Right this moment, AMD are prodding the launch button for FSR Redstone: a set of upscaling, body technology, and ray tracing upgrades that, simply perhaps, may cease Nvidia DLSS 4‘s marketing campaign of strutting throughout the canteen and slapping FSR’s lunch tray over in entrance of all the opposite graphics card applied sciences.
To realize this, FSR has grow to be the monster it fights. Gone are the technologically simplified, GPU-agnostic measures employed by earlier FSR variations; Redstone offers completely in additional refined machine-learning instruments that particularly require the newest Radeon graphics {hardware} to perform. The RX 9000 collection, to be exact, identical to how new DLSS editions all the time demand the most recent, most AI-embracing Nvidia RTX playing cards. This lack of help for older Radeons is a serious strategic shift, however AMD insist that the picture high quality and stability enhancements can be value it.
To seek out out, I acquired maintain of a preview driver for Redstone and bunged a Radeon RX 9070 XT into the RPS check rig. And, with apologies to anybody who purchased an RX 7900 XTX: AMD might need a degree.
AMD FSR Upscaling: the FPS enhance previously generally known as FSR 4
We’ve truly seen earlier than one in every of Redstone’s constituent components earlier than. ‘AMD FSR Upscaling,’ because it’s now recognized, is simply FSR 4 – the AI-assisted upscaler that launched alongside the RX 9000 collection months in the past – by one other title. I attempted just a few recreation benchmarks – Cyberpunk 2077, Blops 7, and F1 25 – to see if the brand new Redstone driver would unlock any visible or efficiency enhancements, however its inclusion as a rebranding train was confirmed by a trio of unchanged outcomes. And, later, by AMD confirming the dearth of Redstone upscaling adjustments by way of e mail.
Nonetheless, we’ve by no means actually checked out FSR 4 on RPS, so now looks like an excellent likelihood. Once more, like DLSS, this upscaler is predicated on an AI mannequin that’s strapped to a chair and compelled to observe shifting photographs till it learns tips on how to reconstruct low-rez recreation frames into a lot sharper footage. In comparison with the dumber temporal upscaling of FSR 3, the brand new(ish) FSR Upscaling is noticeably sharper, particularly when upscaling to a much less pixel-rich monitor decision like 1080p. Extra impressively, it’s barely distinguishable from DLSS 4, an upscaler that’s benefited from almost a decade of RTX machine studying refinement – and acquired a good crisper Transformer mannequin initially of 2025.
4K, FSR Upscaling on High quality
In movement, I nonetheless assume DLSS 4 edges it, being marginally higher at protecting fuzziness away from small, fast-moving particulars like hair. However searching for variations like that is correctly anal, magnifying glass-against-the-screen stuff, and FSR Upscaling or FSR 4 or no matter you need to name it deserves an approving nod for wanting this good on what’s, primarily, its first strive.
FSR Body Era: a finer class of pretend frames
Redstone additionally provides some AI smarts to FSR’s body technology, and whereas the upscaling part is a welcome however not wholly contemporary addition to RX 9000 GPUs, this new body gen represents a honking nice improve. Simply, not all the time in locations you may assume.
First, a fast reminder on how body technology works. Utilizing the picture information from frames that your PC renders usually, FSR or DLSS can create new frames, then slot them in-between the rendered ones for total greater FPS and – often – smoother movement. It’s not as a lot of a no brainer nearly as good upscaling, as body technology will increase enter lag, can introduce artifacts, and will even make movement look worse if it isn’t carried out nicely, however everybody who’s seen each Nvidia’s and AMD’s makes an attempt would absolutely agree that DLSS has been the higher selection by miles.
After Redstone, although, FSR body gen is much extra aggressive. Swapping FSR 3/3.1’s software-based technology for hardware-based machine studying seems to assist make certain these pretend frames are delivered in a cleaner, extra constant method, smoothing out the outdated model’s occasional jitteriness and massively enhancing picture high quality. I noticed loads much less ghosting in Cyberpunk 2077, and F1 25, which exhibited phantom wheels and scraggly shadows utilizing FSR 3, was cleaned up properly with the Redstone model. Which, confusingly, is simply referred to as ‘FSR Body Era.’
It’s slower than FSR 3 body gen, however to not a bothersome extent: with F1 25 operating at 1440p, on the Extremely Excessive preset and High quality-level FSR upscaling enabled, a 288fps common on the older model dropped to the 243fps with the Redstone improve. 45fps appears to be like like loads however once you’re this far above 200fps, the frames come so quick that the distinction is virtually imperceptible, and since most gaming displays prime out at 165Hz refresh charges, you’d want a mighty costly setup to even get all these frames on-screen. Blops 7’s outcomes have been extra throughout the realm of us mortals, however nonetheless, maxed-out 1440p dropping from 143fps to 139fps is a negligible disadvantage of the brand new system.
That stated, nu-FSR Body Era nonetheless suffers from the identical issues as DLSS’s. There are typically imperfections current on particular person frames, just like the tear-like impact on the purple and white curb within the nook of the F1 25 shot beneath. And whereas these are simple to overlook in movement, AMD hasn’t discovered a solution for the accompanying rise in enter latency, which could be felt even with their newest Radeon Anti-Lag 2 attempting to maintain all the pieces responsive.
High quality-wise, thoughts, FSR has once more caught up with DLSS. Nvidia would clearly level to the selection of 2x, 3x, or 4x multipliers that DLSS 4’s Multi-Body Era (MFG) permits for, whereas FSR sticks to a DLSS 3-style 2x system, however saturating your self with AI frames has by no means been that interesting. Partly as a result of 3x and 4x dial up enter lag much more, and partly as a result of, like F1 25 going the pace of an precise F1 automotive, there’s solely so many frames you may generate in a second earlier than your monitor’s refresh price runs out of bandwidth for them. Redstone sticks to creating enhancements the place it counts.
Ray Regeneration: a graphics improve for graphics upgrades
In yet one more case of DLSS parity-pushing, FSR now has its personal model of Ray Reconstruction. Each applied sciences are a form of ray tracing rendering trick, whereby machine studying (sure, extra of it) is employed to determine tips on how to current computationally costly RT and path tracing results with out so lots of the visible artifacts, mainly static-like picture noise, that they in any other case threat introducing.
In observe, the enhancements DLSS Ray Reconstruction makes are small, however they do exist, they usually not often include a significant efficiency value. That’s if it isn’t actively dashing up framerates, like Cyberpunk 2077’s RR implementation does.
First impressions of FSR Ray Regeneration are restricted, as a result of it’s at present solely supported in a single recreation: Blops 7, which additionally occurs to restrict its traced rays to reflections, not lighting or shadows. All the identical, it’s an encouraging glimpse, with Ray Regeneration successfully denoising reflective surfaces for clearer, sharper results:
The efficiency value was a fats sack of nothin’, too. At 1440p with Excessive settings, FSR upscaling on High quality mode, and people ray-traced reflections enabled, the RX 9070 XT averaged 81fps earlier than barely dropping to 79fps with Ray Regeneration added. Likewise, enabling Redstone’s new body technology had it operating at 144fps earlier than Ray Regeneration and 139fps after. Not precisely the sorts of drops that may have you ever planning a brand new PC construct.
Radiance Caching: no, wait, nevermind
Sliiiiight concern with testing Radiance Caching: it isn’t out for any video games but, and gained’t be till 2026.
I’m prepared to be intrigued by it, not less than. It “quickens ray traced lighting” by predicting the place the sunshine rays in a scene are going to bounce, saving on GPU load and doubtlessly decreasing the efficiency tax that ray and path tracing results extract. Once more, it’s primarily based round a machine studying mannequin, one which that’s been skilled to find out how gentle behaves in addition to tips on how to rapidly pocket and seek advice from lighting simulation information from a ‘neural radiance cache.’ Therefore why it could supposedly act so rapidly, and why it could, hopefully, produce correct shadows and illumination with out making wildly incorrect guesses. Hopefully.
Even with out this last piece, FSR Redstone is a refreshingly assertive assertion from AMD. Nvidia have been displaying their necks to the Radeon enterprise, bringing out two successive generations of graphics playing cards marked by excessive costs and weak efficiency positive aspects, and but AMD have by no means gone for the jugular. There’s a way that that is altering: Redstone has recognized that the actual cause to purchase GeForce is the prevalence of DLSS, and just by copying Nvidia’s homework, has lower that benefit all the way down to a sliver.
To be weapons-grade pernickety, and in an article with this many screenshot comparisons as this, I’ll as nicely, DLSS upscaling particularly stays very, very, very barely better-looking to my eyes. However usually, FSR not feels just like the dropping selection – the tech toolkit it’s important to put up with since you couldn’t or wouldn’t pay a GeForce premium. That’s an ideal improvement in itself, and optimistically, it would even persuade Nvidia to up their recreation for the RTX 60 collection.
On steadiness, I additionally assume it’s definitely worth the lack of cross-GPU compatibility that earlier FSR variations loved. Maintaining new options obtainable for house owners of older video games is all the time a noble endeavour, however in the end, the purpose of those options has all the time been to make video games look nicer or run sooner – and hardware-based instruments, as DLSS and now FSR Redstone have proved, are clearly one of the simplest ways to go about it. AMD may nonetheless have it each methods by making future FSR upgrades appropriate with the RX 9000 collection, however simply because the GTX 1060 needed to be left behind when DLSS and ray tracing first got here alongside, there does must be a transition level for actually new tech. For FSR, that simply occurs to be right here.
