Should Starfield have launched with NVIDIA DLSS?
Yeah, probably, as benchmarks for the game’s beta update have begun showing up online, revealing what is apparently the better choice for those who need a performance boost in Bethesda’s newish sci-fi RPG (hint: almost everyone).
According to benchmarks shared by at least one publication, NVIDIA DLSS offers a “marked improvement” over AMD’s FSR 2.2 option, offering not only better performance, but nicer image quality as well.
Here’s the actual numbers, which were derived from a GeForce RTX 4080, and with FSR set to match NVIDIA’s DLSS quality settings, at 4K Ultra:
What this seems to mean is that 1) NVIDIA DLSS is the clear winner over AMD FSR in Starfield, and 2) It’s getting harder and harder to work in AMD’s graphics marketing department.
Starfield’s beta update hasn’t been well received by everyone, though, with various Steam users bashing Bethesda now for everything from the usual crashes to New Atlantis, which, according to at least one poster, is still “running like ass.”
What’s more is that some users are experiencing a bug where the DLSS setting doesn’t stick, meaning that Quality may not exactly mean Quality, or anything at all.
Bethesda was smart enough to release this update as a “beta,” however, so Todd is probably covered.
Starfield players who haven’t tried the update yet can find it by right-clicking on the game, going to properties, and enabling beta participation.