Cyberpunk 2077" may work fine without a next-generation GPU.

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Cyberpunk 2077" may work fine without a next-generation GPU.

Cyberpunk 2077 is going to be one hell of a wild game. Andy Kelley spent four hours in the game's massive open world and left me wanting more. For those who haven't seen it yet, a new trailer is also available. But perhaps the best news is that Cyberpunk 2077 will support DLSS 2.0.

This is the second generation of Nvidia's Deep Learning Supersampling technology, which uses artificial intelligence to upscale images; DLSS 2.0 will deliver more beautiful graphics without the performance penalty of running at a higher than normal resolution. DLSS 2.0 delivers more aesthetically pleasing graphics without the performance penalty of running at higher resolutions.

We were less than impressed with Nvidia's initial implementation of DLSS; having attended a hands-on with DLSS 2.0, our impression of the technology is much better. Jacob described DLSS 2.0 a few months ago, and in summary, DLSS 2.0 was "an effective and immediate gateway to free performance improvements with little visual impact."

The caveat is support, which Nvidia also partially addressed in DLSS 2.0, eliminating the need to train AI networks on a game-by-game basis. Game-specific information can still be part of the equation, but is no longer the only route.

As one might imagine, CD Projekt Red worked with Nvidia to train the AI specifically for Cyberpunk 2077, but in any case, it supports DLSS 2.0, which is good news for those with the GeForce RTX graphics cards required for DLSS.

Of course, it remains to be seen how much strain Cyberpunk 2077 will put on the hardware overall. We also know that it will ship with support for real-time ray tracing, which is a demanding technology in itself. With any luck, it will run great.

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