DLSS 2.0 in Death Stranding – Nvidia 4K Performance Trump Card

DLSS VS AMD FidelityFX CAS

The main problem with Nvidia’s DLSS technology is that it isn’t accessible to everyone, remaining exclusive to the company’s RTX series of graphics cards. So what about Non-RTX users? Do they have an alternative to Nvidia#s upscaling technology? They do, thanks to AMD’s FidelityFX Contrast Adaptive Sharpening (CAS) technology. 

Unlike almost all other implementations of AMD’s CAS technology, Kojima Production has decided to implement it like DLSS, offering users a set performance boost. Other games combine CAS with resolution upscaling options, allowing gamers to choose their baseline resolution, but this is not the case with Death Stranding. Other games also allow CAS to be enabled at a game’s native resolution, allowing sharpening and nothing else. This, again, is not featured in Death Stranding. 

CAS On VS OFF

CAS is a simple upscaler with a sharpening tool attached. Unlike DLSS, CAS cannot add new details to an image, and therefore cannot provide the better than native levels of image quality. What it offers is upscaling and increased performance levels, not the promise of higher fidelity visuals. 

Below we can see that the image with CAS enabled is of lower quality than the non-CAS equivalent, though it is worth noting that framerates see a significant boost with this technique enabled. 

  

 

Performance-wise, DLSS’ quality mode and CAS offer similar levels of performance within Death Stranding. Below, we can see that advantages of DLSS most clearly, as while both techniques deliver the same framerate, DLSS provides superior visuals. In this regard, there is no comparison, DLSS wins.  

   

 

With CAS enabled, performance levels are increased at the cost of lower quality visuals. If you need more performance, CAS is worthwhile, though it comes at the cost of increased aliasing and a drop in graphical clarity in many scenes.  

  

 
Again, DLSS provides superior levels of image quality, though the difference in graphical quality isn’t that significant in many scenes. Death Stranding looks great with CAS enabled, it just looks better when DLSS is set to quality mode.