Modern Warfare 4 DLSS, FSR and Frame Generation Settings
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In Modern Warfare 4, use DLSS on NVIDIA RTX, FSR on AMD and older GTX cards, and XeSS on Intel Arc — all on Quality mode — and leave Frame Generation off for multiplayer. Upscaling raises your real frame rate, which lowers latency; Frame Generation raises the counter while adding latency behind it. MW4 ships with DLSS 4.5, and its transformer-based model holds up in motion far better than earlier versions, which makes Quality mode a genuinely low-cost way to buy frames.
Upscaling buys frames. Frame generation buys a number. Only one of those wins gunfights.
Which upscaler for your GPU
| Your GPU | Upscaler | Mode |
|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA RTX 20/30/40/50-series | DLSS | Quality |
| NVIDIA GTX 10/16-series | FSR | Quality |
| AMD Radeon RX 6000/7000/9000 | FSR | Quality |
| AMD Radeon RX 5000 and older | FSR | Quality or Balanced |
| Intel Arc A/B-series | XeSS | Quality |
Modern Warfare 4 exposes all three under Quality → Upscaling / Sharpening, so there is a path for every card. DLSS is the best of the three on hardware that supports it — the version shipping with MW4 is DLSS 4.5, and NVIDIA’s newer Ray Reconstruction model has also been spotted in the beta files. FSR is the universal fallback and works on anything.
What each quality mode actually renders
| Mode | Internal render scale | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Quality | ≈ 67% of output | Competitive multiplayer — the default pick |
| Balanced | ≈ 58% of output | When Quality cannot hold your target FPS |
| Performance | ≈ 50% of output | Weak GPUs, or 4K where you have pixels to spare |
| Ultra Performance | ≈ 33% of output | 4K on entry hardware only |
Quality is the competitive default at 1080p and 1440p. Below Quality, the thing you lose first is exactly the thing you need: a distant player model separating cleanly from the background. At 4K there is more headroom — Balanced and even Performance stay readable because you are upscaling to far more pixels.
Render Resolution vs upscaling
Modern Warfare 4 gives you two ways to render fewer pixels, and they are not the same:
| Lever | What it does | Image quality |
|---|---|---|
| Render Resolution (below 100) | Renders lower, then applies a simple upscale | Noticeably softer |
| DLSS / FSR / XeSS | Renders lower, then reconstructs with temporal data | Much closer to native |
| Dynamic Resolution | Varies render scale to hold a frame rate | Uneven, causes visible pacing shifts |
Leave Render Resolution at 100 and let the upscaler do the work. The reconstruction is far better than a plain downscale. And keep Dynamic Resolution off — swinging render resolution mid-fight creates inconsistent image quality and uneven frame pacing, which feels worse than a slightly lower steady frame rate.
Why Frame Generation is off for multiplayer
Frame Generation inserts synthesized frames between rendered ones. It looks smoother, but:
- Your inputs still wait on real frames. The generated frames carry no new information about where your mouse just went.
- The interpolation adds delay of its own. The technique needs the next real frame before it can produce the one in between.
- The FPS counter stops telling you the truth. 200 FPS with generation on does not feel like 200 FPS native.
| Setting | FPS counter | Actual latency | Verdict for MW4 multiplayer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upscaling (DLSS/FSR/XeSS) | Higher | Lower | Use it |
| Frame Generation | Much higher | Higher | Off |
| Frame Generation + Reflex | Much higher | Higher than native, better than without Reflex | Still off |
Turn Frame Generation on in the campaign if you like — a smoother single-player experience is a real benefit and nobody is out-clicking you. In multiplayer, take the honest frames.
If you are wondering about Multi Frame Generation on RTX 50-series hardware, the same reasoning applies more strongly: more interpolated frames per real frame means the counter climbs further while the underlying responsiveness does not improve.
Combine upscaling with Reflex
Upscaling and NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency solve different halves of the latency problem. Upscaling shortens the interval between frames; Reflex stops frames queuing up ahead of the display.
Run both:
- Quality → Upscaling / Sharpening — DLSS / FSR / XeSS on
Quality. - Display → NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency —
On + Boost(or Anti-Lag in AMD Adrenalin). - Display → Custom Frame Rate Limit — a few frames below your refresh rate.
- Quality → Frame Generation —
Off.
The full latency stack, including driver and Windows settings, is in Modern Warfare 4 lowest input lag settings.
Sharpening: keep it modest
Upscaling costs some edge definition, and the sharpening slider gives it back. Keep it low. Heavy sharpening produces bright halos around edges, and those halos are extra visual noise in a scene where you are trying to pick out a moving silhouette. Increase it only until distant models look crisp, then stop.
Ray tracing changes the maths
Modern Warfare 4 offers ray-traced reflections, shadows, ambient occlusion and volumetrics across its modes. If you enable them, you will need aggressive upscaling to claw the frame rate back — and at that point you are trading distant-target clarity for lighting you do not benefit from competitively.
For multiplayer: ray tracing off, upscaling on Quality. That combination gives the highest real frame rate at the best image clarity. Save the ray-traced version for the campaign, where Frame Generation also becomes reasonable.
Recommended settings by resolution
| Resolution | GPU tier | Upscaling | Frame Generation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1080p | RTX 3060 Ti / RX 6700 XT or better | Off or Quality | Off |
| 1080p | Below recommended spec | Quality → Balanced | Off |
| 1440p | RTX 4070 / RX 7800 XT or better | Quality | Off |
| 1440p | Mid-range | Quality → Balanced | Off |
| 4K | RTX 4080 / 5080 or better | Quality | Off (multiplayer) / On (campaign) |
| 4K | Mid-range | Balanced → Performance | Off (multiplayer) / On (campaign) |
Related guides
Frequently asked questions
Should I use DLSS or FSR in Modern Warfare 4?
Use DLSS if you have an NVIDIA RTX card — Modern Warfare 4 ships with DLSS 4.5, which produces a noticeably cleaner image in motion than FSR at the same performance level. Use FSR on AMD Radeon cards and on older GeForce GTX cards that cannot run DLSS, and XeSS on Intel Arc. Set whichever one you use to Quality mode for competitive multiplayer so distant enemy models stay identifiable.
Should I turn on Frame Generation in Modern Warfare 4?
Not for multiplayer. Frame Generation raises the number on your FPS counter by inserting synthesized frames, but your inputs still wait on the real rendered frames and the interpolation itself adds latency. In a game where gunfights are decided in a few hundred milliseconds, that is the wrong trade. Frame Generation is worth using in the Modern Warfare 4 campaign, where responsiveness matters far less than smoothness.
What DLSS quality mode is best for Modern Warfare 4?
Quality mode at 1080p and 1440p, and Quality or Balanced at 4K. Quality renders at roughly 67% of your output resolution before upscaling, which keeps distant player models sharp enough to identify while still returning a large chunk of frame rate. Performance mode renders from a far lower internal resolution and, in Modern Warfare 4, is where far-away enemies start blending into the background.
Does DLSS reduce input lag in Modern Warfare 4?
Indirectly, yes. DLSS raises your real frame rate, and a higher frame rate means a shorter interval between your click and the next frame reaching the display. That is a genuine latency reduction, unlike Frame Generation which raises the counter while adding delay. Combine DLSS upscaling with NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency on On + Boost for the lowest end-to-end latency in MW4.
Does Modern Warfare 4 support XeSS?
Yes. Modern Warfare 4 supports NVIDIA DLSS, AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution and Intel XeSS, so every modern GPU has an upscaling path. XeSS runs best on Intel Arc cards, which have dedicated hardware for it, but it also works on NVIDIA and AMD hardware as a fallback. On Arc B580 and similar cards, XeSS on Quality is the right default.