The Three Upscaling Technologies at a Glance
| Feature | DLSS 4 | FSR 4 | XeSS 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Developer | NVIDIA | AMD | Intel |
| GPU Requirement | RTX 20 series+ | RDNA 4 only (RX 9000) | Any GPU (DP4a fallback) |
| ML Model | Transformer (4th gen) | Machine Learning (RDNA 4) | XMX / DP4a |
| Image Quality | Best overall | Close to DLSS 3 | Very good on Arc |
| Frame Gen | Multi Frame Gen (up to 3x) | FSR 3 Frame Gen | XeSS Frame Gen |
| Game Support | 500+ games | ~80+ games (growing) | 100+ games |
| Open Source? | No | Yes (FSR) | Partially |
DLSS 4: The Quality Leader
DLSS 4 uses NVIDIA's new Transformer model — a significant architecture shift from the CNN (Convolutional Neural Network) model used in DLSS 3 and earlier. The change is meaningful in practice:
- Better motion stability — thin geometry like chain-link fences, foliage, and distant power lines stay solid as the camera moves. DLSS 3 used to shimmer on these.
- Sharper texture detail — the Transformer model reconstructs fine texture detail more accurately, especially at Quality and Balanced presets.
- Multi Frame Generation — exclusive to RTX 50 series, NVIDIA can now generate up to 3 AI frames per rendered frame, multiplying effective frame rates dramatically. An RTX 5070 rendering 60 FPS natively can output 240 FPS to the display.
In a blind test conducted by ComputerBase across 6 games at 4K Quality preset, DLSS 4.5 received 48.2% of votes as the best-looking option — beating native rendering, FSR 4, and XeSS.
FSR 4: AMD's Major Leap — But Limited to RDNA 4
FSR 4 is a complete rebuild over FSR 3 and is AMD's first machine-learning upscaler. The catch: FSR 4 only runs on RDNA 4 cards (RX 9070 XT, RX 9070, and future RDNA 4 products). All other AMD GPUs continue using FSR 3.
Quality-wise, FSR 4 is genuinely competitive:
- Texture detail is sharper than FSR 3 and matches or exceeds DLSS 3 in many comparisons
- Temporal stability is dramatically improved — ghosting and trailing artefacts that plagued FSR 3 are largely gone
- At 4K Quality, FSR 4 and DLSS 4 are difficult to distinguish in side-by-side screenshots in many games
The gap vs DLSS 4 remains on thin geometry stability (DLSS 4's Transformer model handles this better) and on extreme motion where DLSS 4 still leads. But for most gaming scenarios, FSR 4 is excellent and a genuine reason to consider the RX 9070 XT.
FSR 3: The Fallback Everyone Has Access To
For AMD users not on RDNA 4, FSR 3 remains available. It's not ML-based, so it doesn't match FSR 4 or DLSS 4 — but it's supported in a huge game library and works on every GPU (including NVIDIA and Intel). The Performance preset at 1080p feeding a 4K display is noticeably blurry, but Quality and Balanced at 1440p→4K are usable.
XeSS 2: Intel's Underrated Upscaler
XeSS 2 uses Intel's XMX AI acceleration on Arc GPUs, delivering quality that rivals DLSS 3 on Arc hardware. On non-Intel GPUs, it falls back to DP4a (shader-based), which is noticeably lower quality but still decent.
XeSS 2 is most compelling if you're on an Intel Arc B580 or B770 — where it's genuinely competitive with AMD's and NVIDIA's offerings. For non-Arc users, XeSS 2 is a good FSR 3 alternative when a game doesn't support FSR directly.
Which Preset Should You Use?
| Preset | Render Resolution | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Quality | 67% of output | Best image quality; primary choice for most people |
| Balanced | 58% of output | More FPS, acceptable quality at high resolutions |
| Performance | 50% of output | Only at 4K where native res is already high |
| Ultra Performance | 33% of output | Avoid — significant quality loss, mostly for extreme FPS needs |
Which Upscaler Should You Enable?
The decision tree is straightforward:
- NVIDIA RTX 20–40 series → Enable DLSS 4 (Transformer model) whenever it's available. Fall back to FSR 3 in games without DLSS support.
- NVIDIA RTX 50 series → DLSS 4 + Multi Frame Generation. This is the best setup available for gaming in 2026.
- AMD RX 9000 series (RDNA 4) → FSR 4 where supported, FSR 3 everywhere else. XeSS 2 in games that don't have FSR 4 yet.
- AMD RX 6000 / 7000 series → FSR 3 is your primary option. It's solid at Quality preset.
- Intel Arc B580 / B770 → XeSS 2 on Arc hardware is excellent. FSR 3 as a fallback.
- Any GPU in a DLSS game → DLSS is NVIDIA-only. FSR or XeSS won't activate in its place; they need separate game support.
The Bottom Line on Upscaling in 2026
All three technologies have improved dramatically. In 2024, the gap between DLSS and FSR was wide enough to matter for many players. In 2026, the gap between FSR 4 and DLSS 4 is small enough that most people wouldn't notice at Quality preset on a typical gaming monitor.
The meaningful differences are: DLSS 4's Multi Frame Generation (RTX 50 series exclusive), DLSS 4's edge in extreme motion clarity, and FSR 4's VRAM efficiency edge. For the vast majority of gaming scenarios, pick whichever the game supports natively and set it to Quality preset — you won't go wrong.