We’ve been using IO Interactive’s Hitman 3 as a benchmarking tool to test all the toughest new gaming hardware, because even as it ages, its technical demands still make the latest graphics cards sweat. So it’s no surprise that IO Interactive’s latest game, the heavily anticipated 007 First Light, is also a stern test for your PC hardware. Thankfully, NVIDIA’s DLSS, especially the most up-to-date model of it used in GeForce RTX 50 Series cards, is on the job.
It should tell you everything you need to know about the demands of First Light that even with an upper-range GPU (which has all the 4K gaming power the majority of players will need this generation), you’ll struggle to max out a gaming monitor’s refresh rate without DLSS. Cranking every setting up to its maximum at 4K, the RTX 5080 I’ve been testing out stabilises at a ~54fps frame rate at my 144Hz display with DLSS Off - definitely a playable experience but one that can be greatly enhanced by taking advantage of the fancy tech that comes with using a GeForce RTX 50 series card.
To really test out the capabilities of DLSS in 007 First Light, I loaded up a semi-demanding scene for a GPU. I could have pushed further into more densely populated levels, but these have more characters and systems to simulate, which will really put more of a pull on your CPU. I just wanted to check out the frame rates and visual fidelity disparities, so I chose the first major catch-the-flag level from Bond’s opening hours. Besides the tutorial/opening sequence, this is one of the first major, open levels of gameplay, which takes place in sunny Malta. There are plenty of detailed environments here, a mix of vegetation, stone walls, metal surfaces, lighting differentials, and plenty for DLSS to simulate.
The results were honestly pretty impressive. Some folks who haven’t been keeping up to date with the improvements of NVIDIA’s AI upscaling tech might still have an image in mind of the “performance” and “ultra performance” modes from previous generations, but these are arguably where the biggest improvements have come from in recent times. From the utilization of Tensor Cores and increased samples to the development of 2nd gen transformer models, the tech has come a long way in improving visual clarity and performance across the majority of games developed in the modern day.
You can see in the scenario below a prime example of where these performance modes would have struggled in previous DLSS eras. With the steel mesh flooring, you can see on the right, there’s a lot of tiny, intricate details for the GPU to simulate, and when trying to boost the FPS to a maximum with Ultra Performance, this previously would have been a lot less detailed, and there’d likely be a lot more visual noise around it- think a blurry effect, or sometimes jaggy lines.
If you swipe through the images, you can see what’s actually a tiny difference between the Ultra Performance and Performance modes with DLSS on, and then what the game looks like with rasterisation rendering. Without sacrificing image quality, activating DLSS here brings notable gains in FPS, meaning a smoother gaming experience. This is massive, especially for folks across the full range of GeForce RTX 50 series cards, as these features are available from the GeForce RTX 5050 all the way up to the GeForce RTX 5090. Performance modes are going to be what’s relied on for lower-end cards to really push up to higher frame rates, so it’s great that that doesn’t come at the cost of muddier visuals.
But if you’re all about your nitty-gritty details, you can also check out the next example. In this scene, there’s some detailing on the sandstone walls on Bond’s right and left to pay attention to, as well as some light shafts coming from the end of the tunnel. For this little scenario, I started with my preferred settings; DLSS set to quality, with Dynamic Multi-Frame Generation on too. For those not in the know, Dynamic Multi-Frame Generation builds on NVIDIA’s frame gen tech to dynamically shift how many frames are being generated up to 6x according to demand, keeping framerates consistently high across a variety of scenarios so you never lose out on those all-important frames. You can see the higher frame rate that’s maxing out my monitor’s refresh rate in the top right, but also notice the detailed plants and wall textures. It looks pretty darn good for offering such a smooth gameplay experience.
Then, turning DLSS off, you can notice maybe slightly more clarity with the stone texturing on the walls and the ground in front of Bond, but again, really not a lot of noticeable difference when you’re sneaking around as MI6’s best asset. Keep in mind when comparing these two images that the lighting within the game changed (as it can do in sunny scenes like this). With DLSS off, you might notice things are a bit darker, but this isn’t an impact of not using the upscaler.
If you’d like even more of an example of how DLSS can impact visual fidelity and frame rates, take a look at the next example. For this, I’ve flicked through all the variants of DLSS to compare performance. Without DLSS, my PC is scoring a pretty respectable 67fps. That’s not bad, but it’s definitely not enough for my liking, and I know the 5080 can do better. Toggling through Quality and then Balanced, I see a bump up to 100fps, then 113, respectively. Keep in mind that this is without using Multi-Frame Generation, which would be able to multiply things even further (up to 6x with the latest hardware and version of DLSS). Then, swapping through Performance and Ultra Performance, I get 117fps, and then 128fps. For folks rocking a 120Hz monitor, you’re already maxing out your display with DLSS alone.
But then turn on Dynamic MFG, and you have the potential to go even higher, without the risk of bigger performance dips and stutters thanks to that latest “dynamic version”. Thanks to Nvidia Reflex, you won’t even feel the latency or ghosting that was present with the earliest versions of this frame rate booster. In other words, with Reflex on, you won’t feel an increase in latency as heavily as you might from cranking up the AI-generated frames.
All in all, it’s clear that DLSS Super Resolution and Frame Generation have come a long way since their launch, and are the way to go for anyone with a GeForce RTX 50 series card, with the full range giving access to a whole host of tech to boost FPS without impacting the visual clarity even in modern AAA games.
Anyone currently sitting on an RTX 20 or 30 series and looking for their next upgrade should consider how much an upgrade to this generation of cards can give their gaming experience. While all RTX cards have access to DLSS, and more will gain access to DLSS 4.5 soon via an update, 50 Series architecture can unlock an entirely new level of performance, and you’ll be able to access the full suite of MFG tricks too.
A lot of summer discounts are still going, even if Prime Day has just gone. If you're thinking about picking up 007 First Light and diving into Bond's first video game in decades, you can view RTX 5060 Ti deals at Overclockers, or RTX 5080 deals at Overclockers.
