AMD's FSR Redstone Brings AI-Powered Frame Generation to Challenge Nvidia's DLSS Dominance

Reviewed byNidhi Govil

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AMD released FSR Redstone, a significant driver update that introduces machine learning-powered frame generation, ray tracing enhancements, and upscaling technology for RDNA 4 GPUs. The update positions AMD to compete directly with Nvidia's DLSS 4, marking a strategic shift from analytical to neural network-based rendering. With over 200 games supported by year-end, the technology promises to reshape PC gaming performance.

AMD Takes Aim at Nvidia with Machine Learning Capabilities

AMD launched FSR Redstone through its Adrenalin 25.12.1 driver, introducing AI-powered frame generation and ray tracing technologies that directly compete with Nvidia's DLSS 4

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. This significant driver update represents a fundamental shift in AMD's approach, moving away from analytical-based algorithms to embrace neural networks for rendering optimization

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. The release comes seven months after its initial announcement at Computex 2025, marking AMD's effort to close the performance and quality gap with its primary competitor

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Source: Wccftech

Source: Wccftech

FSR Redstone introduces three core technologies: FSR Frame Generation, FSR Ray Regeneration, and FSR Radiance Caching. The AI-powered frame generation uses neural networks trained on demanding gaming scenarios to insert frames between rendered frames, virtually eliminating the ghosting artifacts that plagued previous FSR versions

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. AMD recommends games run at a minimum of 60 FPS before applying frame generation to avoid visual anomalies

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. Testing demonstrates the technology can boost frame rates dramatically—from 23 fps to 109 fps in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 when using performance settings at 4K resolution

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Source: Tom's Guide

Source: Tom's Guide

Ray Tracing Performance Gets Neural Network Boost

The FSR Radiance Cache represents one of the cornerstones of neural rendering, allowing RDNA 4 GPUs to maintain a small cache of rays for AI models instead of tracing each ray for every pixel

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. This technology predicts light behavior to lower render time while maintaining visual fidelity, offering efficiency without sacrificing image quality in games with path tracing

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. Ray Regeneration, AMD's equivalent to Nvidia's ray reconstruction, works as a neural network-based denoiser to restore details in scenes after applying ray-traced effects, creating more realistic lighting and reflections

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. The feature is currently available in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, with additional game support planned for 2026

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Gaming Upscaling Technology Shows Quality Improvements

Testing reveals FSR Redstone delivers substantial quality improvements over FSR 3, with upscaling that retains native texture details without blurring objects

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. The performance hit from using the new AI system remains minimal—benchmarks in Black Myth: Wukong and Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K resolution showed no significant performance difference compared to FSR 3 frame generation

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. AMD demonstrated comparative screenshots showing FSR Redstone upscaling versus FSR 3.1, revealing a substantial leap in quality

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Source: PC Gamer

Source: PC Gamer

The technology makes calculations for ray tracing and upscaling far less GPU-intensive, delivering sharper textures and smoother frame rates at higher detail levels

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. Users must enable FSR features on a per-game basis through AMD's Adrenalin Software, first activating FSR 3 or FSR 3.1 in the game, then using driver overrides to force the new AI-powered version

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RDNA 4 GPUs Get Exclusive Access

FSR Redstone features remain exclusive to RDNA 4 hardware, specifically the Radeon RX 9000 series including the RX 9070, RX 9070 XT, and RX 9060 XT

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. Older RDNA 1 through 3.5 GPUs retain access only to analytical-based FSR upscaling and frame generation, without the machine learning enhancements or ray-focused features

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. This contrasts with Nvidia's approach—DLSS 4 maintains compatibility with RTX cards dating back to the RTX 30-series, though not all features work on older hardware

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Over 200 games will support FSR Redstone by the end of 2025, though the AI-powered frame generation currently works in only 31 titles

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. Games like Warhammer 40K: Darktide and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 feature native Radiance Caching and Ray Regeneration support

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. AMD's modular approach allows gamers to selectively enable features, contrasting with Nvidia's requirement to use its entire suite of tools

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Implications for Console Gaming and Future Hardware

PlayStation collaborated with AMD on crafting FSR 4, which launched in March

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. Sony is preparing an update to its PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) that could enable better performance on PS5 Pro, though implementing FSR 4 on the console presents challenges due to its older RDNA 2 microarchitecture

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. FSR Redstone could prove significant for the rumored PlayStation 6, as upscaling technology benefits lower-end systems more than high-end gaming hardware

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. Future handhelds, whether PC or PlayStation-based, would gain substantial advantages from RDNA 4-based internals

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The technology's potential extends to SteamOS-based systems, where AMD-powered machines could leverage FSR Redstone without Windows 11 overhead

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. The FSR Redstone SDK is available on GPUOpen, making implementation easier for game developers through simple upgradable DLLs

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Competitive Landscape Shifts as Nvidia Focuses on AI

Nvidia recently stated it's no longer primarily a gaming graphics card company, having shifted focus toward AI and large language models

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. This creates an opening for AMD to capture market share in PC gaming as it narrows the quality gap with DLSS 4

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. However, AMD still lacks multi-frame generation technology—Nvidia's DLSS 4 offers a 3:1 ratio of generated to rendered frames, while FSR Redstone maintains a 1:1 ratio

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. Nvidia also maintains a substantial lead with over 800 games supporting DLSS 4 automatically, compared to AMD's 200-plus titles

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The release positions AMD similarly to its successful Ryzen strategy against Intel, where the company steadily gained ground through iterative improvements

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. Whether AMD can replicate that success depends on how developers adopt the technology and how quickly the company expands game compatibility

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