AMD's FSR 4: AI-Powered Upscaling Exclusive to RDNA 4 GPUs Promises Significant Improvements

AMD FSR 4 upscaling shows much improved image quality, fewer artifacts, but it will be exclusive to newer GPUs

The big picture: With FSR 4, AMD has finally integrated machine learning into its upscaler, following in the footsteps of Nvidia DLSS and Intel XeSS. Previous versions relied on spatial and temporal upsampling, which supports most hardware but ultimately delivers inferior results. Our good friends at Hardware Unboxed have provided an early look at FSR 4 running Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. Although the analysis is preliminary, the visual improvements over FSR 3.1 are immediately noticeable. While AMD has yet to provide detailed specifications for the Radeon RX 9070 GPUs introduced at CES 2025, various outlets have had access to systems running them on the show floor. One such exhibit highlights that the company's FSR 4 upscaling technology dramatically surpasses its predecessor. In Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, FSR 3.1 struggles with ghosting, transparency issues, and other visual artifacts. To showcase FSR 4's improvements, AMD had two monitors running the game side by side in 4K performance mode - a setting where FSR traditionally struggles against DLSS. Although Hardware Unboxed captured the footage by recording the monitors which is far from ideal, the improvements are quite noticeable, even when viewed through YouTube compression. Visual elements such as particles, transparent surfaces, Ratchet's fur, and distant details appear much sharper with FSR 4. The artifacts that marred FSR 3 are almost entirely eliminated. Unfortunately, the demo did not include frame rate counters, so proper scrutiny of any performance impact must wait until we can thoroughly test FSR 4. AMD has, however, confirmed one significant limitation: FSR 4 requires a Radeon RX 9000 GPU. When AMD launches the RX 9070 and 9070 XT in the coming weeks, these cards will go head-to-head with Nvidia's GeForce RTX 50 series and DLSS 4 technology. A recent preview by Digital Foundry showed DLSS 4's notable improvements to image quality and frame generation. The new transformer-based AI model reduces visual flaws, and multi-frame generation can triple or quadruple framerates with a relatively minor detriment to latency. While Nvidia's new multi-frame rendering technology is exclusive to RTX 50 series GPUs, all GeForce RTX graphics card owners will benefit from the image quality enhancements in games that support DLSS. Meanwhile, AMD's vague details on FSR 4 suggest that the update might apply to any game that uses FSR 3.1. At TechSpot, we plan to provide a detailed comparison of FSR 4, DLSS 4, and their predecessors when time comes - that is, after we get our hands on the new GPUs, and after we can fully benchmark them. Until then, the only third-party performance data we have comes from a Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 benchmark, which suggests that the RX 9070 could compete with Nvidia's RTX 4080 Super - and possibly the RTX 5070 / Ti.

FSR 4 hands-on, AMD's AI tech takes a big step closer to NVIDIA DLSS

TL;DR: AMD's CES 2025 presentation teased the Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 GPUs, highlighting advanced ray tracing and AI hardware. FSR 4, an AI-based upscaling technology, was demonstrated, showing significant improvements in image clarity and detail. However, FSR 4 requires RDNA 4 GPUs and in-game support. AMD's RDNA 4 announcement at CES 2025 was more of a teaser than a full reveal. We all got confirmation that two new GPUs - the Radeon RX 9070 XT and Radeon RX 9070 - were on the way, with some architectural highlights. With more advanced ray tracing and AI hardware, we also got confirmation that FSR 4 is following in the footsteps of DLSS by upgrading to a new AI model for super-resolution and frame generation. Interestingly, AMD chose not to showcase FSR 4 during its CES presentation; however, we were able to find it at AMD's booth at CES. We say find because the display was in the back with a sign that said 'AMD Graphics Research AI-Based Upscaling.' This is strange because the demonstration featured Insomniac's Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart running on the new Radeon RX 9070. The GPU had an 'Engineering Sample' sticker, but we saw FSR 4's new AI upscaling. And the results are not only promising but impressive. From reduced ghosting to more detail and less shimmering, it's a big step forward for FSR. The demonstration included introducing the game running on two systems: one with the new Radeon RX 9070 and one with a previous-generation RDNA 3 Radeon RX 7000 Series graphics card. The new RDNA 4 GPU ran the game with FSR 4 enabled, while the RDNA 3 rig ran the game with FSR 3.1. We learned that both of these were using the Performance Mode preset. When it came to image clarity and distant object detail, there was a night and day difference. FSR 4 was able to resolve the edges of distant structures and small moving objects like falling confetti. Even the characters looked better, sharper, and crisper overall. It was an impressive showing, and we would have liked to have seen AMD highlight it, as it's a definite win for the new RDNA 4 GPUs. FSR image quality has never been up there with NVIDIA DLSS or even Intel XeSS, and we wouldn't be surprised if it's the same technology that can be found in Sony's PSSR AI upscaling solution for the PlayStation 5 Pro console. The only downside is that the move to an AI approach requires powerful AI hardware, so FSR 4 will be exclusive to RDNA 4 GPUs. Also, as FSR 4 needs to be supported in-game, we don't know how many titles will feature the tech at launch. As for why AMD chose not to highlight FSR 4's performance, is anyone's guess, as so far, it's looking like a worthy update.

AMD's new AI-based FSR 4 upscaler impresses in hands-on testing at CES 2025 on RX 9070-series hardware

Despite ostensibly launching its new RDNA 4 graphics cards and FSR 4 AI-based upscaler at CES 2025, there was much more information released to journalists in pre-briefings than in AMD's 45-minute CES 2025 keynote. Thankfully, Digital Foundry's Alex and Oliver got to see both in an AMD suite on the show floor, with a machine learning upscaling "research project" on an RX 9070-series GPU that is almost certainly FSR 4. The game of choice was Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, one of our go-to titles for comparing upscaling technologies thanks to its support for nearly all of them. That gave us a great opportunity to see how FSR 4 is shaping up ahead of its launch with the new GPUs later this quarter - and we've got to say, we're impressed. The advantage here is that FSR is moving from being an hand-tuned analytic upscaler to one that takes advantage of ML or machine learning (one of the many technologies under the 'AI' umbrella). We saw a similar evolution from Nvidia between the original DLSS upscaler and DLSS 2, and that brought about a huge improvement to image quality - so is it the same for FSR 4? In a word, yes. In side-by-side comparisons between two PCs running Rift Apart in 4K performance mode, one with FSR 3.1 and one with FSR 4, the new ML-based technique looks to solve many of the previous versions' biggest issues. Most notably, image quality seemed noticeably improved on the "research project" PC across a variety of scenes. The fine texture of the red carpet in the game's opening level is a hard one to reproduce, for example, with FSR 3.1 compressing a fair amount of detail and producing a moiré pattern, but FSR 4 managing to better preserve the individual fibres. Similarly, the use of SSAO produces some artefacting on FSR 3.1, with occlusion appearing and disappearing from frame to frame, whereas this appeared to have been fixed on FSR 4. The image also looked fairly sharp, without the soft look that characterises some upscalers running in a similarly challenging 1080p to 4K mode. The fast-moving confetti particles that accompany Ratchet and Clank's first-level parade is another traditional trouble spot, but again FSR 4 exhibited little of the ghosting or trails we've seen in various versions of FSR. An even more obvious improvement comes with the movement of the bystanders in the stadium seating, with their claps and cheers causing disocclusion fizzle in FSR 3.1 - that looks to be fixed in FSR 4. Of course, we recently discussed the Amethyst partnership between AMD and Sony, which describes a joint effort by the companies to develop new AI-based technologies, so could it be possible for this upscaler to be a derivative of what Sony produced for the PlayStation 5 Pro? In short, it doesn't seem likely - we didn't see any of the fundamental stability issues (eg fizzle in fine detail) evident across all implementations of PSSR, and Ratchet and Clank on PS5 Pro looks noticeably different to the game on the "research project" PC. While what we saw at CES was impressive, it's important to underscore that this is not the finished article. We haven't been able to grab direct capture, we had no access to settings, and it's clear that this is an in-development version of FSR 4 being run on unreleased hardware with pre-launch drivers. Regardless though, what we did see was impressive, and we look forward to taking a closer look at the new tech when AMD is ready to show it off properly.

AMD FSR 4 Based Upsampling; First Comparisons Look Good

AMD has developed FSR 4 as an improved AI-driven image upsampling solution, utilizing the newly introduced RDNA 4 graphics cards. This upscaling method is built on machine learning principles aimed at improving image quality in demanding gaming scenarios. Early indications from demonstrations using Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart reveal that FSR 4 reconstructs complex visual elements more effectively than its predecessor, FSR 3.1. The demonstration employed two similar systems with fixed settings to focus solely on comparing the two upscaling methods under identical conditions, thereby providing objective feedback on the quality improvement. The testing scenario provided by AMD was selected for its complexity, which allowed the demonstration of FSR 4's enhanced capability in dealing with high-motion scenes, detailed particle effects, and complex textures such as fur. These improvements suggest that FSR 4 might be capable of handling similar challenges in other titles and lower resolutions. Technical observers emphasize the need for further analysis to evaluate whether the promising enhancements seen in this controlled environment can be replicated broadly across various games and use cases. Additionally, performance metrics like frame rates and the effect on overall gameplay quality need further clarification to fully assess FSR 4's impact. Future comparisons with other AI upsampling technologies, such as Nvidia's DLSS 4 and Intel's XeSS, will be critical in understanding where FSR 4 stands in the competitive landscape. Although FSR 4 is currently limited to RDNA 4-based hardware, its distinct approach suggests potential strengths in image reconstruction. It is also important to distinguish AMD's solution from other existing upsampling methods, as early impressions suggest unique technical choices that may influence performance and compatibility. Continued independent reviews and observed tests will be essential for validating AMD's claims, clarifying its advantages, and determining the overall significance of FSR 4 in the field of AI-based upsampling. Source: digital foundry

AMD's FSR 4 will use machine learning but requires an RDNA 4 GPU, promises 'a dramatic improvement in terms of performance and quality'

As an owner of an RDNA 3 card, boo. Still, here's hoping those image quality claims prove out. As part of the AMD announcement today at CES 2025, AMD has taken the lid off the latest version of its upscaling tech, FSR 4. Non-Nvidia GPU users have long lusted after an upscaler that can compete with DLSS, and according to AMD, there are significant improvements here that may do just that. The bad news? You'll need one of those fancy new RDNA 4 cards to take advantage of it. AMD says that FSR 4 was "developed for RDNA 4 and the unique compute aspects of the RDNA 4 AI accelerators", which means that this new machine learning-powered solution will need an RX 9070 XT or RX 9070 to power all the AI gubbins. My RX 7800 XT weeps. Anyway, AMD also says that FSR delivers "very high quality 4K upscaling with a dramatic improvement in terms of performance and quality compared to prior generations." It's interesting that performance is touted as one of the great improvements to FSR 4 over the previous version, as my FSR 3.1 testing shows that AMD's most recent upscaler release can, in most scenarios, keep up with DLSS 3 in the framerate stakes -- and sometimes even slightly surpass it. As my comparison with Nvidia's efforts demonstrates, however, FSR's image quality still lags far behind DLSS on anything but Quality settings -- so here's hoping the machine learning improvements in the new version equate to less fizzy, grainy images, particularly at Performance setting levels. With the Nvidia announcement due to take place later today, part of me wonders whether the performance improvement claims are in anticipation of extra juice found in DLSS 4, if it's announced this evening. Still, speed and image quality gains are what I was hoping for out of the next version of FSR 4, and AMD says it can provide. It also claims that FSR 4 can deliver "very low latency gaming" in combination with AMD Anti Lag 2, an existing tech designed to minimise latency from input to presented image on GPU-bound games. The real issue, to me at least, is adoption. FSR 3 suffered from relatively slow developer uptake on release -- and while it looks like FSR 4 might simply be a bolt-on upgrade for games that already feature FSR 3.1, devs will want to see the RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 selling well if they're going to prioritise FSR 4 integration into games alongside DLSS. With Nvidia's RTX 50-series cards presumed to be waiting in the wings for their debut (and possibly a DLSS 4 announcement), we may have another upscaler showdown on our hands. As AMD is only releasing cards in the mid-range this generation, it'll likely be hoping that FSR 4 can be the great equaliser to tempt would-be-buyers away from higher-end Nvidia offerings, of which it has no competition. That's all dependent on the pricing of the new Radeon cards, at least. Anyway, FSR 4. It's coming, AMD says it's better, and you'll need some new silicon to run it. Things are heating up, folks.

AMD FSR 4 announced, AI-powered and 'developed for RDNA 4'

TL;DR: At CES 2025, AMD announced FSR 4, developed for RDNA 4, starting with Radeon RX 9070 XT and 9070 GPUs. FSR 4 uses AI hardware for upscaling, similar to NVIDIA DLSS. It supports 4K upscaling, frame generation, and latency reduction via AMD Anti-Lag 2. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will support FSR 4. At CES 2025, AMD formally announced the latest version of its AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution technology, FSR 4. Explicitly developed for RDNA 4, starting with the upcoming Radeon RX 9070 XT and 9070 GPUs, FSR 4 represents a significant evolution for the upscaling technology because it marks a shift to a new ML or AI-powered approach. Although we weren't given a release date or full specs for the upcoming Radeon RX 9070 XT, which is seeing a name change to match the latest generation of Ryzen CPUs and its GeForce RTX competition, we do know that the new RDNA 4 architecture features new "supercharged" AI hardware. This means FSR 4, like NVIDIA DLSS and Intel XeSS, will use GPU AI hardware for upscaling and frame generation. AMD has undoubtedly decided to make this change to improve FSR's image quality and bring it closer to NVIDIA DLSS. This is a significant change compared to all previous FSR versions, which didn't require specialized AI hardware and were compatible with multiple generations of Radeon and GeForce RTX cards. At this stage, it's unclear if FSR 4 will support non-RDNA 4 hardware with a non-AI variant, ala Intel XeSS. However, FSR 4 will be compatible with games that support FSR 3.1, so it does look like there's a fallback. Quality and performance remain to be seen, but we wouldn't be surprised if FSR 4 shares technology with PSSR upscaling for the PlayStation 5 Pro console, as Sony's mid-generation refresh includes new RDNA 4 technology for its raytracing capabilities.

AMD Announces FSR 4 ML-Powered Technology: Enhancing Gaming Performance through AI Integration

AMD has announced its upcoming FSR 4 technology, aimed at improving gaming performance through advanced artificial intelligence integration. FSR 4 can potentially significantly improve upon the previous version, FSR 3.x. FSR 3.x utilized super-resolution methods and algorithmic frame generation to nearly double framerates. In contrast, FSR 4 will make use of deep learning with AI to not only enhance visual details through super-resolution but also to increase the accuracy of frame generation. This development is important for AMD as it aims to compete with Nvidia, which leads in AI-based DLSS technology. FSR 4 is the next step in AMD's AI sharpening efforts, building on existing features like optional frame generation and temporal upscaling provided to developers. The latest version of FSR, FSR 3.1, used spatial and temporal techniques for upscaling and frame generation and was compatible with a wide range of devices. With FSR 4, AMD plans to use AI for both upscaling and frame generation, which may match or slightly exceed current AI upscaling technologies. This update comes as Nvidia is expected to present its next version of DLSS at its CES keynote event. The use of AI in both upscaling and frame generation by FSR 4 is expected to provide better visual quality and more consistent performance in games.