Microsoft has confirmed to IGN in a statement that AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution technology, an advanced upscaling technology, and a supposed competitor to NVIDIA’s DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) anti-aliasing and upscaling tech. AMD unveiled the initial details (and some early comparisons) regarding FSR during its Computex 2021 Keynote which was met with a mixed reception. The company officially plans to detail and launch the first titles supporting Super Resolution on the 22nd of June.
At Xbox, we’re excited by the potential of AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution technology as another great method for developers to increase framerates and resolution. We will have more to share on this soon
Microsoft supporting FSR comes as no surprise as some of the existing components of AMD’s FidelityFX OpenSource suite such as Contrast Adaptive Sharpening, Variable Shading, and Raytraced Shadow Denoiser are already available on the Series X|S. Many gamers will jot this down as a win for the Xbox, but the reality is a bit more complex.
As already demonstrated shortly after AMD’s Keynote, FSR is nowhere as good as DLSS in terms of image quality. Furthermore, it performs much worse on NVIDIA hardware which forms the bulk of the PC gaming ecosystem. In fact, while DLSS is an advanced temporal sampler that uses a complex convolution network for generating high-resolution images, Super Resolution is a simple spatial upsampler that lacks data from temporal frames.
Furthermore, in most cases, it should be worse off compared to the Temporal Super=Resolution tech featured on Unreal Engine 5 as there is no data from neighboring frames. As per insiders, Godfall, The Riftbreaker, and Dirt 5 will be the first three titles to get FSR on the 22nd of June. Other AMD partner titles such as Resident Evil VIII and Far Cry 6 should also enable it with a patch sometime in the future.
Processors, PC gaming, and the past. I have written about computer hardware for over seven years with over 5000 published articles. I started during engineering college and haven't stopped since. On the side, I play RPGs like Baldur's Gate, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Divinity, and Fallout. Contact: areejs12@hardwaretimes.com.
