Frame generation actually cripples your performance, not increases it. Here's why:
frame generation is pretty easy to unpack. You have 2 source frames and you ask an algorithm to extrapolate what can be in between. this gives you any number of frames in between but all those frames carry no update on what's actually happening in the game. Those are pure AI hallucinations and it's pretty fare to call that fake frames cuz that's exactly what they are.
input lag penalty is ultimately determined by your AI algorithm speed and can't be improved by anything like reflex or anti-lag. let's say you are playing at 60 fps 100% gpu load. this means your graphics pipeline is capable of rendering 1 frame in 16.5ms. If you have "reduce buffering" ON, your pipeline input lag will be exactly that - 16.5 ms cuz you're getting updates from the engine every frame.
Now lets say you want to inject fake frames into your pipeline. This means while source frame 1 is being exposed you need to not only render source frame 2 but also to finish full "AI hallucination pipeline" cycle. That takes time so your source frame 1 will have to be presented for a longer period of time - around 25ms instead of 16.5. This is your ultimate penalty that can't be alleviated by anything: reflex, anti-lag, reduce buffering etc. This is how much it takes for AI hallucination pipeline to construct a fake frame. This is what increases your input lag cuz now you get updates from the game engine every other frame.
Moreover, no matter how much frames you're gonna inject between source frame 1 and source frame 2 - they all carry NO ACTUAL INFORMATION on what's happening in the game. These are not UPDATE frames, they don't carry any information updates from the game engine. This means due to the AI hallucination pipeline penalty having frame generation ON actually worsens your update frequency, so you're getting LESS real FPS. Remember how your source frame 1 exposition time went from 16,5 to 25? That's 50 fps. When you switch frame generation on at 60 fps, you get less actual fps - only 50. Instead of getting updates from the game engine 60 times per second, you now getting only 50, which is ridiculous 16.6% less! So by switching on frame generation your actual engine update rate and input (keyboard/mouse) responsiveness drops 16.6%!
Frame generation does not increase your performance, it increases your FPS. It actually CRIPPLES your game's performance while increasing your FPS which is an illusion since as we know now not all frames are the same anymore. 50% of the frames you see carry no updates frome the game engine and are totally disconnected from the game - those are pure AI hallucinations. In future frame generation presented by Nvidia at CES it's 80%! 80% of all frames you see on the screen are pure AI hallucinations carrying 0 information about what's actually happening in the game.
That's what frame generation is. It's an illusion that cripples your game's real performance and presents you with fake frames totally disconnected from the game engine.
This is why I only advise to use frame gen in slower paced single player titles. It does feel smooth when frame gen is implemented properly, but you are correct. The input latency and higher frame time can make games feel sluggish.
With something like Starfield or Dragon's Dogma II it doesn't matter as much. Shooters however feel terrible with it on. Frame gen shouldn't be used in anything fast paced or competitive. Frame gen also causes ghosting in most titles, which makes the overall image quality less clear.
Single player games with frame gen on, typically feel fine. Avoid using frame gen in multiplayer and fast paced titles.
Personally, I am not against frame gen as a tool to give players with lower end hardware a smooth experience. I am against not optimizing games to perform on mid-level to high-end gaming hardware and using upscaling and frame gen as a fix for poor optimization. Unfortunately, this trend doesn't seem to be getting less popular, and the end users are paying for it.
Same here, I only use it in single-player games.
Frame generation can actually hurt performance rather than improve it. By injecting AI-generated "fake" frames between source frames, it introduces input lag and reduces the frequency of real game updates, since these generated frames don’t carry any new game information. This increases your exposure time per frame, reducing actual FPS and responsiveness. Despite increasing the visual FPS, the real game performance is compromised, as these additional frames are disconnected from the actual gameplay, making the experience feel less responsive and more artificial.