NVIDIA has announced Reflex 2 at CES 2025, unveiling a powerful new approach to reducing latency in gaming. Featuring the new Frame Warp technology, Reflex 2 promises to cut latency by up to 75%, enabling smoother, more responsive gameplay.
Frame Warp in Reflex 2 builds on the success of the original Reflex technology, which has been widely adopted in over 100 games since its debut in 2020.
Designed to address one of gaming’s most persistent challenges —input lag— Reflex 2 integrates directly with game engines and the latest GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs. It aims to deliver near-instantaneous response times, a critical factor for competitive gamers and esports enthusiasts.
From Reflex 1 to Reflex 2
Since its introduction, NVIDIA Reflex has redefined the gaming experience by reducing latency by an average of 50%. Reflex achieves this by synchronizing CPU and GPU workloads, allowing player actions to be reflected on-screen faster. Over 90% of users with Reflex-enabled GPUs activate the feature, citing improved aim accuracy and smoother gameplay.
NVIDIA highlighted the importance of Reflex in a recent statement, explaining, “Every player action taken in a video game goes through a complex pipeline before being rendered on-screen, with each step introducing latency.” Reflex optimizes this process, effectively eliminating render queues that delay visual updates.
This success laid the groundwork for Reflex 2, which builds on the existing framework by introducing advanced predictive rendering capabilities.
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How Frame Warp Works
At the heart of Reflex 2 is Frame Warp, a cutting-edge rendering technology designed to minimize latency further. Frame Warp works by calculating the player’s next camera position based on the latest input, even as the current frame is being rendered.
“Inputs from your keyboard and mouse are passed to the game, where their effects are calculated by the CPU,” NVIDIA explained during its CES 2025 presentation. The Frame Warp feature updates the rendered frame to incorporate the latest player input before the frame is sent to the display.
This process ensures that the most recent player actions are always represented on-screen, reducing input lag dramatically. Unlike traditional rendering pipelines, where delays accumulate as frames are queued, Frame Warp dynamically adjusts frames in real-time. NVIDIA describes the process as adjusting the frame as late as possible to ensure the accuracy of the displayed input.
To address visual inconsistencies that might arise, such as gaps in newly revealed areas of the game scene, NVIDIA employs a “latency-optimized predictive rendering algorithm.” This algorithm uses data from prior frames to fill any gaps seamlessly, ensuring a smooth visual experience.
Real-World Performance: Benchmarks and Demonstrations
NVIDIA demonstrated Reflex 2’s capabilities during its CES 2025 keynote, showcasing the technology in The Finals, a high-paced multiplayer shooter developed by Embark Studios. Running on an RTX 5070 GPU at 4K with maximum settings, the baseline latency measured 56 milliseconds. Enabling Reflex 1 reduced this to 27ms, while Reflex 2 slashed it further to just 14ms—a total reduction of 75%.
The technology also shines in CPU-bound scenarios. In Valorant, Reflex 2 reduced latency to under 3ms on an RTX 5090 running at over 800 frames per second. This represents a significant improvement, especially for esports titles where reaction time can mean the difference between victory and defeat.
Broader Implications of Reflex 2
Latency reduction is not merely a technical achievement; it has far-reaching implications for the gaming industry. For competitive players, faster response times translate to more accurate aim and better overall performance. In esports, where milliseconds matter, Reflex 2 could become a standard feature.
Beyond competitive gaming, Reflex 2 enhances the experience for casual players as well. By eliminating delays, it allows for more immersive gameplay, making high-end GPUs more appealing to a broader audience.
However, Reflex 2’s adoption depends on its integration into popular games and hardware. While it launches exclusively with the GeForce RTX 50 Series, NVIDIA has confirmed plans to extend support to earlier RTX models. Early partnerships with games like The Finals and Valorant suggest a promising start, but broader adoption will be key to its long-term success.
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Reflex 2 represents NVIDIA’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of gaming technology. By combining the proven benefits of Reflex with the advanced capabilities of Frame Warp, it sets a new benchmark for responsiveness. As NVIDIA expands support for Reflex 2 and partners with more developers, the technology is poised to transform the gaming experience for millions.
NVIDIA summed up its vision during the CES presentation: “Reflex 2 combines Reflex Low Latency mode with a new Frame Warp technology, further reducing latency by updating the rendered game frame based on the latest mouse input right before it is sent to the display.”
