NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 DLSS4.5 vs. DLSS4.0 Performance and Visual Comparison at 1080p

Frame rate consistency remains a priority over minor visual improvements for mid-range GPUs.

Hardware by Okazaki on Jan 14, 2026

We tested the GeForce RTX 4060 in three games at 1080p resolution using DLSS 4.5, DLSS 4.0, and native rendering to see how well it performed, how the images looked, and how the visuals behaved. The idea is to see how the MSI Ventus2X model performs with a Ryzen 9 79800X3D and 32GB of RAM, without having to manually overclock it.

The system has the latest Nvidia drivers and doesn't require manual overclocking. We evaluate all games at 1080p with the highest settings available. You can change DLSS presets in the Nvidia App by using presetK for DLSS4.0 and presetM for DLSS4.5. The main things to look at are visual stability, ghosting, sharpness, and FPS consistency.

NVIDIA, GeForce RTX 4060 DLSS4.5 vs. DLSS4.0, Performance and Visual Comparison at 1080p, NoobFeed

How Arc Raiders looks and works

When anti-aliasing is off, Arc Raiders shows significant shimmering and unstable vegetation. Unreal Engine 5's depiction of plants makes Native 1080p look shaky without AA. Turning on TAA makes everything more stable, but it also makes things blurry and ghostly when you move. The picture no longer looks like 1080p and is less clear.

Everything looks better and stays steady when you use DLAA with the DLSS 4.0 setting K. There is less blurring and the picture looks more like 1080p. However, ghosting can still be seen, especially near plants. It drops to about 95 fps, but you can still play.

When you set the quality mode to DLSS,K, the video is rendered at 720p and then upscaled to 1080p. The FPS goes up to about 125, and the image quality stays good. Movement makes everything softer. DLAA is the best choice for improved clarity.

PresetM with DLSS4.5 almost completely eliminates ghosting; however, it also makes things too crisp. FPS lowers to about 73, and in intensive scenarios, it could plummet to 60. DLSS Quality with presetM raises FPS to about 110fps while maintaining ghosting to a minimum. However, the detail in the images gets weaker.

At 720p native with DLAA, the image gets too crisp. DLSS Performance at 360p upscaled to 720p shows how well it rebuilds low-resolution input. However, this mode isn't ideal for regular gameplay.

In Arc Raiders, the DLSS 4.0 preset K with DLAA delivers the best balance between performance and image quality on the RTX 4060.

GTA5 Enhanced Edition with Ray Tracing

Ray tracing and DLAA are turned on for GTA5 Enhanced Edition, and the game is played in 1080p with presetK. The picture is clear; however, there is significant ghosting behind moving cars, which makes lines appear on their bumpers.

Even with ghosting, the average frame rate is about 97 fps, with 1% of frames dropping to 70. There are no UE5-related problems with rendering grass and other environmental features.

Switching to presetM completely eliminates vehicle ghosting. At default settings, the image is too crisp, but GTA 5 lets you adjust the sharpening. The image sharpens after adjustment, closer to DLSS 4.0 sharpness. The frame rate drops to around 70 fps, and often lower, especially in crowded areas.

With presetM, DLSS Quality keeps images ghost-free but loses some of the reflection detail that DLAA provides. Performance improves, but the visuals are still inferior to DLAA.

DLSS4.0 presetK gives RTX 4060 more performance stability. If ghosting is bothering you and you don't mind a few FPS dips in single-player mode, DLSS4.5 presetM is a good choice.

Visual Stability in Ghost of Tsushima

With DLAA at 1080p and the DLSS 4.0 preset K, Ghost of Tsushima has very stable images. The graphics in the game are sharp, the edges are clean, the particle effects are stable, and there is no ghosting or shimmer.

In places like the Golden Temple, falling leaves and particle effects stay the same and don't leave trails behind them. FPS is around 83, with 71 fps in the lowest 1%.

Switching to the DLSS4.5 preset makes things sharper but slows down the game to about 69 fps. At distant distances, particle effects look a little cleaner, but the difference is still small. The decline in performance brings the experience closer to 60 fps, making it less fluid.

NVIDIA, GeForce RTX 4060 DLSS4.5 vs. DLSS4.0, Performance and Visual Comparison at 1080p, NoobFeed

DLSS Quality with presetM improves FPS, but it worsens detail and clarity compared to DLAA. DLSS4.0 preset K is still the best choice for this title, as it offers steady image quality and a better balance between performance and quality.

Final Thoughts

On the RTX 4060, DLSS4.5 makes some games less ghostly and sharper when moving, but it slows things down a lot. Being too sharp is also easier to see at 1080p than at higher resolutions.

Most of the time, DLSS 4.0 preset K gives you stable speed, good graphics, and good control over ghosting. In systems with low GPUs, like the RTX 4060, keeping the FPS above 60 is still more crucial than a few visual gains.

DLSS behavior is heavily influenced by game engines, rendering methods, and visual effects. DLSS4.5 helps some games, but not all of them. We still need to test DLSS 4.5 across additional games to see where it really helps mid-range GPUs.

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