“Smooth Motion” from NVIDIA: Motion sickness or a real FPS booster for Ada?

The cat is out of the bag – NVIDIA is bringing a function called “Smooth Motion” to the RTX 40 series with the latest preview driver v590.26. What AMD users already know as “AFMF” (Fluid Motion Frames) is now being served up by NVIDIA with typical green labeling: more frames without the graphics card actually rendering more. Sounds good? It is – but not without a catch.

What Smooth Motion really is – Frame Doubling light

Basically, “Smooth Motion” is nothing more than a software-based frame interpolator that places an artificially generated intermediate image between two “real” frames. Anyone who now thinks that this sounds suspiciously like frame injection as in DLSS 3 is not entirely wrong. The big difference: DLSS is a deeply integrated rendering process with motion prediction, temporal data and neural networks – Smooth Motion, on the other hand, is a simple motion estimation tool that works outside the game engine. This means that it also works in titles that do not support DLSS frame generation. The first user reports show quite impressive increases – for example a jump from 82 to 164 FPS in World of Warcraft. Sounds like magic, but it’s just the old rule of frame rate perception: our eyes love motion continuity, even if it comes from a blender.

Technology vs. reality – where things get stuck

The flip side of the coin: “Smooth Motion” generates more images per second, but no additional information. This means that ghosting, artifacts or micro-jerks can occur in fast movements or complex scenarios. The system is particularly susceptible in games with lots of particle effects, shadow transitions or non-linear camera movements. The feature can currently only be activated via the NVIDIA Profile Inspector. An official integration via the “NVIDIA App” is still missing. The whole thing smells like a classic “soft launch”, where the community is allowed to have a feel before the PR drumfire starts.

Strategic context: NVIDIA is catching up – but not elegantly

The fact that NVIDIA is copying AMD’s approach with AFMF shows that even the market leaders do not shy away from pragmatic solutions. Sure, DLSS 3 remains the premium product, but for older titles or CPU-limited scenarios, Smooth Motion is a clever trick to artificially boost performance. This technology is not a panacea. Anyone who thinks they can use it to bring their old Skyrim to 144 Hz in 4K with ray tracing will be disappointed. And yes – smooth is relative: some users report inconsistent behavior, missing frame locks or even input lag in competitive scenarios.

Conclusion: More frames, less substance – but cleverly done

“Smooth Motion” is a typical NVIDIA product in the preview stage: technically interesting, potentially effective, but to be enjoyed with caution. For owners of an RTX 40, it’s a nice add-on, for purists it’s more of a tool of last resort – if the opponent has more FPS, you pull out all the stops. And to be honest: in a market dominated by 8 GB graphics cards for over 450 US dollars, it’s almost refreshing to be able to double performance via software – even if it’s not real.

The driver is available here

Source: Videocardz