Nvidia RTX 3090 and RTX 3050 team up to hit 144 FPS at 4K — Lossless Scaling turns old Ampere GPUs into a gaming powerhouse

The GeForce RTX 3090 may no longer be one of the best graphics cards. However, it can still compete with the top performers today with a little help from its younger sibling, the GeForce RTX 3050. Recently, a resourceful gaming enthusiast who goes by the name quziwuzzi explained on Reddit that they paired these two Ampere-based graphics cards and used Lossless Scaling technology to dramatically boost their combined performance, achieving up to 144 FPS at 4K (3840×2160) resolution.

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Asus RTX 5080 Noctua Edition — (Image credit: Noctua)

Lossless Scaling is a very powerful yet affordable tool on Steam that costs just $7 and brings AI upscaling and frame generation to the masses. What differentiates Lossless Scaling from proprietary solutions, such as Nvidia DLSS, AMD FSR, or Intel XeSS, is its wide compatibility with any game or video software. It works seamlessly regardless of whether the title or application comes with official support for these proprietary solutions.

In this example, the Gainward GeForce RTX 3090 Phoenix takes on the primary workload of running and rendering the game. Meanwhile, Lossless Scaling handles the demanding frame generation duties. But instead of stealing resources from the primary GPU, it operates on a secondary graphics card, the Asus Dual GeForce RTX 3050 OC Edition. The setup allows the GeForce RTX 3090 to focus exclusively on rendering the game by offloading the frame generation process to the GeForce RTX 3050.

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According to the Redditor who shared their experience, the GeForce RTX 3090 delivered up to 71 FPS at a 4K resolution. When paired with the GeForce RTX 3050 and using Lossless Scaling for frame generation, the system’s performance doubled and reached 144 FPS at 4K. The author did not mention which games were used for testing. The motivation for the uplift was to take advantage of the Redditor’s 42-inch LG C4 OLED television, which features a 144 Hz refresh rate.

My dual GPU Setup
from r/losslessscaling

Lossless Scaling supports 2X, 3X, and 4X frame generation multipliers that essentially duplicate, triplicate, or quadruplicate the perceived frame rate. While the technology is compatible even with iGPUs, you logically need the right discrete graphics card to get the best results. The GeForce RTX 3050 proved more than sufficient for handling frame generation at 4K resolution. According to the Redditor’s firsthand account, Lossless Scaling’s 2X, 3X, and adaptive modes all worked fine.

The global memory shortage is still in full force and continues to put immense pressure on the availability and pricing of graphics cards. The cost of upgrading to the latest and greatest graphics card is out of reach for many gamers. As a result, the gaming community is constantly looking for affordable solutions to boost performance without throwing the house out the window. Lossless Scaling tool can breathe new life into your existing hardware. If you are lucky enough to have a spare graphics card lying around, you can put it to good use. Even something as old as the GeForce GTX 750 Ti or Radeon RX 550 can improve your system’s gaming performance.

Some may argue that frame generation is fake frames. But for only $7, it is a cost-effective way to trick your brain for the meantime and improve the gaming experience, at least until the memory shortage subsides and you can upgrade your graphics card for real.