I used to prefer gaming at 1440p, but DLSS 4.5 changed that.

As a competitive gamer who occasionally plays AAA titles, 1440p has always seemed like the better choice to me. Despite having an RTX 4090, I couldn’t fully upgrade to 4K for several reasons. First, native 4K is still very demanding on the 4090, meaning I’d have to settle for lower frame rates than I’m comfortable with. Second, DLSS upscaled 4K still looked smoother, especially in motion. And when you’re used to gaming at 1440p on a 360Hz monitor without DLSS, these two compromises are hard to overlook.

Luckily, DLSS 4.5 finally convinced me to make the switch this year, at least for AAA games. For starters, the upscaled image looks almost as good as native 4K, and some might argue that it looks slightly better than native with TAA. And while it’s a little heavier on the GPU than older versions of DLSS, the improvements to movement stability are worth it. I’ll still play competitive shooters at 1440p/360Hz, but for AAA titles I now use a 4K/240Hz OLED monitor.

4K upscale ultimately does not seem to be a compromise

The increase in frame rate is still there, but without the dreaded “Vaseline effect”

Enabling DLSS has always improved frame rates and made 4K gaming more accessible, even on mid-range GPUs. This should mean that my flagship-class RTX 4090 should comfortably handle almost any game at 4K with DLSS, but that’s never been an issue for me. Since its introduction in 2019, my biggest problem with DLSS has been the noticeable drop in image quality, as if someone had rubbed Vaseline on my screen. Yes, this has improved significantly in recent years, notably with DLSS 4, but even then the image still looked a bit smoother in motion.

DLSS 4.5 is the first time I’ve completely stopped noticing this trade-off when playing open-world AAA titles like Dark myth: Wukong And Assassin’s Creed: Shadows. Even though I’m sitting very close to my monitor, the image holds up better when I move around the world instead of standing still and looking for flaws. With the L preset, foliage and distant objects no longer separate as easily and the edges no longer flicker as before. For the first time, I’m getting better frame rates without feeling like I’m giving up visual detail, and that alone makes 4K upscale worthwhile.

4K was always the end goal

With DLSS 4.5, I no longer need to wait for native 4K

Just because I preferred 1440p gaming didn’t mean I didn’t care about 4K. There’s a reason I’ve always bought flagship GPUs like the RTX 3090 and 4090. I wanted that extra performance headroom, not just for higher frame rates, but for better image quality when I needed it. 4K has always been the gold standard, especially in the type of open-world AAA games where overall presentation really matters. The problem has never been 4K itself, but how demanding it is, even on the best GPUs available today.

Even the RTX 5090 can’t run some AAA games at over 60 FPS with every setting maxed out at native 4K. Cyberpunk 2077, Assassin’s Creed: ShadowsAnd Dark myth: Wukong are good examples if you’re looking for one. However, with DLSS 4.5, especially with frame generation, you are faced with a completely different reality. I can crank up the settings, keep frame rates comfortably above 60 FPS, and still get a picture close enough to native that I don’t think about the difference while gaming. I now get the best of both worlds, which is why upgrading to 4K for AAA games finally seems like a no-brainer.

For competitive gaming, 1440p still has the advantage

Scaling alone won’t give me more than 200 FPS, but that’s not my goal for AAA titles.

There’s a reason I’m not moving away from 1440p for competitive gaming anytime soon. When I play fast titles like Battlefield 6 Or Call of Duty: Warzonemy priorities are completely different. I’m not looking for image quality as much as frame rate and triple-digit responsiveness. Although I can achieve over 200 FPS at native 4K in some competitive shooters like Valorant And Counter-Strike 2this is not possible in more demanding FPS games without frame generation, which adds input latency and changes the feel of the game.

At 1440p, I can consistently increase frame rates and get the most out of my 360Hz OLED without introducing anything that might disrupt my lens. And let’s not forget that many competitive games don’t support DLSS in the first place. That said, when I play AAA games like Assassin’s Creed: ShadowsI don’t target those frame rates. I’m perfectly happy with 60-100FPS, and DLSS 4.5 helps me get there. I actually don’t mind enabling frame generation in these titles, as input latency is the last thing on my mind when playing through the story with a controller.

DLSS 4.5 is why I stopped defaulting to 1440p

Without DLSS 4.5, I would still play all games on my 1440p/360 OLED or Alienware ultrawide. While I still prefer this resolution for competitive gaming, I now feel like I’m not getting the most out of my 4090 if I stick to it for everything. When visuals matter more than triple-digit frame rates, DLSS 4.5 lets me push 4K without compromising frame rates or lowering my graphics settings. It may not increase FPS as much as older DLSS versions, but for me the softer appearance was the biggest issue. With this trade-off almost completely eliminated, I no longer feel the need to upgrade to the RTX 5090 for 4K gaming.

Resolution

3840 x 2160 (4K)

Refresh rate

240Hz (4K); 480Hz (1080p)

Screen size

31.5″

Ports

2x HDMI 2.1; 1x DisplayPort 1.4; 1x USB-C (alternate DP mode); 3x USB-A 3.1 (downstream); 1x USB-B 3.1 (upstream)

The ASUS ROG PG32UCDP delivers some of the deepest contrast and vibrant colors in a large, sharp panel. As an OLED, it also offers virtually instant response times and its 240Hz refresh rate ensures some of the sharpest motion. Better yet, the screen can lower its resolution to increase the refresh rate up to 480Hz, bringing realistic motion to your battlestation.