"Cyberpunk 2077" 4K ray tracing at 400 FPS? DLSS 4.5 feels like playing on a different map

Returning to Night City at night, I habitually clear all the question marks on the mini-map, then ride along the overpass straight into downtown. The result is the frame rate gridlocked around just over 30 FPS, like a traffic jam. That feeling of wanting to turn into an alley to explore but being yanked back by performance is really annoying. When I saw Japanese media testing DLSS 4.5 on an RTX 5090 in Cyberpunk 2077—6x frame generation, 4K ray tracing pushed up to 400 FPS—my mood was like discovering on Google Maps that there’s actually a hidden expressway running right next to the main road I always take.

Let’s put the key numbers on the table first. At native 4K with ray tracing, the RTX 5090 only gets about 35 FPS, with latency as high as 126 ms. In a top-tier open-world game, you could call that playable, but it clearly feels speed-limited. Looking along this direction: switching to DLAA while keeping 100% render resolution, then adding 6x frame generation, the frame rate jumps straight to 180 FPS, and latency drops to 72 ms. Image detail doesn’t really “shrink,” but it’s like the whole city just got a wider main artery.

If you’re willing to sacrifice a bit of native resolution, DLSS Quality mode drops the render resolution to 67%, and with 6x frame generation stacked on, FPS can exceed 300, with latency further pushed down to 45 ms. In extreme scenarios like 4K path tracing, reports describe it as approaching a movie-like silky experience. Go further and you’ll see that DLSS Performance mode pulls the render resolution down to 50%, and with 6x frame generation it rockets past 400 FPS. Compared to native, that’s about 11.6x the performance, with only 35 ms latency. At that point it’s not just opening a new road; it’s building you an entire ring expressway.

Even more interesting, it’s not just the flagship card feasting. Other RTX 50 series models also see 9–10x performance gains with DLSS Quality plus 6x frame generation, and in Performance mode can even hit 12–15x. Take the RTX 5070 with only 12 GB VRAM: its native 4K frame rate is on the low side, but under the new DLSS 4.5 the uplift is actually the most obvious. For players who love roaming the map, it’s like going from only being able to tour the city on a little e-scooter to suddenly being handed an unlimited pass for a high-speed rail line.

Of course, there are potholes outside the map, too. The tests mention that on the RTX 5060 Ti, when using 4x or 6x frame generation, the native frame rate is so low that small-object flickering or “ghosting” afterimages occasionally appear. It’s like a neon sign on the street corner that twitches from time to time—you can notice it, but it’s not enough to ruin the rhythm of the whole Night City. For an exploration addict like me who can stare at a distant billboard for ages, if the main camera, streetlights, and major objects were the ones flickering, I definitely couldn’t stand it. But if it’s just small props occasionally going a bit hazy, I’d rather prioritize smoothness, push the view distance farther, and pack more detail into the scene.

Following this line of thought, here are some buying suggestions: if you already plan to go for the RTX 50 series and your favorite games are big-city open worlds like Cyberpunk 2077, then DLSS 4.5 basically turns 4K ray tracing into the default setting rather than a “try-it-once” mode—it’s a configuration truly suited for long-term free roaming. If your budget reaches a 5090/5080, you can confidently max out the graphics and enable 6x frame generation. If you’re on something like a 5070, make sure to decisively use DLSS Quality or Performance mode instead of stubbornly sticking to native resolution, because this generation’s AI rendering no longer has that obvious “blurry” feel from when DLSS first launched in 2018. It’s more like a smarter route planner that lets you go farther on the same map.

Looking at the trend, from DLSS’s first appearance in 2018 to today’s 4.5 with 6x frame generation, it’s been gradually merging the paths of “image-quality enthusiasts” and “frame-rate chasers.” For someone addicted to open worlds, this means that when you see a large swath of fog of war on the map, you no longer need to agonize over whether to turn off some ray tracing or lower the resolution. As long as the game supports the latest DLSS, you just flip the switch up, and you can dive into every back alley with near-cinematic smoothness and comfortably clear every last question mark.