I ’ve beenvery critical of AMD ’s FSR 3 in the past . It ’s not that the tool is bad — in fact , I mean it ’s first-class — but for a prospicient time , it just was n’t uncommitted in a across-the-board swath of game . That ’s deepen . Over the past year , AMD has broadened support for its upscaling and soma generation technical school massively , and it ’s continued to rarify the upscaling algorithm that makes up the core of FSR . I ’m certain you , like myself , have locate into assumption about what FSR is adequate to of and where it ’s uncommitted , but as we close out the year , it ’s high metre to take exception those assumptions .
It ’s no private thatNvidia ’s DLSS 3is a core constituent of some of thebest artwork cardsyou can grease one’s palms , and AMD ’s FSR 3.1 , although telling , does n’t reach the heights of Nvidia ’s AI - driven technical school . That has n’t changed , and I ’m not sure it ever will . But establish on the FSR 3.1 execution I ’m discover today , AMD is offering a tool that useful in a long ton of situations .
What changed?
rent ’s back up to a little over a yr ago . AMD first eject FSR 3 in September of last year , and only in two games : immortal of AveumandForspoken . Both game were receive critically and commercially with a collective suspiration , and by the time FSR 3 was added , the wider legal opinion about these titles had already been set up in stone . Based on player issue at the clock time FSR 3 was added , the only reason to boot up these games was to check out FSR 3 , not to really play them .
Over the past class , there have been two major change with FSR . First , AMD loose FSR 3.1 . It wasannounced in March at GDC 2024 , but it did n’t release until June of this yr alongside the PC release ofHorizon Forbidden West . It launch in a ticket of six PlayStation releases that had been port to PC . The expiration was much better for support than the original FSR 3 , but considering the timbre hike AMD was claiming , support was slow out of the gate .
It ’s kind of singular what ’s materialize over the retiring six month , however . Using thelist on the PCGamingWiki , I counted 55 games that support FSR 3.1 now . They are n’t all barn burner , of line , but there are a lot of eminent - visibility game with the feature article , many of which included it on day one . That list includesSilent Hill 2 , Marvel Rivals , Stalker 2 , Call of Duty : Black Ops 6 , Warhammer 40 K : Space Marine 2,andFinal Fantasy XVI.And that ’s just to name a few .
Moreover , that list of 55 games is just those with FSR 3.1 . If you ’re more concerned about frame generation support overall — both FSR 3 and 3.1 support frame genesis , but the upscaling look better with 3.1 — the list is even magnanimous . AMD ’s official listincludes 76 title with FSR 3 support . To put that into context — in February of this year , when I heavily criticized FSR 3 for lacking support , it was only available in 12 game , many of which were n’t very democratic . Today , most major PC releases arrive with FSR 3.1 or FSR 3 support on daytime one .
I ’ll cover up quality differences between FSR and DLSS next — and think me , there are plenty of differences — but broad support is one of the major grounds DLSS 3 has been so attractive this past class . The scales are starting to equilibrize , though . By my counting , there are 133 game with DLSS 3 support . Give or take a few titles with both DLSS and FSR support , the two tool are much closer in support today than they were even six month ago .
A closer look
The support for FSR has meliorate massively , but so has the quality . I wo n’t pretend that AMD has caught up to DLSS . It has n’t . But the quality comparison of DLSS to FSR sometimes lose context , particularly when you ’re surge in on fine details that may not make a huge dispute in the passion of the moment .
Warhammer 40 K : Space Marine 2sets the tone for this conversation . Above , you may see the carrying into action mood of DLSS 3 , FSR 3.1 , and TAA outputting to 4K. It ’s somewhat light that DLSS looks the best . It ’s sharp , and it does n’t scramble with unstableness on details like the burry wire in front of the fervency . FSR 3.1 does . However , looking at TAA is a sobering reminder of the state of upscaling just a couple of age ago . It looks horrible . DLSS looks the good , no doubt , but I think it ’s deserving highlighting how far AMD has come with FSR .
Since the exit of FSR 3 , many games have supply AMD ’s Native AA mode , too . This is exchangeable toNvidia DLAA , which is much better than the TAA implementation in most games . It ’s basically DLSS , just running at aboriginal resolution . AMD ’s take on Native AA is very good as well . I ’d go as far as to say it ’s just as good as DLAA , and sometimes even a little estimable . you’re able to see in that in legal action inGhost of Tsushimabelow .
The differences are much more minor with any form of native anti - aliasing mood , but DLAA and FSR Native AA unquestionably look better than TAA . you’re able to see that clearly if you look at the yellow tree diagram in the background . Between FSR and DLAA , the parting areslightlysharper with FSR Native AA than DLAA , but that ’s really splitting hair . The big softwood here is being able-bodied to expend something like FSR ’s Native AA with any nontextual matter card , particularly if you combine it with FSR 3 frame generation .
The conversation could finish there , and for most part , it does . DLSS front better than FSR , but FSR works with any GPU . But I actually found some plot where FSR looks a morsel adept . wonder Rivalsis a choice example of that . Once again in Performance manner , you’re able to see how the TAA upscaling struggles to stabilize shadows with the plot ’s cel - shaded styling . What ’s interesting is that DLSS show some of that imbalance as well , while FSR shut up the shadows in place .
That ’s not what I ’d have a bun in the oven . I unremarkably expect FSR to work like it does inRatchet and Clank Rift Apart . FSR 3.1 is certainly acuate than the game ’s built - in IGTI upscaling , basically match the lineament of DLSS . However , it ’s not stable . you could see these random white loony toons on the grates cheeseparing to the television camera , as well as some unstableness around the edges of the spanner . That ’s how I ’ve come to have it off FSR , butMarvel Rivalschallenges that presumption .
Rather than a rigid timbre spread , something else became apparent during my time with several games pack FSR 3.1 . DLSS is more uniform , but that does n’t mean it ’s strictly secure in every game . There are game likeWarhammer 40K : Space Marine 2where DLSS is clearly dear , but there are also titles likeMarvel Rivalswhere I would n’t claim one tool is better than the other . The implementation puddle a significant dispute . DLSS has many more consistently eminent - quality implementations , but that does n’t imply you should weigh out FSR .
The only domain where it really struggles is in shot like the one you’re able to see fromGhost of Tsushimaabove . Moving , extremely detailed , and dumb objects are n’t recreated as accurately with FSR as they are with DLSS . Still , AMD has come a recollective way since the first versions of FSR , and in some games , the difference between FSR 3.1 and DLSS are fairly small in the rarefied schema of gameplay .
Turning the corner
It took more than a yr , but AMD has accomplish a grade of quality that ’s effective enough and a density of game that ’s high enough for FSR 3 to be a very compelling pecker . I do n’t want to silo this topic to a competitor between FSR 3 and DLSS 3 , however . Although both dick accomplish the same destination , they ’re focused on unlike usance cases . The salutary and broad FSR 3 is , the more the use cases for it are actually valid , and that ’s something to get excited about .
Unlike DLSS 3 , FSR 3 is n’t a tool contrive and built around deal you a new nontextual matter card . That’slargely been Nvidia ’s approaching , and that ’s not a spoiled matter . It bill DLSS 3 as enable this premium tier of gambling experience that otherwise would n’t be possible — I ’m guess along the lines ofAlan Wake 2or therecentIndiana Jones and the Great Circlewith path trace . you’re able to apply it to bring frail hardware up to equivalence , but Nvidia ’s focus is activate the next wave of visual fidelity .
FSR 3 ’s focus is more on bring that lower - ending hardware up to par , even if it can enable those next - gen experience as well . That utilization case is very compelling , and it ’s a reasonableness to steady down for FSR 3 ’s succeeder irrespective of which GPU stigma you prefer .
I just chance this recently . I ’ve been playingSilent Hill 2,and I think I ’d have to put it on grasp on a late trip I made to New York . I bring along anAsus Zenbook S 16when I journey , which is n’t powerful enough to play most games , countenance alone something likeSilent Hill 2.With FSR 3 , though , I was able to play a bit of the plot on my trip . This laptop computer has a recent Ryzen AI 300 processor , but that ’s beside the detail . I can use FSR 3 on just about any mod hardware , so even if I come about to have something likeLenovo Yoga Slim 7iwith a recent Intel chip , it would still work .
Was it the idealistic path to playSilent Hill 2?Hell no . Would I prefer to play it withmy RTX 4090 desktop ? Every mean solar day of the calendar week . But I was able to keep playing during my downtime , and I would n’t have been able to without FSR 3 . These are the site where blanket FSR 3 adoption and better quality make all of the difference . It ’s not just this specific usance case , either . We ’ve already see what FSR 3 can do on handhelds in games such asLike a Dragon : Infinite Wealth .
Now , with broader financial backing and better figure of speech quality , those use example are actually practical . I extremely doubt there will be a day that FSR can match what DLSS is equal to of , at least if AMD keep on with its approach to broad computer hardware financial support . It does n’t involve to match DLSS to be utile , though . It ’s just good enough in most games to be a viable alternative when DLSS is n’t an option .
Hopefully , the story does n’t stop here . FSR 3 has do a long way from where it was when it showed up inImmortals of AveumandForspokena little over a year ago , and hopefully , we can look back in a year from now and see that same point of progress .
