Upscaling technologies like DLSS, FSR, and XeSS are genuinely useful, but they are often presented as a free performance boost with no downside, which is not quite true. Every upscaler is reconstructing detail that was not actually rendered, and in the wrong scenario that reconstruction can look worse than simply lowering a couple of graphics settings and rendering at native resolution instead. Knowing what to look for helps you make the right call for each game.
Key takeaway: upscaling shines in fast motion and demanding scenes, but at very low internal resolutions or in games with fine detail and fast camera movement, it can introduce ghosting, shimmer, and softness that a lower graphics preset would avoid entirely.
Common visual side effects
Ghosting is the most noticeable issue: a faint trailing outline behind fast-moving objects, especially thin ones like fences, hair, or particle effects. It happens because temporal upscalers use information from previous frames to reconstruct the current one, and fast motion can confuse that process. Shimmer shows up as a flickering, crawling effect on fine repeating detail such as grates, distant foliage, or chain-link fences. Softness is the general loss of fine texture clarity that becomes obvious on Performance or Ultra Performance modes, where the internal render resolution is a fraction of native.
| Artefact | Where it is most visible |
|---|---|
| Ghosting | Fast-moving characters, particle effects, thin foreground objects |
| Shimmer | Fences, distant foliage, fine repeating patterns |
| Softness | Text, UI elements, and textures at low internal resolution modes |
When a lower preset beats upscaling
If your GPU can nearly hit your target frame rate at native resolution with a couple of settings turned down – shadows to Medium, ambient occlusion off, view distance reduced – that route often produces a cleaner overall image than running at native settings with aggressive upscaling and Ultra Performance mode. Upscaling is best reserved for the gap between "almost there" and "there", not as a substitute for basic settings optimisation.
- Try lowering two or three of the most expensive settings first (shadows, reflections, ambient occlusion, view distance).
- Check your frame rate; if it is close to your target, you may not need aggressive upscaling at all.
- If still short, enable upscaling on its Quality mode rather than jumping straight to Performance.
- Only drop to Balanced or Performance upscaling modes if Quality mode still cannot hit your target.
- Compare the image in a busy scene at each mode before settling – pause and look closely at fences, foliage, and character edges.
Tip: most games let you take a screenshot while paused; capture the same scene at native resolution and at your chosen upscaling mode, then zoom in on both to compare fairly rather than judging from a moving image alone.
Genres where upscaling trade-offs matter most
Competitive multiplayer shooters benefit from upscaling's frame rate gains but can suffer from ghosting around enemy models in fast peeks, which matters when spotting an opponent quickly is important. Slower single-player or strategy games tolerate upscaling artefacts far better, since there is less reliance on split-second visual clarity. If you play mostly competitive games, consider testing native resolution with lower settings before defaulting to upscaling.
Before you start: avoid combining a very aggressive upscaling mode with additional in-game sharpening filters set too high – oversharpening an already-reconstructed image tends to exaggerate shimmer rather than add real detail.
Frequently asked questions
- Is FSR more prone to artefacts than DLSS?
- Generally yes at the same performance tier, since DLSS uses AI-based reconstruction with dedicated hardware, while FSR relies on more traditional algorithms, though the gap has narrowed with newer FSR versions.
- Does frame generation make ghosting worse?
- Frame generation is a separate technology from upscaling and can introduce its own artefacts around fast-moving UI elements, so it is worth testing independently of resolution upscaling.
- Should competitive players avoid upscaling entirely?
- Not necessarily – Quality mode upscaling is often visually safe, but Performance or Ultra Performance modes are worth testing carefully before relying on them in ranked play.