DLSS 4.5 Crushes FSR 4.1 in Blind Test, Winning Six Out of Seven AAA Titles

Blind Test Reveals: DLSS 4.5's Image Quality Advantage Remains Unshakable

On April 29, renowned hardware review outlet ComputerBase published the results of a large-scale player blind test. In a direct image quality showdown between NVIDIA's DLSS 4.5 and AMD's FSR 4.1, player votes showed that DLSS 4.5 won six out of seven AAA titles by an overwhelming margin. The results once again underscore NVIDIA's leading position in AI upscaling technology.

Methodology: Split-Screen Comparison with Blind Voting

ComputerBase had previously conducted a similar test in which DLSS 4.5 already demonstrated a clear advantage. This round expanded the scope further. Testers placed gameplay footage from FSR 4.0, FSR 4.1, and DLSS 4.5 side by side in a split-screen format, allowing players to blindly select the solution they considered to have the best image quality in each scene—without knowing which solution was which.

The seven AAA titles included in the test were:

• Assassin's Creed Shadows
• Anno 117: Pax Romana
• Arc Raiders
• Resident Evil: Requiem
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance
• The Last of Us Part I

These games span multiple genres including open-world, action-adventure, and shooters, featuring varying levels of scene complexity and visual styles, making the test highly representative.

Voting Results: DLSS 4.5 Takes Six Wins and One Loss

The final voting results showed that across most games and scenes, players consistently rated DLSS 4.5 as delivering the best image quality. Out of seven titles, DLSS 4.5 claimed the "best image quality" crown in six, narrowly losing in only one game. FSR 4.1 typically ranked second, while the previous-generation FSR 4.0 generally came in last.

These results are highly consistent with ComputerBase's earlier test findings, indicating that DLSS 4.5's image quality advantage is no fluke—it reflects a comprehensive lead across multiple dimensions including sharpening, denoising algorithms, and motion clarity.

Where Does the Technical Gap Come From?

DLSS 4.5 is NVIDIA's current flagship AI upscaling technology, leveraging dedicated Tensor Core hardware acceleration and deep learning models refined through years of iteration to deliver continuous improvements in detail reconstruction, edge handling, and temporal stability. FSR 4.1, AMD's latest flagship solution, has achieved significant improvements over its predecessor in sharpening quality and motion clarity.

To be fair, FSR 4.1's improvement over FSR 4.0 is clearly visible, and AMD is rapidly closing the gap with NVIDIA. However, based on the blind test results, that gap still exists—particularly in detail rendering in complex scenes and motion stability, where DLSS 4.5 continues to hold the upper hand.

Notably, when viewing any single solution's output in isolation, players often find it difficult to judge which is superior. The real differences only become apparent through side-by-side comparison. This also indicates that both solutions have reached a remarkably high level of absolute image quality, with differences primarily manifesting in the "last mile" of detail refinement.

What This Means for Gamers

For consumers, upscaling technology has become an indispensable part of the modern gaming experience. At 4K and higher resolutions, AI upscaling not only significantly boosts frame rates but also reduces GPU workload while maintaining or even enhancing image quality.

NVIDIA's sustained lead with DLSS has built a formidable software ecosystem moat for its RTX series graphics cards. Meanwhile, AMD is accelerating its pursuit—FSR 4.1's performance proves its technical roadmap is maturing. Ultimately, the intense competition between the two will benefit gamers the most.

Outlook: The Race Is Far from Over

As next-generation GPU architectures and AI models continue to evolve, the ceiling for upscaling image quality keeps rising. AMD has demonstrated its determination to catch up with FSR 4.1, and whether future versions can further close the gap—or even overtake DLSS—remains worth watching. At the same time, Intel's XeSS technology is quietly gaining momentum, and a three-way contest could bring even more surprises for gamers. It's safe to say that AI-driven image quality enhancement will continue to be one of the core battlegrounds in GPU competition for years to come.