Twice as much work for the CPU? Amazing results!

The graphics card calculates with DLSS performance a quarter resolution image, then retained as the first frame. When the second frame, also created in reduced resolution using DLSS, has been calculated by the graphics card, the first frame that has been held so far is used to interpolate a completely new frame created by the AI ​​from the information of the first. frame using the second frame. It sounds complicated, but it is actually quite simple. Frame 1, the generated AI frame (Nvidia calls it “Frame 1.5”), is output before the second frame. The latter also serves as the basis for the following AI calculation (“Frame 2.5”). So DLSS 3 always renders a frame, followed by an AI frame, then another computed frame, then another AI frame. So every other frame with DLSS 3.0 is an AI-generated “fake” image, which is inserted between the actually rendered frames, from which the AI ​​frame information was created. In this case, the graphics card only displays one eighth of the pixels actually visible on the screen. The rest comes from oversampling and alternately inserted AI frames. This article is only on the topic of frame generation at the CPU limit, you will find the graphical effects, also on performance, on a large scale. Practice test for DLSS 3.

DLSS 3 Frame Generation: twice the work for the processor? amazing results

Source: Nvidia

However, what Nvidia did not mention at all or barely noticed during the presentation is the processor. Not the graphics processor, but the central processing unit, also called the CPU. When you play computer games, the image is always displayed on your screen at so many frames per second. Many play with 60 fps, some 30 fps is enough and some like to play with more than 200 fps, that’s a matter of taste and depends on their own requirements. However, it always happens that these images are calculated by the graphics card and the processor. The latter prepares the images for the graphics card, which then sends them to the screen. For example, if you are running at 80 fps, both the GPU and the CPU are “loaded” with this 80 fps. If the user now installs an RTX 4090 and activates DLSS 3, including frame generation, the 80fps can quickly become 160fps. The question, which this article is supposed to clarify now, is whether these extra frames are noticeable in processor utilization or not. Because logically it should be: the extra fps DLSS 2 has released so far has always led to higher CPU load if no frame limiter was active.

DLSS 3 Frame Generation: the test setup

From the beginning, we did not intend to test this feature with 20 or 30 different processors. The reason is simple: there are very few games that support DLSS 3 and the feature is still very new and only works with beta drivers. We’d like to give everything a little more time to mature so that we don’t blindly run into teething problems and have to recreate our measurements over and over again. So we only used two processors: a Core i7-8700K, representative of older gaming PCs, and a fairly recent Core i5-12600K, representing an ordinary, high-priced gaming PC. In both cases, of course, an RTX 4090 and 32 GiByte of RAM with manufacturer timing are used. As a benchmark, we use F1 22, with an update for a beta version, which enables DLSS 3 and frame generation. Details have been maxed out, including ray tracing, resolution is UHD, and DLSS performance is on. The tests were carried out on the regular CPU test track as we want to determine the effects on the processor.

DLSS Frame Generation 3: The Benchmarks

DLSS 3 Frame Generation – CPU Benchmarks

setting UHD, DLSS-P, maximum details, including ray tracing system RTX 4090 FE, rBAR enabled, HVCI/TPM 2.0 disabled, Windows 11, drivers/updates up to date

Core i5 12600K frame generation

4.5GHz | 16 threads | DDR5-4400

Core i7 8700K frame generation

4.3GHz | 12 threads | DDR4-2666

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(average fps)

(P1fps [ms in Fps])

The increase of more than 90 percent can hardly be expressed in words and is very impressive. The big surprise, however, is that these higher numbers almost nothing Noticeable in CPU utilization. In the case of the Core i5-12600K, the average load drops by even one percentage point. We also observe this behavior with the smaller Core i7-8700K, which is now no longer as powerful for modern games – the load fluctuates minimally here as well and is unrelated to the almost double the fps. If the CPU actually had to calculate the displayed fps, the displayed load would be much higher on the one hand and the processor’s power consumption on the other. However, the difference between the two reference points is so small that one can speak of measurement inaccuracies (a reference point never works exactly the same as 100 percent).

DLSS framing 3: CPU frame times

game version F1 22 Reference point PCGH CPU Benchmark resolution 3840×2160 Publication Date/Date 06/28/2022 Item/Item DLSS 3 Frame Generation: twice the work for the processor? amazing results

Frame times are dynamic, click on a CPU to show or hide it. Above all, the frame times are positive, especially with the Alder Lake processor. An i7-8700K, on ​​the other hand, is apparently not powerful enough to smooth out spikes fast enough. Regardless, the Coffee Lake CPU also sees a noticeable improvement. In general, there are fewer spikes and lower frame times mean a smoother picture.