Your graphics card can do more than just push pixels to your display. Although they don't get nearly the attention they deserve, AMD, Nvidia, and Intel all include a massive suite of software features with their GPUs that can enhance your performance, image quality, and usually a combination of both. And with Nvidia's switch to the Nvidia app over the past year, we've seen a massive influx of new software features for Team Green.

5 Smooth Motion gives you frame gen in any game

Only available on RTX 50-series GPUs right now

Nvidia answered AMD's excellent Fluid Motion Frames 2 (AFMF 2) with its own Smooth Motion feature, but it didn't get nearly enough limelight when it was added to the Nvidia app earlier this year. Like AFMF 2, Smooth Motion gives you driver-level frame generation. It still uses an AI model, but it's a pretrained model that offers frame interpolation at the display step. It's not like DLSS' Frame Generation, which actually runs a model locally on your graphics card, despite the fact that Smooth Motion also offers frame generation.

It's understandable why this feature hasn't taken off quite as well as AFMF 2. At the time of writing, Smooth Motion is only available on RTX 50-series GPUs, and in most games, you're probably going to use DLSS Frame Generation or Multi-Frame Generation (MFG) anyway. Still, there are some games that don't include any frame generation settings, such as the recent Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, where Smooth Motion can come in clutch.

When the feature released, it only worked in DirectX 11 and 12 games, but Nvidia recently added support for Vulkan games, as well. Although Smooth Motion is only available on RTX 50-series GPUs right now, Nvidia says it will eventually add support for RTX 40-series GPUs, too. Hopefully, we will see that update soon to give Smooth Motion the attention it deserves.

4 Automatic overclocking is enabled by default, but it doesn't do anything

A little extra performance at no extra cost

Nvidia has offered one-click overclocking for years through apps like MSI Afterburner. Click a button, wait a few minutes for the app to stress-test your GPU, and you'll come out on the other end with a boosted graphics card. With the Nvidia app, you now have automatic overclocking turned on by default. The app will scan your GPU once a month while it's idle and apply frequency adjustments to both the VRAM clock and core clock. This all happens in the background, and you can confirm that the feature is on by going to System > Performance in the Nvidia app.

You'll get a small bump on your clocks if the silicon allows it, but the automatic tuning is only set up for stock power and voltages. In the Nvidia app, right below the automatic tuning section, you can define a higher voltage, power, and fan speed target to give automatic tuning a little more room to play with. The exact changes to power and voltage of these sliders depends on what GPU you have, but they're both in extremely conservative ranges. Turning them up will give your GPU just a bit of extra power so the automatic tuning can push things further.

To be clear, a one-click overclock with MSI Afterburner will net you higher performance, while manual overclocking will allow you to push things even further. But as a quick way to get a little extra oomph out of your graphics card in the background, you'll want to push your automatic tuning settings up.

3 RTX HDR and Dynamic Vibrance can make your games look better

For games without HDR support

If you have an RTX GPU, you might as well put that AI hardware to use. One of the best ways to put it to use is RTX HDR, which is a feature available through the Nvidia app that can convert your SDR game into something that looks like HDR using AI. It's not actually injecting HDR into your games like you can do with Special K. RTX HDR is more akin to something like Auto HDR in Windows. It's just using an AI model to produce better results, and those results look great. RTX HDR is a huge boost for games without any HDR support, and it can even help out in the handful of titles with problematic HDR implementations.

A distant companion to RTX HDR is RTX Dynamic Vibrance. It's basically a filter that raises the brightness of your image, making colors appear more vibrant. On its own, Dynamic Vibrance isn't great, but it can make color pop more when used in conjunction with RTX HDR and possibly a filter through FreeStyle. RTX HDR is the main draw here, but don't rule out Dynamic Vibrance. Depending on the game you're playing and the display you're using, it can add a little more life to your games.

2 Nvidia Broadcast isn't just a throw-away addition

Probably the best utility Nvidia offers

Nvidia offers several utilities, which it finally rounded up in one spot with the release of the Nvidia app. One such utility is Nvidia Broadcast, and if you aren't using it, you're missing out. Although Broadcast has enjoyed plenty of attention since its release a few years back, it's easy to write off. It gives you background blur for your camera and a noise gate for your mic; what's there to get excited about? But Nvidia Broadcast might be the best suite of communication tools available right now, and given its recent update to version 2.0, now's the best time to try it out.

You can find plenty of tools that give you effects for your camera and microphone, but Nvidia Broadcast actually taps into the AI power of RTX graphics cards. It takes some GPU processing power, but the standard effects shouldn't have a major impact on performance. In fact, you can monitor your GPU utilization in the latest version of the app, as well as preview your effects. I use auto-framing and noise removal on my camera, as well as background noise removal on my microphone, and both work a treat.

If you aren't playing games, Broadcast now includes some more intensive effects, as well. Version 2.0 introduced Studio Voice, which removes background noise and applies an AI-driven EQ to your microphone. It sounds great, though as the app warns, you'll need a high-end GPU for Studio Voice to work. Virtual Key Light is another new addition to Broadcast, which fakes a key light shining at your face. It does wonders for webcam shots where your face is often underexposed compared to your background.

1 DLDSR fixes bad anti-aliasing and sharpens low-res monitors

A hidden gem for years

Without a doubt, the most underutilized feature of Nvidia graphics cards is DSR, and in particular, the AI-based DLDSR. DSR stands for Dynamic Super Resolution, and it allows you to render games at a resolution higher than your monitor supports. So, if you have a 1080p monitor, you'll be able to render a game at 1440p, for example. DSR steps in afterward and downscales the image for your monitor's resolution. Regular DSR works fine, but DLDSR is not only more efficient with its AI slant, but it also produces better results.

The best way to think about DLDSR is as excellent anti-aliasing. Particularly in older games with poor anti-aliasing on low-resolution monitors, DLDSR can provide a massive upgrade in image quality. By rendering at a higher resolution, DLDSR is able to get around aliasing issues by taking samples during the downscaling process. It's similar to older forms of anti-aliasing like SSAA, which are basically non-existant in modern titles. Rendering your game at a higher resolution will decrease your performance, but that's where DLDSR gets really impressive.

You can use DLDSR with DLSS, and come out with better results than using DLSS alone. DLSS works its best when you're rendering at a higher resolution, as you're giving the AI model more data to work with, and you're distance yourself from a CPU bottleneck. If you use DLDSR and combine it with DLSS in your game, you can come out with an image that looks much sharper than your monitor's native resolution, and all with a minimal hit to performance.

Much easier to play around

For years, it was hard to put much stock in the features available on Nvidia GPUs. With features spread across the Nvidia Control Panel and GeForce Experience, plus sporadic updates to both, it was hard to even keep track of what was available. The Nvidia app simplifies the process of experimenting with different features. Some features are better than others — RTX Dynamic Vibrance isn't nearly as good as RTX HDR, for instance — but there are still a ton of useful tools available to Nvidia owners.