Nvidia has officially launched DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction, an AI-based upgrade meant to fix long-standing visual problems in path-traced games, such as smudged reflections, ghosting, fading light trails and noisy 'boiling' in dark corners, according to Wccftech and Tom's Guide. The technology was first unveiled at Computex 2026 and replaces Nvidia's previous denoiser with a new 2nd Generation Transformer model that Wccftech reports processes 20% more parameters and delivers a 35% boost in compute capability, while Nvidia says the added compute comes with a negligible performance impact.
Both outlets tested the update and found real image-quality improvements. Wccftech, testing on an RTX 5090, reported sharper reflections and reduced ghosting in Resident Evil Requiem, Pragmata, Doom: The Dark Ages and Cyberpunk 2077, with performance staying within a margin of error of about plus or minus 3 FPS on both the RTX 5090 and RTX 40-series cards. Tom's Guide, testing on an RTX 5080, RTX 5060 Ti, and an RTX 5070 Ti laptop, saw no frame-rate penalty on the RTX 5080 and only an average 2 FPS drop on lower-end 50-series hardware, but noted that older RTX 20- and 30-series cards may see a more noticeable performance hit due to their older architecture. Tom's Guide also reported a minor glitch when enabling the override in Portal RTX.
To activate the feature, users need the latest GeForce Game Ready drivers and the NVIDIA App, where they can open a game's DLSS Override settings and select the new 'Preset F' (also referred to as 'Model F'), replacing the older 'Preset D' model, according to Wccftech and Tom's Guide. At launch, DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction supports a wide list of titles including Alan Wake 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Doom: The Dark Ages, Resident Evil Requiem, Portal with RTX, Star Wars Outlaws and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, per Wccftech. Nvidia also announced that 007: First Light will gain DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction and path tracing support on September 15, followed by Control Resonant on September 24.
As part of a Gamescom 2026 bundle, Nvidia is now offering a free copy of Control Resonant to buyers of RTX 5070-and-above desktops and laptops, according to Wccftech. The NVIDIA App is also being updated with DLSS 4.5 override integration, per-app control over Resizable Bar, and new settings for G-Sync Pulsar monitors. Separately, Nvidia is expanding RTX Remix, its tool for modding classic games with path tracing and DLSS 4.5, with Wccftech reporting close to 250 titles in the pipeline, including Turok, Prototype and Fallout 4, alongside newly released remasters Painkiller RTX and The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind RTX, with an Oblivion RTX remaster also in development.
Overall verdicts differ slightly in tone. Wccftech described DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction as a meaningful refinement that improves image quality across shadows, lighting accuracy and sharpness while eliminating boiling and ghosting artifacts. Tom's Guide agreed the visual differences are 'undeniable' when examined closely, such as tighter light bounces in Cyberpunk 2077, less laser ghosting in Pragmata, and sharper detail in Alan Wake 2, but cautioned that during fast-paced gameplay the difference between DLSS 4 and 4.5 largely blends into the background, calling it a quiet, iterative upgrade rather than a paradigm shift.