DLSS 3 frame rate booster could come to older Nvidia RTX GPUs – but don’t bet on it being soon
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Nvidia DLSS 3 is the company’s new take on increasing the frame rate for RTX 4000 graphics cards — and it’s exclusive to those in-coming next-gen GPUs — but there’s hope the technology can move to older RTX GPUs at a later date. come. Well, a bit, although we’re not too convinced Nvidia will be in a hurry here…
This is coming from somewhere Tom’s hardware (opens in new tab) picked up, namely an exchange between the residents of Twitter and Nvidia’s Vice President of Applied Deep Learning Research, Bryan Catanzaro.
It’s theoretically possible that with additional research and engineering, we could make this technology work on other cards, although it wouldn’t bring as much benefit. The current version only works on 4000 series cards.September 20, 2022
As you can see, in response to a question about DLSS 3 whether there is “hope for RTX 20/30 owners to use this technology one day”, Catanzaro gives a somewhat reserved answer.
While it is theoretical possible, Catanzaro makes clear, the VP also makes it sound a bit like the extra toil might not be worth it.
Analysis: DLSS 3 as a driver of next-gen sales
At least we now know that this is a possibility, which is good news. Elsewhere in that Twitter thread, however, the Nvidia VP talks about why DLSS 3 is only RTX 4000. Namely that it relies on the OFA (Optical Flow Accelerator) to do a lot of heavy lifting, and while that’s in Ampere GPUs (and Turing, RTX 2000, for that matter), it’s “significantly improved” for RTX 4000 graphics cards . That is an important part of the smooth running of DLSS 3.
As we noted above, Catanzaro’s response feels like it’s been carefully crafted so as not to upset current-generation GPU owners (or those with RTX 2000 cards), when it sounds on the more unlikely side that it will. . At least that’s how it feels to us. You could also tell from the tweet that there is indeed reasonable hope that DLSS 3 will eventually come to RTX 3000 and 2000 series GPUs.
However, it makes sense from a sales standpoint — and let’s not forget, this is a business, and the primary concern is selling products — to at least keep DLSS 3 as a secret weapon for its next-gen graphics cards for now.
As you may have noticed, these first Lovelace GPU models – the RTX 4090 and two versions of the 4080 – come with some serious premium and heavy price tags. And given that, it really doesn’t hurt for early adopters to have extra incentives to purchase an RTX 4000 graphics card.
If so, we think it’s a good bet that Nvidia won’t be in a rush to bring DLSS 3 to RTX 3000 cards. Especially since even if – or rather, if – Team Green decides to port the technology for older GPUs, it doesn’t sound like it will happen any time soon. Which goes along with “additional research and engineering” and all that.
It also seems likely that Nvidia will want to gauge the wider response, as time goes on, to not have DLSS 3 with older cards. While there was some disappointment at first, it may ease off a bit, but if the screaming continues, a move may be looked into more quickly. But we think Nvidia generally won’t be in a rush to do this, at least that’s how it seems right now.