FidelityFX and FSR4
AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution technology reaches its fourth generation with RDNA4, and the improvements are substantial according to AMD. The benchmark slides show impressive performance uplifts across various titles. In Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, we see performance jump from 72 FPS native to 128 FPS with FSR 4 upscaling, and then all the way up to 206 FPS when frame generation is added to the mix. Ratchet and Clank with raytracing shows similar improvements, going from just 39 FPS at native 4K to 78 FPS with upscaling and then 144 FPS with both upscaling and frame generation. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales with ray tracing enabled makes a huge leap from 86 FPS native to 133 FPS with upscaling, and then an impressive 224 FPS when frame generation is also enabled. These numbers represent significant improvements over FSR 3, with upscaling alone providing roughly a 1.5-2x performance boost, and frame generation pushing that to 2.5-3.5x in many cases. The slides also suggest FSR 4 will have better image quality than previous generations, particularly in motion, which has been a point of criticism compared to NVIDIA’s DLSS.
As we noted in our previous feature, one caveat worth noting is that AMD’s forward-looking statement disclaimer in the FSR 4 deck mentions “AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT” specifically, which suggests FSR 4 might be exclusive to RDNA4 hardware, at least initially.
This could potentially limit adoption compared to NVIDIA’s approach of supporting older hardware with newer DLSS versions. It also creates that chicken-and-egg problem we discussed earlier, where developers might be hesitant to spend resources implementing FSR 4 for a limited hardware base.
