Forget ray tracing, it looks like DLSS is Nvidia’s secret weapon for its graphics cards these days, but new reports indicate that Microsoft could be launching a competitor.
As spotted by KitGuru, Microsoft has posted two job adverts that suggest that the company is working on an AI upscaling technology for gaming.
The Senior Software Engineer job advert is seeking “an engineer who will implement machine learning algorithms in graphics software.”
Meanwhile, the Principal Software Engineer for Graphics role references a “shared mission to ensure that all games run beautifully at the highest resolutions and frame rates” on Xbox and PC by using the likes of ‘machine learning’.
Nvidia’s DLSS feature – which upscales an image via machine learning in order to boost the frame rate – sounds very similar to the technology that Microsoft is referencing.
If accurate, this is a slightly surprising development since AMD’s new FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution) technology is already available on both Xbox and PC, and does a very similar job to Nvidia’s DLSS.
However, early reports indicate that FSR isn’t quite as efficient as Nvidia’s DLSS, as it compromises on the image quality in order to boost the frame rate performance.
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Microsoft also included the following sentence in one of the job adverts: “Xbox is leveraging machine learning to make traditional rendering algorithms more efficient and to provide better alternatives.”
Since Microsoft owns both Windows 11 and Xbox, it would make sense for the company to take the lead on this rather than depending on AMD or Nvidia. It may even be advantageous for Microsoft to implement it on Game Pass, especially since you need very fast internet connection in order to stream 4K games – but that’s just us speculating.
We’ve reached out to Microsoft for comment, and will update this article as soon as we hear back.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
