The Tool Desk
Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →This was a June 2021 graphics update, not a new 2026 announcement. Rainbow Six Siege added NVIDIA DLSS through the Year 6 Season 2 North Star update, while NVIDIA announced that Doom Eternal would receive Vulkan ray-traced reflections and DLSS on June 29, 2021.
For Siege, the important limitation was that the original DLSS implementation supported the game’s Vulkan renderer. NVIDIA claimed up to 50% higher performance at 4K on compatible GeForce RTX hardware, but the actual benefit depended on resolution, settings, scene, and whether the GPU—not the CPU—was the system bottleneck.
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What changed in Rainbow Six Siege
DLSS, or Deep Learning Super Sampling, renders a game internally at a lower resolution and uses an AI-based reconstruction process to produce the final image. The goal is to reduce the GPU workload while retaining more detail than a conventional low-resolution upscale.
In the 2021 Siege implementation, DLSS required a compatible GeForce RTX GPU with dedicated Tensor Core hardware. NVIDIA’s announcement focused on RTX 20-series and RTX 30-series cards; that should not be interpreted as a claim that later RTX generations cannot support the feature.
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The feature arrived with Siege’s Year 6 Season 2 North Star update and applied to the Vulkan version of the game. It was not a generic switch available across every rendering path.
NVIDIA presented DLSS and NVIDIA Reflex as complementary technologies. DLSS can increase rendered frame rates, while Reflex is the separate latency-focused feature. Enabling DLSS alone should not be described as a guaranteed latency reduction, although higher frame rates can improve responsiveness in some GPU-limited situations.
NVIDIA’s claimed Siege performance figures
NVIDIA said DLSS could deliver up to 50% more performance at 4K, with RTX systems capable of exceeding 100 frames per second under its specified test conditions. The figures below came from NVIDIA, not independent testing by the original article’s author.
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|---|---|---|---|
| GeForce RTX 2060 | 74 FPS | 124 FPS | About 68% |
| GeForce RTX 3070 Ti | 155 FPS | 230 FPS | About 48% |
| GeForce RTX 3090 | 209 FPS | 281 FPS | About 34% |
NVIDIA’s test system used an Intel Core i9-10900K with 32GB of RAM, 4K resolution, maximum visual settings, and DLSS Performance mode. The percentage increases are simple calculations from NVIDIA’s published frame-rate figures; they are not independent benchmark results.
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“Up to 50%” is therefore a maximum claim under particular conditions, not a promise for every RTX card or every Siege match. A CPU-limited system may gain little from lowering the internal rendering resolution. Frame-rate caps, different maps, graphics presets, background processes, and competitive settings can also change the result.
How to enable DLSS in the 2021 Siege release
- Install the relevant NVIDIA Game Ready driver.
- Update Rainbow Six Siege through Ubisoft Connect.
- Launch the game using the Vulkan renderer.
- Open Options → Graphics.
- Enable NVIDIA DLSS.
- Choose a DLSS quality mode.
NVIDIA’s historical starting points were:
| Output resolution | Recommended 2021 mode | Practical consideration |
|---|---|---|
| 1920×1080 | Quality | Performance mode can look softer because the input image contains less detail. |
| 2560×1440 | Quality | A sensible balance for high-refresh play, subject to checking fine geometry and distant targets. |
| 3840×2160 | Performance | Usually offers the largest frame-rate gain, with a greater possibility of softness or temporal artifacts. |
These are the controls and recommendations documented at launch. Later Siege builds can change menu labels, renderer behavior, or supported hardware, so the 2021 path should not be treated as a guaranteed current interface guide.
Should competitive Siege players use DLSS?
Start with the mode that preserves the clarity you need. At 1080p, compare native resolution with DLSS Quality rather than assuming Performance mode is automatically better. At 1440p, DLSS Quality is the most reasonable first test for a GPU-limited high-refresh system. At 4K, DLSS Performance may provide the headroom needed for a high-refresh display, but inspect distant detail, thin geometry, and movement for softness or temporal artifacts.
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Native resolution can still be preferable when image clarity matters more than maximum frame rate. DLSS does not render every pixel at the selected output resolution, and reconstruction quality varies by mode and scene. Conversely, if the GPU is struggling, DLSS can make it possible to sustain a higher frame rate without simply lowering the game’s entire visual preset.
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Test the same map or scene with the same resolution, graphics settings, frame-rate cap, and display configuration. Do not compare 4K DLSS Performance with native 1440p and call the difference a DLSS gain. Check GPU utilization as well: if the CPU is limiting performance, reducing internal resolution will not remove that workload.
DLSS and Reflex are different settings
DLSS addresses rendering workload and image reconstruction. NVIDIA Reflex addresses system latency. They can be used together, but DLSS is not a replacement for Reflex and should not be sold as a standalone latency fix.
Troubleshooting Siege DLSS
DLSS does not appear
- Confirm that Siege is running through the Vulkan renderer.
- Confirm that the graphics card is a supported RTX model for the installed game build.
- Update the game and NVIDIA driver.
- Restart Siege after changing renderers or installing an update.
The image looks too soft
- Move from DLSS Performance to DLSS Quality.
- Compare DLSS Quality directly with native resolution at the same output resolution.
- Check sharpening and scaling settings, which can interact with perceived clarity.
Frame rates barely change
- Check whether the CPU, rather than the GPU, is limiting performance.
- Use the same scene, resolution, preset, and frame-rate cap for both tests.
- Verify that the game is actually using the Vulkan renderer and that DLSS is enabled.
What NVIDIA announced for Doom Eternal
On June 14, 2021, Doom Eternal’s RTX support was still a forthcoming update. NVIDIA announced a June 29, 2021 release adding ray-traced reflections through Vulkan ray tracing and NVIDIA DLSS.
The announcement showed Doom Eternal running at 4K on a GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. Ray tracing was specifically described in terms of reflections; it was not a claim that every lighting effect in the game would become ray traced. Because ray tracing adds hardware-intensive work, DLSS could help offset some of its performance cost, but the two features involved separate trade-offs.
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The June 14 article did not include independent Doom Eternal DLSS benchmarks, and NVIDIA had not supplied internal performance figures for that game at the time. The June 29 date was an announced 2021 release date—not an upcoming 2026 update.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Historical status and compatibility at a glance
Readers considering a graphics-card upgrade should first determine whether their current system is GPU-limited at the target resolution and refresh rate. DLSS alone is not a reason to replace an otherwise suitable RTX card, and a non-RTX upgrade should be judged by the reader’s broader game library, display, budget, and ray-tracing needs.
For current instructions, verify the present Siege renderer options, supported GPU generations, and Doom Eternal feature behavior separately. The original 2021 menu path and hardware discussion are useful historical context, but they are not a guarantee of the 2026 game UI.
Quick Recap
Sources
- NVIDIA: Rainbow Six Siege DLSS announcement
- NVIDIA: June 2021 RTX and DLSS game update
- HotHardware: original June 14, 2021 report
- NVIDIA: Computex 2021 RTX and DLSS announcements
- NVIDIA: GeForce Game Ready Driver 466.77
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