Render resolution is the output multiplied by the scale, on each axis
The upscaler (DLSS, FSR, XeSS) renders the frame at this smaller internal resolution, then reconstructs it up to your display resolution. The scale applies to each side, so the pixel count — and the GPU load — falls with the square of the scale. A 67% scale renders about 45% of the pixels.
Upscaler quality modes and the scale they use
| Mode | Scale (per side) | Pixels vs native | Render res for 4K output |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ultra Quality (DLAA is 1.0) | 0.77 | ~59% | 2954 × 1662 |
| Quality | 0.667 | ~44% | 2560 × 1440 |
| Balanced | 0.58 | ~34% | 2227 × 1253 |
| Performance | 0.5 | 25% | 1920 × 1080 |
| Ultra Performance | 0.333 | ~11% | 1280 × 720 |
DLSS, FSR 2/3 and XeSS use the same per-side scale figures, so the render resolution for a given mode is identical across them. What differs is the reconstruction quality, not the input size.
Fewer pixels than the percentage suggests
Because the scale hits both axes, the workload drop is steeper than the slider reads. This is why dropping from Quality to Performance roughly doubles frame rate.
A 67% scale slider is really a 44% pixel budget; a 50% slider is a 25% budget. The GPU cost tracks the pixel count, not the slider number.
Getting the scale and speed right
- Speed-up. FPS gain is about 1 ÷ scale². Scale 0.75 gives ~1.8×, 0.67 gives ~2.25×, 0.5 gives ~4×.
- Match your panel. The output should be your monitor's native resolution; scaling only sets the internal render size, never what the display shows.
- Above 1.0 is supersampling. A scale over 100% (DLAA, DSR) renders higher than native for sharpness and costs more, not less.
Common questions
What render resolution does DLSS Quality use at 4K?
DLSS Quality renders at 0.667 of each dimension, so a 3840 x 2160 output is rendered internally at 2560 x 1440 and upscaled back to 4K. That is 44% fewer pixels than native.
How much extra FPS does a lower scale give me?
Roughly 1 divided by the scale squared, because GPU work scales with pixel count. A 0.75 scale processes 56% of the pixels and runs about 1.8 times faster; a 0.5 scale runs about 4 times faster.
Is the scale percentage per side or per pixel?
Per side. A 67% scale means each dimension is multiplied by 0.67, so the total pixel count drops to 0.67 x 0.67, which is about 45% of native, not 67%.
