Besides moving DLSS 4 out of beta, Nvidia has also optimized VRAM usage in its latest DLSS SDK release. Initially discovered by VideoCardz, DLSS 310.3.0 improves the Transformer model VRAM usage by 20%.
DLSS's updated memory footprint brings its overall memory impact closer to that of the older CNN model. Previously, the DLSS transformer model consumed nearly twice as much memory as the CNN model it replaces. Still, with Nvidia's latest VRAM optimizations, the transformer model now consumes just 40% more memory than the CNN model.
At 1080p, the old transformer model consumed 106.9MB of VRAM; the new one consumes just 85.77MB. For comparison, the CNN model consumes 60.83MB of VRAM. DLSS's memory consumption increases or decreases linearly based on resolution; the larger the resolution, the more VRAM DLSS requires. For example, running DLSS at 4K increases the transformer model's memory footprint by 3.5X, consuming 307.37MB of VRAM.
| Header Cell - Column 0 | 1080p | 1440p | 4k | 8k |
|---|---|---|---|---|
New Transformer Model | 85.77 MB | 143.54 MB | 307.37 MB | 1,225.17 MB (1.2GB |
Old Transformer Model | 106.9 MB | 181.11 MB | 387.21 MB | 1,517.60 MB (1.5GB) |
CNN Model | 60.83 MB | 97.79 MB | 199.65 MB | 778.3 MB |
Despite the advantages, you probably won't notice the VRAM improvements in real-world applications. A 20% reduction in memory capacity for DLSS only translates to an 80MB reduction at 4k (not to mention 1440p or 1080p). 80MB (or less) is almost negligible compared to the VRAM capacity of modern graphics cards. The only exception might be at 8k resolution, where the DLSS transformer model consumes upwards of a gigabyte of memory (even with Nvidia's new VRAM optimizations).
Regardless, a 20% reduction in memory footprint is impressive considering the capabilities of the DLSS transformer model. If history repeats itself, we can expect DLSS 4's DLL file to get trimmed down in the future. Nvidia performed the same technique with DLSS 3.8.10. DLSS 4's transformer model boasts twice the number of parameters as its CNN-based predecessor, allowing the upscaler to achieve native-like image quality.
Nvidia's VRAM improvements apply strictly to its transformer upscaling model, and not frame generation. DLSS 4 launched with substantial frame generation improvements, reducing VRAM consumption by 30%. Frame generation consumes significantly more VRAM than the upscaling portion of DLSS. For instance, Nvidia claimed in one of its blog posts that Warhammer 40,000: Darktide uses 400MB less VRAM at 4k with DLSS 4 frame generation compared to DLSS 3 frame generation.
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