Nearly half of PC gamers prefer DLSS 4.5 over AMD's FSR and even native rendering — Nvidia scores clean sweep in blind test of six titles
Source: Tom’s Hardware
Image credit: Nvidia / Future
German outlet ComputerBase conducted a blind test comparing the image quality of six games across three rendering techniques: Nvidia’s DLSS 4.5, AMD’s FSR 4 (Redstone), and native rendering with TAA. After the votes were tallied, DLSS emerged as the clear winner with 48.2 % of all votes.
Test Overview
The test emphasized “the best picture quality.” Participants watched identical gameplay footage for each title and voted for the option they preferred. All games were rendered at 4K resolution with the upscaling set to Quality for both FSR and DLSS.
Games included
- Anno 117
- ARC Raiders
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Satisfactory
- The Last of Us Part II
Image credit: Future
Results by Title
- Satisfactory – DLSS 4.5 received 60.9 % of the points.
- Horizon Forbidden West – DLSS 4.5 got 56.3 %.
- Anno 117 – DLSS 4.5 led with 50.1 %.
FSR 4 never topped a single title, not even native rendering. The closest contest was The Last of Us Part II, where FSR earned 25.3 % versus native’s 25.9 % (still a loss). In Cyberpunk 2077, native rendering almost beat DLSS (native 32.4 %, DLSS 34.4 %).
Across all six titles, FSR averaged 15 % of the total 6,747 votes.
Vote Breakdown
| Game | Native (TAA) | DLSS 4.5 | FSR 4 | Indiscernible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anno 117 | 282 (22.8 %) 🥈 | 621 (50.1 %) 🥇 | 204 (16.5 %) 🥉 | 132 (10.7 %) |
| ARC Raiders | 328 (27.3 %) 🥈 | 570 (47.4 %) 🥇 | 166 (13.8 %) 🥉 | 138 (11.5 %) |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 372 (32.4 %) 🥈 | 394 (34.4 %) 🥇 | 122 (10.6 %) | 259 (22.6 %) 🥉 |
| Horizon Forbidden West | 208 (19.4 %) 🥈 | 604 (56.3 %) 🥇 | 125 (11.7 %) | 135 (12.6 %) 🥉 |
| Satisfactory | 155 (15.1 %) 🥈 | 627 (60.9 %) 🥇 | 128 (12.4 %) 🥉 | 119 (11.6 %) |
| The Last of Us Part II | 274 (25.9 %) 🥈 | 433 (40.9 %) 🥇 | 268 (25.3 %) 🥉 | 83 (7.8 %) |
Total Share
- Native rendering: 24.0 % 🥈
- DLSS 4.5: 48.2 % 🥇
- FSR 4: 15.0 % 🥉
- Indiscernible: 12.8 %
Discussion
The results suggest that DLSS 4.5 not only outperforms AMD’s FSR 4 but also beats native rendering in most cases. The test notes that a true DLAA implementation (native‑resolution anti‑aliasing) could potentially surpass any upscaled image, but AMD currently lacks a comparable technology. Intel’s XeSS was omitted, likely because no 4K‑capable “Battlemage” GPU is available yet.
For those interested in the raw gameplay footage and a deeper dive, the individual pages on ComputerBase host the videos used in this blind test.