DLSS 4.5 vs FSR 4 in Gears of War: E-Day (2026): Which Wins?

Gears of War: E-Day is the first big AAA launch to ship with DLSS 4.5 and FSR 4 both available on day one, so DLSS 4.5 vs FSR 4 is now a choice you make in a real game, not a synthetic benchmark. Both upscalers use machine learning. Both promise near-native image quality at a fraction of the rendering cost. Both vendors also want to sell you a GPU on the strength of them. If you’re choosing between an RTX 50 card and a Radeon RX 9000, or just trying to get E-Day running smoothly on the card you already own, these settings matter more than anything else in the menu.

What’s actually new in DLSS 4.5 vs FSR 4

DLSS 4.5 is the next step for NVIDIA’s transformer-based upscaler. DLSS 3 used a convolutional network. DLSS 4 switched to a transformer model. DLSS 4.5 adds a second-generation transformer model for Super Resolution, which NVIDIA says improves temporal stability, cuts ghosting on fast-moving objects and keeps fine detail at lower internal resolutions. That last point matters most: the new presets target Performance and Ultra Performance modes, which used to look visibly worse than Quality. On RTX 50-series cards, DLSS 4.5 also adds Dynamic Multi Frame Generation. Instead of a fixed 2x, 3x or 4x multiplier, it raises or lowers the number of generated frames on the fly to match your monitor’s refresh rate.

FSR 4 is AMD’s first fully ML-based upscaler. FSR 1 through 3 used hand-tuned spatial and temporal algorithms. FSR 4 runs a trained network on the FP8 hardware in RDNA 4, so AMD officially supports it only on Radeon RX 9000-series cards. AMD now ships it under the broader “Redstone” banner, alongside ML-based frame generation and ray regeneration. Its biggest gain over FSR 3.1 is image quality: much less shimmer on foliage, cleaner disocclusion and far less of the “fizzing” that made older FSR easy to spot.

E-Day runs on Unreal Engine 5 and leans heavily on Lumen lighting, dense particle effects, gore and thin geometry like chain-link fences, rebar and wet-surface reflections. That makes it a tough test for any upscaler. It’s also the first time many players can compare the two technologies side by side, in the same scene and the same engine, from launch.

Why it matters

• The upscaler is now part of the GPU’s price. If DLSS 4.5 Performance mode looks as good as FSR 4 Quality mode in E-Day, an RTX card renders fewer pixels for the same image. That changes the value math when you pick the best upscaler for RTX 50 vs Radeon RX 9000.
• Frame generation and responsiveness are no longer the same thing. Multi frame generation can push the fps counter past 200, but the game still processes your input at the base rate. Multi frame generation latency decides whether an active-reload timing window feels sharp or mushy.
• FSR 4 closed most of the quality gap. FSR 3 trailed DLSS clearly. FSR 4 image quality competes with DLSS 4-era output, so Radeon owners no longer have to accept a visibly worse picture.
• Older hardware gets split. DLSS 4.5’s upscaler works on every RTX card back to the 20-series, but multi frame generation is RTX 50-only. FSR 4 is officially limited to RDNA 4, which leaves RX 7000 owners on FSR 3.1 or XeSS.
• Driver overrides decide more than in-game menus do. Both vendors let you inject newer models through their control panels, so the version a game ships with matters less than it used to.
• This is a preview of every UE5 game for the next 18 months. How each upscaler handles Lumen noise and Nanite detail in E-Day predicts how it will handle the UE5 releases that follow.

How to use it today: Gears of War E-Day PC settings

These steps work on both vendors. Treat them as a method, not a fixed preset: run the same scene, change one variable at a time, and trust your eyes and your frame-time graph over the fps counter.

1. Update drivers first. Install the latest Game Ready driver (NVIDIA) or Adrenalin driver (AMD) released for E-Day’s launch. Day-one profiles often include upscaler model updates and frame-pacing fixes.

2. Force the newest DLSS model (NVIDIA). In the NVIDIA App, open Graphics, then Program Settings, select Gears of War: E-Day, and set DLSS Override – Model Presets to Latest. This forces the second-generation transformer model even if the game’s own DLL lags behind. If you prefer NVIDIA Profile Inspector, set these fields:

   Profile: Gears of War: E-Day
   DLSS-SR override               = On
   DLSS-SR preset selection       = Latest (or Preset M for Performance mode)
   DLSS-FG override               = On
   Multi Frame Generation mode    = Dynamic (RTX 50 only)

3. Enable FSR 4 (AMD). If E-Day exposes FSR 4 natively, pick it in the game menu. If the game lists only FSR 3.1, open Adrenalin, go to Gaming, select the game, and turn on FSR 4 Upgrade (shown as AMD FSR Upscaling in newer drivers) to replace the 3.1 path with the ML model. Turn on Radeon Anti-Lag 2 in the same panel if the game supports it.

4. Pick your quality mode by output resolution. A practical starting point:

   Output 1440p:  DLSS 4.5 Quality / Balanced    | FSR 4 Quality
   Output 4K:     DLSS 4.5 Performance (Preset M) | FSR 4 Balanced / Performance
   Output 4K on 60-class card: DLSS Ultra Performance (Preset L) | FSR 4 Performance
   Ray tracing / Lumen High+: drop one mode lower before lowering texture quality

   This is the core of the DLSS 4.5 transformer model advantage. NVIDIA built the new presets so Performance mode holds up at 4K. FSR 4 usually needs one step higher to match fine detail on fences and hair.

5. Set a base frame rate before enabling frame generation. Generated frames don’t fix a low base rate. Aim for at least 60 fps rendered before turning on frame gen, and 70 to 80 fps for 3x or 4x modes. Keep Reflex (NVIDIA) or Anti-Lag 2 (AMD) on whenever frame gen is on.

6. Tweak Engine.ini if the menu is limited. Unreal Engine 5 games usually read user overrides from a config file. Back it up first, and treat every cvar as optional, since studios can lock or rename them:

   ; %LOCALAPPDATA%\[GameFolder]\Saved\Config\Windows\Engine.ini
   [SystemSettings]
   r.Tonemapper.Sharpen=0
   r.MotionBlurQuality=0
   r.SceneColorFringeQuality=0
   r.Streaming.PoolSize=4096

   Turning off engine sharpening and motion blur lets you judge the upscaler on its own. Engine post-processing can make a weaker upscaler look sharper than it really is.

7. Measure latency, not just fps. Capture a repeatable 60-second run with PresentMon (or NVIDIA FrameView, which is built on it) and compare frame times and PC latency for each configuration:

   PresentMon.exe --process_name [EDayExecutable].exe --output_file eday_dlss_perf.csv --timed 60 --terminate_after_timed

   Check the 1% low frame times and the average PC latency column. A configuration with 20 percent fewer frames but 15 ms less latency often feels better in a firefight.

How it compares: AI upscaling comparison 2026

Feature	DLSS 4.5	FSR 4	XeSS 2 (for reference)
Upscaling approach	Second-gen transformer model	ML network (FP8 on RDNA 4)	ML network (XMX or DP4a fallback)
Upscaler GPU support	All RTX (20-series and newer)	Radeon RX 9000 (official)	Intel Arc natively, others via DP4a
Frame generation	Multi + Dynamic MFG on RTX 50; 2x on RTX 40	ML frame gen (Redstone) on RX 9000	2x on Arc
Latency tech	Reflex / Reflex 2	Anti-Lag 2	XeLL
Performance-mode quality at 4K	Strongest; main gain in 4.5	Good; small detail loss on thin geometry	Usable; softer
Ghosting / disocclusion	Very low	Low; much better than FSR 3.1	Moderate
Driver-level override	NVIDIA App / Profile Inspector	Adrenalin FSR 4 upgrade	Limited
Upscaler compute cost	Higher on older RTX cards	Moderate on RDNA 4	Low to moderate

Our take: at matched quality modes, DLSS 4.5 still wins on fine detail and motion stability, and the gap widens as you move down the resolution ladder. FSR 4 is now close enough at Quality and Balanced that most players won’t notice the difference at normal viewing distances, which makes a cheaper Radeon RX 9000 card a real option. One caveat: the second-gen transformer model costs more compute, so on RTX 20 and 30 cards it can run a few percent slower than the older model. If you own one of those cards, test both presets before assuming newer is better.

For frame generation, NVIDIA’s multi-frame and dynamic modes give you more headroom on high-refresh displays, but the same rule applies on both sides: if your base frame rate is low, frame gen makes motion look smoother without making the game respond faster. In a cover shooter built around timing, a 2x mode with a high base rate usually beats a 4x mode with a weak one.

What’s next

On NVIDIA’s side, watch for a wider rollout of Reflex 2’s Frame Warp, which updates the final frame from your latest mouse input and directly answers the latency cost of multi frame generation. If E-Day gets a Reflex 2 patch, the case for 3x and 4x frame gen in a competitive shooter improves considerably. Expect NVIDIA to keep shipping new model presets through driver overrides without requiring a game update. The DLSS you play with in six months may not be the one that shipped on launch day.

On AMD’s side, the open question is reach. FSR 4 is limited to RDNA 4, and RX 7000 owners have been loudly asking for a supported path. If AMD ships an official fallback model for older Radeon cards, FSR 4’s install base grows sharply and developers gain more reason to tune for it. AMD’s Redstone features, especially ML ray regeneration, also target Lumen-heavy UE5 games like E-Day, so watch for a post-launch patch that enables them.

The bigger trend: upscaling is no longer optional. It’s a fixed part of the rendering budget. Studios now design E-Day-class visuals with upscaling assumed, so “native” is becoming a reference mode rather than the default. Your GPU decision in 2026 is really a decision about which upscaling ecosystem you’re buying into.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is DLSS 4.5 better than FSR 4 in Gears of War: E-Day?

At the same quality mode, DLSS 4.5 generally keeps more fine detail and shows less ghosting, especially in Performance and Ultra Performance modes at 4K. At Quality mode on 1440p, FSR 4 is close enough that most players won’t notice a difference during gameplay.

Can I use DLSS 4.5 on an RTX 30 or RTX 40 card?

Yes. The DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution model works on every RTX card. Multi frame generation and Dynamic MFG require an RTX 50-series GPU, and RTX 40 cards are limited to 2x frame generation. On older cards, compare the new and previous presets, because the newer model has a higher compute cost.

Does FSR 4 work on Radeon RX 7000 cards?

Not officially. FSR 4 relies on RDNA 4’s FP8 hardware and is supported on the RX 9000 series. RX 7000 owners should use FSR 3.1 or XeSS in E-Day until AMD announces an official path.

Does multi frame generation add input lag?

Yes. Frame generation holds back a rendered frame to create the generated frames in between, which adds some latency. Reflex or Anti-Lag 2 cancels out a large part of it. The best way to keep multi frame generation latency low is a high base frame rate: at least 60 fps rendered before you turn it on.

What are the best Gears of War E-Day PC settings for a 4K 144Hz monitor?

On an RTX 50 card, start with DLSS 4.5 Performance using the latest preset, Reflex on, and frame generation at 2x or Dynamic, keeping the base rate above 60 fps. On an RX 9070-class card, start with FSR 4 Balanced and Anti-Lag 2 on, and enable frame generation only if your base rate holds above 60 fps. If you need more performance, lower Lumen quality before texture quality.

Should I buy an RTX 50 or Radeon RX 9000 card for E-Day?

If you play at 4K and want the cleanest image in Performance mode, or want multi frame generation for a high-refresh display, RTX 50 is the safer choice. If you play at 1440p and want the most raw performance per dollar, a Radeon RX 9000 card with FSR 4 is now a credible pick, which wasn’t true in the FSR 3 era.