Starfield PC Performance Analysis: Native 4K vs NVIDIA DLSS 3 vs AMD FSR 3.0

Starfield, the highly anticipated new game from Bethesda, has recently received a new beta patch that added official support for AMD FSR 3.0. This update has sparked interest in the gaming community, as it allows for a comparison between NVIDIA DLSS 3 and AMD FSR 3.0 in terms of performance and image quality. In this article, we will be conducting a comprehensive analysis of Starfield’s PC performance using these upscaling techniques.

For our benchmarks, we utilized an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D, 32GB of DDR5 at 6000Mhz, and NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4090. We also used Windows 10 64-bit and the GeForce 551.23 driver. It is important to note that we disabled the second CCD on our 7950X3D for the sake of consistency.

Starfield does not come with a built-in benchmark tool, so we opted to use New Atlantis in Planet Jemison as our testing ground. This area is known to be one of the most demanding in the game, providing us with a good indication of the game’s overall performance.

First, we tested Starfield without any upscaling techniques. The NVIDIA RTX 4090 was able to deliver a minimum of 65fps and an average of 86fps at 4K/Max Settings. However, by enabling NVIDIA DLSS 3 with Frame Generation, we were able to achieve framerates above 120fps at all times. Furthermore, by activating AMD FSR 3.0 Frame Generation, we obtained framerates higher than 130fps.

Unfortunately, we were unable to benchmark 1080p or 1440p resolutions due to DLSS 3 locking the framerate to our monitor’s refresh rate (165). Here is a screenshot at 1440p, which shows the locked framerate and an underutilized GPU.

Starfield locked framerate with DLSS 3 FG at 1440p

It is worth noting that Starfield is yet another game in which AMD FSR 3.0 Frame Generation offers better performance than NVIDIA DLSS 3 Frame Generation. The performance gap is smaller than what we observed in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. Nevertheless, this is a significant win for Team Red.

During our testing, we did not notice any additional input latency. This is expected as we were consistently achieving over 120fps at all times. However, mouse movement felt great, albeit with some slight stutters when using AMD FSR 3.0. These stutters were not as severe as those encountered in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. Despite its lower framerate, DLSS 3 Frame Generation felt more consistent with better frametimes.

However, AMD’s FSR 3.0 Super Resolution falls short in comparison to DLSS 3 Super Resolution. FSR 3.0 is unable to reconstruct a significant amount of details, resulting in noticeable aliasing on various surfaces. In the conclusion of the video, we highlight this issue, which looks quite poor. AMD needs to overhaul its Super Resolution technology now that FSR 3.0’s Frame Generation performs so well. Otherwise, there is no reason to enable it if you own an RTX 40 series GPU.

For those with older GPUs, this situation is more complex. On one hand, you can improve performance with AMD FSR 3.0 Frame Generation. On the other hand, AMD FSR 3.0 Super Resolution is far from the quality of NVIDIA DLSS 3 or even Intel XeSS. Unfortunately, you cannot use FSR 3.0 FG with NVIDIA DLSS or Intel XeSS.

This is an interesting situation, as a lot of PC gamers have been criticizing DLSS 3 for its “fake frames” and have been pausing videos to point out its visual artifacts. So, will these same individuals enable AMD FSR 3.0 to enhance performance and suffer from major image quality issues? Is image quality not more important than “fake frames”? This raises some thought-provoking questions.

In conclusion, our Starfield PC performance analysis has shown that AMD FSR 3.0 Frame Generation offers superior performance to NVIDIA DLSS 3 Frame Generation. However, its Super Resolution technology falls short, resulting in noticeable aliasing on various surfaces. This leaves AMD with a dilemma: improve the image quality of its Super Resolution technology or focus on the performance benefits of its Frame Generation. Ultimately, the choice is yours, the consumer.

John Papadopoulos is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming enthusiast and strongly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a dedicated PC gamer, his gaming roots can be traced back to consoles. John holds a higher degree thesis on the “Evolution of PC graphics cards.”

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