Nvidia is best known for DLSS, but that feature only works on RTX graphics cards with dedicated AI cores. If you're running an older GTX card, or any Nvidia GPU that doesn't support DLSS, there's still a free upscaling option built into Nvidia's driver software: Nvidia Image Scaling, or NIS.
Key takeaway: NIS is a driver-level upscaler that works on any Nvidia GPU going back several generations, including GTX 900 and 1000 series cards, and it can be applied even in games that don't officially support any upscaling technology.
How NIS differs from DLSS and FSR
DLSS uses machine learning trained on Nvidia's supercomputers and relies on the Tensor cores found only in RTX cards, which is why it's off-limits to older GTX hardware. NIS, by contrast, is a spatial upscaler: it takes a single lower-resolution frame and sharpens it using a fast, efficient algorithm, without needing any special AI hardware. That makes it directly comparable to AMD's FSR 1.0 in how it works, and it's a genuinely useful option for anyone with an older or budget Nvidia card.
The big advantage NIS has over relying on individual games to add their own upscaling support is that it can be applied driver-wide, through the Nvidia Control Panel or the Nvidia app, meaning it works even in older or less popular titles that were never updated with FSR or DLSS support.
Setting up NIS driver-wide
- Open the Nvidia Control Panel (or the newer Nvidia app) and go to "Manage 3D Settings" or the "Graphics" section.
- Find the "Image Scaling" option and switch it to enabled.
- Set your desired sharpening level, typically between 0% and 100% — around 50% is a reasonable starting point.
- In the game itself, lower the in-game resolution below your monitor's native resolution (for example, set 1600x900 on a 1080p screen).
- Nvidia's driver will then upscale that lower-resolution image back to your full screen resolution using the sharpening filter, boosting FPS while keeping the image reasonably clear.
Tip: Some games also expose NIS directly inside their own graphics menu as an in-game upscaling option, which tends to give slightly better results than the driver-wide method because it can account for UI elements separately from the game world.
Getting the balance right
Because NIS is a straightforward sharpening-based upscaler rather than a temporal, motion-aware one like FSR 2 or DLSS, it works best when you don't push the render resolution too low. Dropping to around 80-85% of your native resolution usually gives a solid FPS gain with barely noticeable quality loss. Going much lower, to 60% or below, will start to introduce visible softness and shimmering on fine detail, particularly foliage and distant text.
Before you start: NIS driver-wide scaling requires you to manually lower the game's resolution first — simply enabling NIS in the control panel without changing the in-game resolution does nothing, since there's no lower-resolution image to scale up.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I use NIS on a GTX 1050 or similar older card?
- Yes. NIS works on Nvidia GPUs as far back as the GTX 900 series (some sources cite even earlier support), making it one of the few upscaling options available to genuinely budget and older Nvidia hardware.
- Is NIS the same quality as DLSS?
- No. DLSS uses AI reconstruction and generally produces a sharper, more stable image, especially in motion. NIS is a simpler spatial sharpening upscaler, so image quality is a step below DLSS, but it's still a genuine free performance gain.
- Does NIS work alongside FSR?
- You shouldn't enable both at once for the same game. Pick whichever a specific title supports natively, or use driver-wide NIS only in games with no built-in upscaling option at all.