NVIDIA has today launched its 496.13 game-ready WHQL GeForce graphics driver with many improvements and changes. Starting with the naming, the company has jumped from the 472.12 WHQL version released on September 20th to the 496.xx naming released today. Such a significant increase in version naming is uncommon, and makes us wonder why the company decided to do it, probably in preparation for the Windows 11 branch of their drivers, which uses version 500.

Starting from release 496.13, NVIDIA has also removed support for Windows 8.1, Windows 8 and Windows 7. The last driver to support these operating systems is 472.12. This makes some sense, since between this release and today, Microsoft has launched their Windows 11 operating system. NVIDIA also trimmed more fat by removing support for the Kepler architecture, which was launched in 2012 and included models like GeForce GTX 780 Ti, GTX 780, GTX 770, GTX 760, GT 740, GT 730, GTX 690, GTX 680, GTX 670, GTX 660 Ti, GTX 660, GTX 650 Ti and GTX 630.

Update 15:57 UTC: Added confirmation from NVIDIADownload NVIDIA GeForce Graphics Drivers 496.13 WHQL.

NVIDIA's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology has been one of the main selling points of GeForce RTX graphics cards. With the broad adoption of the technology amongst many popular game titles, the gaming community has enjoyed the AI-powered upscaling technology that boosts frame-rate output and delivers better overall performance. Today, the company announced that DLSS arrived in 10 additional game titles, and those include today's release of Back 4 Blood, Baldur's Gate 3, Chivalry 2, Crysis Remastered Trilogy, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Sword and Fairy 7, and Swords of Legends Online.

With so many titles receiving the DLSS update, NVIDIA advertises using the latest GeForce driver to achieve the best possible performance in the listed games. If you are wondering just how much DLSS adds to the performance, in the newest Back 4 Blood title, RTX GPUs see a 46% boost in FPS. Similar performance gains translate to other labels that received the DLSS patch. You can expect to achieve more than double the number of frames in older titles like Alan Wake Remastered, Tomb Raider saga, and FIST.For more information about performance at 4K resolution, please see the slides supplied by NVIDIA below.

Some time ago, NVIDIA launched its Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology to deliver AI-enhanced upscaling images to your favorite AAA titles. It uses proprietary algorithms developed by NVIDIA and relies on the computational power of Tensor cores found in GeForce graphics cards. In the early days of DLSS, NVIDIA talked about an additional technology called DLSS2X, which was supposed to be based on the same underlying techniques as DLSS, however, just to do image sharpening and not any upscaling. That technology got its official name today: Deep Learning Anti-Aliasing or DLAA shortly.

DLAA uses technology similar to DLSS, and it aims to bring NVIDIA's image-sharpening tech to video games. It aims to use the Tensor cores found in GeForce graphics cards, and provide much better visual quality, without sacrificing the performance, as it runs on dedicated cores. It is said that the technology will be offered alongside DLSS and other additional anti-aliasing technologies in in-game settings. The first game to support it is The Elder Scrolls Online, which now has it in the public beta test server, and will be available to the general public later on.

NVIDIA has today decided to update the company's game-ready graphics drivers with the release of 471.68 WHQL. In the latest installment of the GeForce drivers, NVIDIA is bringing some much-needed support for the latest games. That includes the launch of Psychonauts 2, Naraka: Bladepoint, and Back 4 Blood Open Beta. These new games are now supported and are expected to be played on all GPUs from 3000 series to the older 500 series. As Naraka: Bladepoint game features NVIDIA's latest DLSS and Reflex technologies, this driver version is here to support it. Alongside game support, the new driver also adds support for seven new G-SYNC displays listed below. For a full list of changes, including bug fixes, please see the aforementioned list.Download NVIDIA GeForce 471.68 WHQL Graphics Drivers.

NVIDIA today released the latest version of GeForce Game Ready drivers. Version 471.41 WHQL comes with support for Windows 11, including a WDDM 3.0 compliant display driver, making it NVIDIA's first official driver for the upcoming operating system. In addition, the drivers introduce DLSS performance enhancement on Red Dead Redemption 2 and Chernobylite. The drivers also introduce CUDA 11.4 support.

Among the issues fixed are lack of hardware acceleration on Capture One; HUD loss issues on Valorant; a game freeze noticed with DOOM Eternal; League of Legends failing to launch; mouse pointer issues with certain DSC monitors in HDR mode; blurry Ansel depth-of-field in certain games; display resolution being limited to 640x480 on some monitors after updating from older drivers; distorted HDMI audio playback on 8K displays connected via HDMi 2.1, and HDMI audio drop-outs on LG C9 OLED TVs.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 471.41 WHQL

NVIDIA at GDC dropped a major hint at where it wants to take PC gaming post the Arm acquisition. The company is demonstrating its RTX real-time raytracing technology, and the DLSS performance enhancement, on an Arm processor by MediaTek. To the PC, this means NVIDIA is laying the foundations of gaming in the post-x86 world where it holds Arm IP; foundations that were dug up by Apple and its mighty M1 chip, based on Arm CPU technology.

Making this unequivocal, was MediaTek. "RTX is the most groundbreaking technology to come to PC gaming in the last two decades," said PC Tseng, general manager of MediaTek's Intelligent Multimedia Business Unit."MediaTek and NVIDIA are laying the foundation for a new category of Arm-based high-performance PCs." The Taiwan-based Arm SoC major has developed a new Arm-based PC processor called Kompanio 1200, which it hopes will power PC platforms much like the Apple M1 or the Qualcomm Compute Platforms.

Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the highest-rated games of all time, with over 275 perfect scores and over 175 Game of the Year Awards. Its PC release is also one of the platform's best-looking titles, with an amazingly rendered and realistic open world that tests the mettle of any PC when effects and rendering resolutions are ramped up.

To boost performance on GeForce RTX PCs and laptops, Rockstar has today released a NVIDIA DLSS update for Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online. If you're unfamiliar with NVIDIA DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling), it's a groundbreaking AI rendering technology that increases graphics performance using dedicated Tensor Core AI processors on GeForce RTX GPUs, without compromising image quality.

Rockstar Games, the developer behind plenty of AAA titles, including Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR2), is preparing an interesting update for all the RDR2 players. Called the "Blood Money" update, it brings new player activities to the Red Dead Online community. As Rockstar describes it, you will "Step into the criminal underworld of Red Dead Online: Blood Money on July 13, and prove you are willing to get your hands dirty in service to notorious and well-connected members of Saint-Denis society." While the update brings interesting content, it also integrates new technologies for visual/graphics improvements. NVIDIA's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) is also landing on July 13, allowing you to play the game with better performance and image quality if you have a GeForce RTX graphics card.Check out the Red Dead Online: Blood Money trailer below.

Microsoft seems to be throwing its hat in the image upscale battle that's currently raging between NVIDIA and AMD. The company has added two new job openings to its careers page: one for a Senior Software Engineer and another for a Principal Software Engineer for Graphics. Those job openings would be quite innocent by themselves; however, once we cut through the chaff, it becomes clear that the Senior Software Engineer is expected to "implement machine learning algorithms in graphics software to delight millions of gamers," while working closely with "partners" to develop software for "future machine learning hardware" - partners here could be first-party titles or even the hardware providers themselves (read, AMD). AMD themselves have touted a DirectML upscaling solution back when they first introduced their FidelityFX program - and FSR clearly isn't it.

It is interesting how Microsoft posted these job openings in June 30th - a few days after AMD's reveal of their FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) solution for all graphics cards - and which Microsoft themselves confirmed would be implemented in the Xbox product stack, where applicable. Of course, that there is one solution available already does not mean companies should rest on their laurels - AMD is surely at work on improving its FSR tech as we speak, and Microsoft has seen the advantages on having a pure ML-powered image upscaling solution thanks to NVIDIA's DLSS. Whether Microsoft's solution with DirectML will improve on DLSS as it exists at time of launch (if ever) is, of course, unknowable at this point.

TechPowerUp is hosting a repository of NVIDIA DLSS client libraries that game developers pack with their DLSS-compatible games. This library goes by the file name "nvngx_dlss.dll." Recent discussions on tech forums and Reddit revealed that the DLSS libraries, which are usually located in the game's installation folders, are user-swappable, meaning that one can replace their DLSS library file for a different version that enables a different set of features or potentially even image quality or performance improvements. So far people have shared these files through sites like Mega, which of course introduces a malware risk. That's why we decided to host these files ourselves, located in our Downloads section. We currently have 23 versions, all hand-verified to be the unmodified originals, ranging from 1.0.0 to 2.2.10. Click on the "show older versions" link below the "Download" button to list the other versions. We will keep adding to the collection as we come across more of these. Have something we don't? Comment below.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA DLSS DLL

NVIDIA's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology has been developed to upscale lower resolutions using artificial intelligence and deep learning algorithms. By using this technique, users with RTX cards can increase their framerates in supported games, with minimal loss in image quality. Recently, AMD introduced FidelityFX Super Resolution, a competing technology, which in one aspect might be technologically better than the DLSS competition. How you might wonder? Well, at the "quality" setting, NVIDIA's DLSS renders the game at 66.6% of the resolution, upscaling it 1.5 times. At the same "quality" preset, AMD FSR renders the game at 77% of the resolution and upscales the image by 1.3 times. This is technically providing an advantage to AMD FSR technology, as the image is posed to look better with less upscaling. DLSS on the other hand uses much more information, because it considers multiple frames in its temporal algorithm.

That newfound competition could be what made NVIDIA re-think their options and today we are getting some exciting news regarding DLSS. In the Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) documentation, there is a placeholder for "Ultra Quality" DLSS mode, which is supposed to rival AMD's "Ultra Quality" mode and offer the best possible image quality. Currently, the latest DLSS version is 2.2.6.0, which is present in some DLSS supported games, and can be added to others using a DLL-swap. The updated version with the Ultra Quality preset is already present in UE5, called DLSS 2.2.9.0. Mr. Alexander Battaglia from Digital Foundry has made a quick comparison using the two versions, however, we are waiting for more in-depth testing to see the final results.

EA DICE on Tuesday named NVIDIA as the official partner for Battlefield 2042 on the PC platform. To gamers, this means that Battlefield 2042 will feature support for NVIDIA DLSS and NVIDIA Reflex. DLSS integration will allow gamers to increase performance with minimal loss to image quality, while NVIDIA Reflex integration will be key to the game's online multiplayer component, as it works to cut down input latency. There is no word on whether Battlefield 2042 will feature RTX real-time raytracing, but given that Battlefield V was the pioneering title for RTX, some form of raytracing for Battlefield 2042 cannot be ruled out.

Among the other companies named as partners by EA DICE are Xbox Series X/S, as the "official console partner." Logitech has been named the official gaming peripherals partner, which means we'll see plenty of Battlefield 2042 co-branded gear from Logitech G. Western Digital, specifically its WD_Black brand, is the storage partner, with co-branded SSDs and external storage devices on the anvil, both for PC and Xbox Series X/S.

As most of the DOOM Eternal fans are informed, on June 29th, the latest installment in the DOOM series of games, DOOM Eternal, will be receiving a huge upgrade coming to all PC gamers. For the first time, PC players will get to experience NVIDIA's best pieces of technology, coming in a form of raytracing and NVIDIA Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS). To celebrate that, the folks over at Bethesda Softworks and id Software have partnered with NVIDIA to launch a limited edition DOOM Eternal bundle. Called the "DOOM Eternal GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Limited Edition Demon Slayer Bundle", it will be a very scarce bundle made only in 300 copies.

Containing NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics card, the bundle is all about performance. However, what makes it special and different from buying a regular card is that it includes some additional products. For starters, the bundle includes Titanium Slayer Collectible mini-figure with matching aesthetics of the GPU, making it a real collectible item. Next up is a Titanium DOOM Eternal-GeForce RTX t-shirt, and an exclusive "DOOM Eternal: The Ancient Gods" oversized 15.75-inch x 35.44-inch mouse pad. Additionally, a $100 Bethesda Store credit and DOOM Eternal Deluxe Edition game code is included as well. Together, it forms a bundle that is limited to 300 pieces and costs 1450 USD. To join the raffle to purchase this bundle, you can enter here for North America, and here for Europe. Unfortunately, people from other regions can not enter. The raffle starts today, June 23, 2021, 5:00 AM (MST), and ends on July 7, 2021, 11:59 PM (MST). Winners will be announced on July 8th.

AMD's DLSS competitor FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) is going to be launched in a mere five days, on June 22nd. When AMD announced the technology last month, they used Godfall as a showcase for the improved performance characteristics of the technology, which should aid (particularly) in raytracing.enabled games. Being open source, AMD's FSR also supports NVIDIA's graphics cards, meaning that any game that bakes in support for the technology can be taken advantage of by PC players irrespective of GPU brand.

In the meantime, the launch titles for FSR have become known, and there are seven of them, though they're relatively small hitters (Anno 1800 is one of the supported games at launch). However, support for FSR is expected to launch in the near future for 12 more games, including heavy-hitter Baldur's Gate III, DOTA 2, Far Cry 6, Myst, Resident Evil Village and Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodhunt. Besides these closer-to-the-horizon games, a number of developers have announced they're working on integration FSR on their workflows, including Crystal Dynamics, Focus Home Interactive, Capcom, Ubisoft, Unity, Electronic Arts & Dice... A total of 44 developers in all, Of course NVIDIA's DLSS supports much more games - but remember it has two years in the market going for it, and remember that DLSS 1.0 wasn't all that good. So comparisons with NVIDIA's solution and claims of failure or disappointment on AMD's technology might be slightly too early judgments, especially considering how this tech has also been announced to be supported by Microsoft's Xbox Series X|S consoles.

MAINGEAR—an award-winning PC system integrator of custom gaming desktops, notebooks, and workstations—today announced that the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is now available to configure within MAINGEAR's product line of award-winning custom gaming desktop PCs and workstations.

Powered by Ampere—NVIDIA's 2nd gen RTX architecture, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti features enhanced performance for a more immersive, jaw-dropping gaming experience. NVIDIA's 2nd gen RTX architecture delivers real-time raytracing effects—including shadows, reflections, and Ambient Occlusion (AO)—allowing the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti to take gaming graphics to new heights with ultra-realistic 3D visuals. The groundbreaking NVIDIA DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) 2.0 AI technology utilizes Tensor Core AI processors to boost frame rates while producing sharp, uncompromised visual fidelity comparable to high native resolutions.

NVIDIA today released the GeForce 466.63 WHQL software. These drivers introduce support for the recently announced GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics card, which we reviewed here. The drivers also introduce optimization for "No Man's Sky" DLSS update, NVIDIA Reflex support for "Escape from Tarkov," "Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2," and day-zero optimization for "Chivalry 2." A couple of issues are also fixed. A bug that caused the system to hand when connected to a 4K UHD TV and launching a VR game, has been fixed. 4K @ 120 Hz not being available to machines running GeForce GTX 16-series and 10-series graphics cards, has been fixed. Grab the drivers from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 466.63 WHQL

NVIDIA has announced that they are partnering with Valve to bring its Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) graphics technology to Linux via Steam Proton. This will allow Linux gamers with an RTX GPU to take advantage of the AI tool to improve their framerates in games through Steam. Proton is an open-source tool from Valve which allows Windows games to be run on Linux, the tool is built into the Linux Steam Client Beta. This news comes after AMD announced their open-source DLSS competitor FidelityFX Super Resolution which supports AMD, and NVIDIA graphics cards.

NVIDIANVIDIA, Valve, and the Linux gaming community are collaborating to bring NVIDIA DLSS to Proton - Linux gamers will be able to use the dedicated AI cores on GeForce RTX GPUs to boost frame rates for their favorite Windows Games running on the Linux operating system. Support for Vulkan titles is coming this month with DirectX support coming in the Fall.

The launch of GeForce RTX GPUs two years ago brought an array of NVIDIA-designed technologies that dramatically transformed PC gaming and content creation. Now, there are over 130 games and applications supporting RTX-accelerated innovations, including GPU-accelerated raytracing, NVIDIA Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), and AI-powered innovations like NVIDIA Broadcast. And our newest technology, NVIDIA Reflex is now supported in 12 of the top 15 competitive shooters, making gameplay more responsive.

NVIDIA has worked closely with the game development ecosystem, creative app developers, and industry standards bodies to leverage the company's technological innovations in the creation of this new standard for PC gaming and content creation. The list of game franchises, engines, and game and app developers now using NVIDIA-pioneered technologies is a veritable who's who. And today, more games and studios jump on board, as we announce the addition of RTX technologies to a further 8 titles, including DOOM Eternal, Red Dead Redemption 2, Rainbow Six Siege, Icarus, LEGO Builder's Journey, DYING: 1983, The Ascent, and The Persistence.

ZOTAC Technology Limited, a global manufacturer of innovation, unveils two mighty additions to the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 30 Series GPU line-up-the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and 3070 Ti Series. The all-new series are based on thea dvanced NVIDIA Ampere architecture with enhanced CUDA cores, Tensor cores, fast memory, and wide memory bandwidth that bring powerful gaming performance.

The RTX 3080 Ti Series feature the AMP Extreme Holo, AMP Holo, Trinity OC and Trinity models whereas the RTX 3070 Ti Series feature the AMP Extreme Holo, AMP Holo and Trinity. Powered by the NVIDIA Ampere architecture, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti delivers an incredible leap in performance and fidelity with acclaimed features such as raytracing, NVIDIA DLSS performance-boosting AI, NVIDIA Reflex latency-reduction, NVIDIA Broadcast streaming features and additional memory that allows it to speed through the most popular creator applications as well.

The upcoming Nintendo Switch Pro is rumored to launch in September or October according to a recent report which claimed production of the new device would begin in July. The Nintendo Switch Pro is expected to feature an upgraded 7" 1280x720 OLED screen with a new NVIDIA processor and graphics based on the Ada Lovelace architecture. Nintendo and its partners are confident in their supply chain and their ability to meet demand including the new NVIDIA SoC which may enable 4K video output when docked by utilizing DLSS technology. Nintendo plans to price the Switch Pro at the same 299 USD MSRP the original Nintendo Switch was launched for and may announce the device before E3 2021 which starts June 12th.

NVIDIA DLSS adoption continues at rapid pace, with a further 9 titles adding the game-changing, performance-accelerating, AI and Tensor Core-powered GeForce RTX technology. This follows the addition of DLSS to 5 games last month, and the launch of Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition a fortnight ago. This month, DLSS comes to No Man's Sky, AMID EVIL, Aron's Adventure, Everspace 2, Redout: Space Assault, Scavengers, and Wrench. And for the first time, DLSS comes to Virtual Reality headsets in No Man's Sky, Into The Radius, and Wrench.

By enabling NVIDIA DLSS in each, frame rates are greatly accelerated, giving you smoother gameplay and the headroom to enable higher-quality effects and rendering resolutions, and raytracing in AMID EVIL, Redout: Space Assault, and Wrench. For gamers, only GeForce RTX GPUs feature the Tensor Cores that power DLSS, and with DLSS now available in 50 titles and counting, GeForce RTX offers the fastest frame rates in leading triple-A games and indie darlings.

AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR), the company's elusive rival to the NVIDIA DLSS technology, could be arriving next month (June 2021), according to a Coreteks report. The report claims that the technology is already at an advanced stage of development, in the hands of game developers, and offers certain advantages over DLSS. For starters, it doesn't require training from a generative adversarial network (GAN), and doesn't rely on ground truth data. It is a low-overhead algorithmic upscaler (not unlike the various MadVR upscalers you're used to). It is implemented early in the pipeline. Here's the real kicker—the technology is compatible with NVIDIA GPUs, so studios developing with FSR would be serving both AMD Radeon and NVIDIA GeForce gamers.

NVIDIA today released the latest version of GeForce Game Ready drivers. Version 466.11 WHQL comes with optimization for "Mortal Shell," including support for raytracing and DLSS. The drivers also add NVIDIA Reflex support for "Valorant" with its latest patch. The drivers also integrate NVIDIA Broadcast noise reduction feature into OBS. The list of monitors with support for NVIDIA G-SYNC grows, with the addition of LG's 2021 G1, B1, C1, and Z1 series monitors; and the MSI MAG301RF.

Among the bugs fixed with GeForce 466.11 drivers are low frame-rates on "Supreme Commander/Supreme Commander 2," RAW files showing up black on Adobe Lightroom; "Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 VR" stuttering on machines with hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling disabled; and some displays showing incorrect color levels after booting into Windows. Grab the drivers from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 466.11 WHQL

NVIDIA and Unity have announced that they're working on seamlessly integrating the green company's DLSS technology into the Unity game engine, thus allowing developers to more easily enable the technology on their development efforts. This is a sign of NVIDIA's power in the gaming arena - the company is actually leading engine makers to integrate its proprietary, RTX-only technology on their game engines. That is sure to give a boost to DLSS adoption throughout the industry - but of course, whether or not that's what would be best for consumers and gamers is very much up for debate.

NVIDIA said that native DLSS support would reach Unity through the High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP) in the Unity 2021.2. release "before the end of 2021." That means there's still work to be done; however, we have to take into account that this is the second developer of a widespread game engine to adopt the new NVIDIA porprietary technology, after EPIC integrated DLSS into a plugin for its famous (and industry-wide) Unreal Engine. A strong victory for NVIDIA - should developers actually use the plugin instead of AMD's still-coming FidelityFX Super Resolution, which is supposed to be hardware agnostic, and enable the technology for millions of current-gen consoles at the same time. Check after the break for a video announcement.

Nintendo's Switch console is one of the most successful consoles ever made by the Japanese company. It has sold in millions of units and has received great feedback from the gaming community. However, as the hardware inside the console becomes outdated, the company is thinking about launching a new revision of the console, with the latest hardware and technologies. Today, we got ahold of information about the graphics side of things in Nintendo's upcoming console. Powered by NVIDIA Tegra SoC, it will incorporate unknown Arm-based CPU cores. The latest rumors suggest that the CPU will be accommodated with NVIDIA's Ada Lovelace GPU architecture. According to @kopite7kimi, a known hardware leaker, who simply replied to VideoCardz's tweet with "Ada", we are going to see the appearance of Ada Lovelace GPU architecture in the new SoC. Additionally, the new Switch SoC will have hardware accelerated NVIDIA Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) and 4K output.