After a long wait: AMD brings FSR 4.1 to older graphics cards
Radeon GPUs of the RX 7000 and RX 6000 series get AMD's AI upscaler FSR 4.1. The Steam Deck and Steam Machine also benefit from this.
(Image: Andreas Wodrich / heise medien)
AMD is porting its current AI upscaler to older graphics cards and integrated graphics units after all. FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) 4.1 will be available in July 2026 for GPUs with RDNA3 architecture, i.e. for all Radeon graphics cards of the RX 7000 series and for mobile processors from the Ryzen 7000 generation.
At the beginning of 2027, drivers will follow that bring the AI upscaler to RDNA2 GPUs. This is the status of the Radeon RX 6000 and Ryzen 6000. Valve's gaming hardware also benefits: the combined processor in the handheld PC Steam Deck still has an RDNA2 GPU, and the upcoming living room PC Steam Machine has an RDNA3 variant. AMD's announcement was made, among other places, via Youtube.
Like Nvidia's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), FSR 4 also introduces an AI model for the first time that upscales the resolution. Users can have a game rendered in 1080p or 1440p, for example, and then upscale it to 4K to save performance compared to native 4K resolution. This increases the frame rate, which is particularly beneficial for mobile GPUs.
FSR 3 and older versions did not require AI. AMD primarily used the calculation of multiple frames to upscale the image content (Temporal Upscaling).
Videos by heise
Format change to INT8
Until now, FSR 4 versions were reserved for RX 9000 graphics cards with RDNA4 architecture. Only these can handle the FP8 (Floating Point 8 Bit) floating-point data type, which AMD originally used for its generative AI.
For the porting to older GPUs, AMD switches to the integer format INT8 with integer 8-bit values. RDNA1 graphics cards of the RX 5000 series are excluded; they do not support a suitable data type.
Already last year, AMD accidentally released a repository via GitHub that contained an INT8 version. Players have already compiled runnable versions for RDNA3 and later RDNA2 GPUs with this. Sony's current PS5 iteration, PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), also corresponds to an FSR 4.1 implementation with INT8.
Empfohlener redaktioneller Inhalt
Mit Ihrer Zustimmung wird hier ein externer Preisvergleich (heise Preisvergleich) geladen.
Ich bin damit einverstanden, dass mir externe Inhalte angezeigt werden. Damit können personenbezogene Daten an Drittplattformen (heise Preisvergleich) übermittelt werden. Mehr dazu in unserer Datenschutzerklärung.
(mma)
