Short answer: use the one made for your graphics card. NVIDIA RTX card? Use DLSS. AMD Radeon RX 7000 or RX 9000? Use FSR 4. Intel Arc? Use XeSS. On older cards like a GTX 1660 or RX 6600, try FSR and XeSS in the same scene and keep whichever looks cleaner.

If you’re on an RTX card, DLSS is still the best looking of the three in 2026. AMD’s FSR 4 has closed most of the gap at Quality mode, though.

The rest of this guide covers which mode to pick at your resolution, why “Quality” doesn’t mean the same thing in all three, and when frame generation actually helps.

What upscalers actually do

Your GPU renders the game at a lower resolution, then the upscaler rebuilds it to your screen’s resolution using data from previous frames. You get far more FPS, and at the right setting it looks close to native.

The newer versions (DLSS 4.5, FSR 4, XeSS on Intel cards) use AI models to do the rebuilding. The older ones (FSR 3.1, XeSS on non-Intel cards) use simpler methods, and you can see it in fine detail like hair, fences and grass.

Which upscaler to use on your GPU

Your GPU	Best upscaler	Frame generation you can use
RTX 50 series	DLSS 4.5	DLSS Multi Frame Gen up to 6x
RTX 40 series	DLSS 4.5	DLSS Frame Gen 2x
RTX 20 / 30 series	DLSS 4.5	No DLSS Frame Gen. FSR or XeSS Frame Gen works instead
RX 9000 series	FSR 4	FSR Frame Gen (AI version)
RX 7000 series	FSR 4.1 (from Adrenalin 26.6.2)	FSR Frame Gen
RX 6000 and older	FSR 3.1 (FSR 4 expected early 2027)	FSR Frame Gen
Intel Arc A / B series	XeSS	XeSS Frame Gen, Multi Frame Gen on supported Arc
GTX 10 / 16 series	FSR 3.1 or XeSS (try both)	FSR Frame Gen

Two things most people miss:

• DLSS 4.5 upscaling works on every RTX card, all the way back to the RTX 2060. Only frame generation needs a newer card.
• RTX 30 owners can still use frame generation. It just has to be FSR’s or XeSS’s version, since NVIDIA keeps DLSS Frame Gen for RTX 40 and up.

How they compare on image quality

	DLSS 4.5	FSR 4 / 4.1	XeSS (Intel Arc)	XeSS (other GPUs)	FSR 3.1
Image quality	Best	Close behind at Quality	Good	OK	Weakest
Fine detail (hair, grass)	Most stable	Good, slight shimmer	Good	Softer	Shimmers
Holds up at Performance mode	Yes	Mostly	Mostly	Not well	No
Works on	RTX only	RX 9000, RX 7000	Intel Arc	Almost any GPU	Almost any GPU

TechSpot’s FSR 4.1 testing found DLSS 4.5 still produced the cleaner, more stable image in most scenes. ComputerBase ran a blind test where viewers picked DLSS 4.5 over FSR 4.1 in six of seven games. The gap is small at Quality mode and gets bigger as you go to Performance.

Our take: if you have an RX 9000 card, you’re not missing much. If you’re on an RX 6000 or a GTX card using FSR 3.1, the difference is very noticeable, especially on foliage.

The trap: “Quality” doesn’t mean the same thing in XeSS

Each upscaler names its modes differently, and Intel renamed XeSS’s modes in version 1.3. Here’s the actual resolution each one renders at before upscaling:

Render scale	DLSS	FSR	XeSS
100%	DLAA	Native AA	Native AA
77%			Ultra Quality Plus
67%	Quality	Quality	Ultra Quality
58 to 59%	Balanced	Balanced	Quality
50%	Performance	Performance	Balanced
43%			Performance
33%	Ultra Performance	Ultra Performance	Ultra Performance

So XeSS Quality is closer to DLSS Balanced. If you’re comparing them yourself, put XeSS on Ultra Quality against DLSS or FSR Quality. Otherwise XeSS looks worse than it is.

Which mode to pick at your resolution

The upscaler needs enough pixels to work with. At 1080p, Performance mode starts from 540p, and no upscaler can make that look sharp.

Your screen	Best mode	Lowest you should go
1080p	Quality	Balanced (DLSS 4.5 or FSR 4 only)
1440p	Quality	Balanced
4K	Quality or Balanced	Performance (renders at 1080p, still looks good)

Rule of thumb: drop one mode, check the image in a scene with lots of grass or hair, and stop as soon as it starts to shimmer.

What about DLAA or Native AA? They run at full resolution with the AI anti-aliasing on top. They look sharpest, but you get no FPS boost, and they usually run slower than plain native with TAA. Only use them if you already have frames to spare.

Frame generation: when it helps and when it hurts

Frame generation is different from upscaling. Upscaling renders real frames faster. Frame gen invents extra frames between the real ones.

• It helps when you already get 60+ real FPS and have a 144Hz or 240Hz monitor. Motion looks smoother.
• It hurts when your real FPS is around 30 to 40. The counter goes up, but the game still responds to your inputs at 30 to 40, and you can feel the delay.

Here’s a real example from our Phantom Blade Zero settings guide. On an RTX 5070 Ti, 6x Multi Frame Gen pushed the average from 83 to 316 FPS, but the 1% lows (the dips you feel in fights) dropped from 61 to 42. In fast games, that’s the number that matters.

Use frame gen for single-player games where smooth looks matter. Keep it off in competitive shooters like CS2 or Valorant, where every millisecond of input lag counts.

If you use it, turn motion blur off and make sure your G-Sync or FreeSync is set up properly.

Free upgrade: force the newest version in older games

Lots of games ship with an old version of their upscaler, and you can upgrade it without waiting for a patch:

• NVIDIA: open the NVIDIA app, go to Graphics, pick the game, and use the DLSS override to run the latest model. Older DLSS games often look noticeably sharper after this.
• AMD (RX 9000 and RX 7000): if a game supports FSR 3.1 in DirectX 12, turn on the FSR 4 toggle in AMD Adrenalin, then pick FSR 3.1 in the game’s menu. It won’t work in Vulkan games or games that built FSR in their own way.
• Intel Arc: Intel Graphics Software can switch on XeSS Multi Frame Gen in most games that already support XeSS 2 frame gen.

Our NVIDIA Control Panel guide and AMD Adrenalin guide cover the rest of the driver settings worth changing.

A note for RX 7000 owners

FSR 4.1 on RX 7000 cards is a different version from the one RX 9000 cards get. RX 7000 cards don’t have the same AI hardware, so AMD rebuilt the model to run another way. It looks much better than FSR 3.1, but early testing shows it costs more performance than FSR 3.1 does, especially in Performance mode.

So if you’re short on FPS, try both. FSR 4.1 Quality might look and run better than FSR 3.1 Balanced, or it might not. It depends on the game.

Laptop players

Upscaling matters even more on gaming laptops, since the GPU usually runs at lower power than the desktop version. Start at Quality, and if FPS still drops, check that the laptop is plugged in and in its performance mode first. Our gaming laptop low FPS fixes cover power plans and the MUX switch.

FAQs

Is DLSS better than FSR?

In image quality, yes, but only by a little at Quality mode now that FSR 4 is out. DLSS 4.5 holds up better in Performance mode and with fine detail like hair and grass.

Can I use DLSS on an AMD card?

No. DLSS only runs on NVIDIA RTX cards. AMD cards should use FSR, or XeSS if FSR looks off in a particular game.

Can I use FSR on an NVIDIA card?

Yes. FSR 3.1 upscaling and FSR frame generation work on NVIDIA cards, including GTX cards. On RTX cards, DLSS still looks better, so use FSR mainly for its frame generation on RTX 20 and 30 series.

Does FSR 4 work on RX 7000 GPUs?

Yes, since Adrenalin 26.6.2 as FSR 4.1. It costs more performance on RX 7000 than on RX 9000. AMD has said RX 6000 support comes in early 2027.

Which is better on a GTX 1650 or 1660: FSR or XeSS?

Try both in the same scene. XeSS often looks a bit cleaner but gives a smaller FPS boost. FSR 3.1 gives more FPS but shimmers more. Remember XeSS Ultra Quality matches FSR Quality.

Does upscaling add input lag?

Upscaling on its own reduces lag, because you get more real frames. Frame generation adds some lag. That’s why it’s best kept for single-player games.

Running at 144Hz but not sure your monitor actually is? Check our guide on how to set your monitor to 144Hz.