Red Dead Redemption 2 DLSS update brings 'up to' 45 percent performance boost today

The long-awaited Nvidia DLSS update for Red Dead Redemption 2 has landed, and according to Nvidia you can expect remarkable performance improvements across the board with RTX cards. Nvidia writes that "all GeForce RTX gamers'' can expect over 60 fps at 1080p with settings amped up to ultra. Good news, as during our benchmarking the RTX 2060, for example, struggled to meet 60.

Nvidia provides a few examples of what you can expect with its 30 series cards. At 1440p with an RTX 3060 Ti at ultra you should get over 60 fps, while at 4k with an RTX 3070 (or faster) you'll achieve 60 fps with ultra settings. Once the patch has installed, you'll find the DLSS toggle in the Settings / Graphics menu.

Red Dead Redemption 2 released for PC in 2019 but it still puts even the new 30 series cards through their paces, with a fair bit of fiddling required between resolution, detail and framerate. With the DLSS patch, some of those compromises hopefully won't be necessary anymore—and it's especially good news for people still rocking 20 series cards.

DLSS stands for Deep Learning Super Sampling and uses AI to dynamically upscale both image quality and framerates. AMD launched its own alternative last month in the form of AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (or FSR).

This new patch also applies to Red Dead Online, and coincides with the release of its newest update, Blood Money, which is all about the high-stakes bank robberies. 

Shaun Prescott

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.