October 19th — just two days from now. Both games already support both DLSS and Nvidia's lag-reducing Reflex technology, so adding DLSS 3 should be relatively straightforward.
Additionally, Slender: The Arrival's 10th Anniversary Edition will also receive DLSS 3 support — good for an expected average performance multiplier of around 2.8X on average at 4K (#grainsofsalt, as that's with Performance mode 4X upscaling).
As for "vanilla" DLSS 2 upscaling, Nvidia counts a few new games in its support portfolio, including Land of the Vikings, AirportSim, and Hot Wheels Unleashed 2. A fading shot across AMD's bow sees Nvidia claiming that around 90% of Nvidia Steam users play Counter Strike 2 with Reflex enabled, showcasing just how important the tech is for competitive gaming environments. AMD's most recent 23.10.1 driver was pulled after the competing Anti-Lag+ software was found to trigger anti-cheat software and account bans.
