AMD FSR 4.1 on RDNA 3 will deliver no quality loss despite different AI model

AMD says FSR 4.1 on RDNA 3 will feature no quality loss

AMD's FSR 4.1 is coming to more Radeon gamers, starting with desktop RDNA 3 support arriving next month, which brings the vastly superior AI-powered version of FSR to the Radeon RX 7000 Series of graphics cards. Up until now the technology has been exclusive to the latest RDNA 4 generation and cards like the Radeon RX 9070 XT, but that's about to change. Sitting down with AMD's Chief Software Officer, Andrej Zdravkovic, and AMD's Senior Director of Software, Terry Makedon, TechPowerUp has learned that the version of FSR 4.1 that will debut for RDNA 3 GPUs will arrive with no quality loss when it comes to the final image displayed on screen. This is good news because AMD has had to rebuild and optimize FSR 4.1 to run on RDNA 3's first-gen AI hardware, which uses INT8 data, rather than the more efficient FP8 used on RDNA 4, which served as the basis for FSR 4. According to the report, AMD has had to modify the underlying model to support RDNA 3, but the end result for image quality will be the same. For gamers with cards like the Radeon RX 7800 XT and previous-gen flagship Radeon RX 7900 XTX, FSR 4.1 support will unlock a new level of performance and image fidelity, especially when gaming at higher resolutions. As for bringing FSR 4.1 to RDNA 2 and GPUs from the Radeon RX 6000 Series, it's a lot more complicated, hence the 2027 release window. Apparently, to get FSR 4.1 running on RDNA 2, which lacks dedicated AI hardware and accelerators, AMD's solution will rely on the GPU's Stream Processors to handle upscaling. And with that, it will require a lot more optimization to ensure that FSR 4.1 doesn't introduce additional latency or blow out render times.

AMD Confirms Different FSR 4.1 Model For RDNA 3 GPUs; Delayed Support On RDNA 2 Is Due To Significant Optimization Needs

AMD explains why it needs time to add support for FSR 4.1 on RDNA 2, aka Radeon RX 6000 GPUs, and what are the current challenges it is facing. AMD Says RDNA 3 Uses Different FSR 4.1 Model Than RDNA 4, But the End Result is On Par With the Latter There are reasons behind delayed support for FSR 4.0/4.1 on the older Radeon cards, which is why AMD took its time to bring the new upscaling technology on previous-gen cards. AMD has faced a lot of criticism for not bringing FSR 4.0/4.1 on RDNA 3 and RDNA 2 GPUs, despite the fact that the INT8 DLL files existed for adding the new upscaler, which has proven to work flawlessly through workarounds and various third-party tools. Nearly a year after FSR 4.0's launch alongside the RDNA 4 GPUs, AMD finally came out announcing FSR 4.1 support for older graphics cards such as the RDNA 3 and RDNA 2 families. While RDNA 3 will get FSR 4.1 support in the next month, AMD explains why it is taking more time for FSR 4.1 to release for RDNA 2 GPUs. As far as the models are concerned, AMD confirmed to Techpowerup that the company is using a different model of FSR 4.1 than on RDNA 4 GPUs. However, the difference will be negligible as the final result will be on par with FSR 4.1 working on RDNA 4 GPUs. The reason for using a different model of FSR 4.1 on RDNA 3 is the absence of FP8 (8-bit floating-point) support. RDNA 3 only supports INT8 (8-bit Integer data type), and it's necessary to requantize the model so it runs efficiently with the INT8 data type instead of FP8. Simply converting FP8 values to INT8 can cause artifacts, which is why conversion is necessary. As for RDNA 2, the microarchitecture lacks AI accelerates to support FSR 4.1 upscaling and relies totally on the Stream Processors. This is why AMD needs time for optimizations to ensure FSR 4.1 can run efficiently on RDNA 2 while consuming fewer shader cycles, which is currently a major challenge. At the time of writing, the FSR 4.1 support is scheduled to arrive on RDNA 2, aka Radeon RX 6000 GPUs, in early 2027. News Source: Tech Power Up Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.