AMD's latest upscaling technology is making waves in the gaming community, not just for its impressive performance but also due to its interesting development history and expanding availability through community efforts.
AMD and Sony's Collaborative Effort on FSR 4
AMD has officially confirmed that its latest upscaling technology, FSR 4, was co-developed with Sony Interactive Entertainment. This partnership is part of a larger initiative called Project Amethyst, which was unveiled by PlayStation lead architect Mark Cerny in December. The collaboration focuses on developing hardware architectures optimized for machine learning workloads and creating high-quality convolutional neural networks specifically designed to enhance gaming graphics.
The announcement came via AMD's social media, where the company expressed excitement about the partnership, stating: FSR 4 is looking fantastic! Excited for the co-development with Sony Interactive Entertainment on the models used for the FSR 4 upscaler. This is just the beginning. Stay tuned for what's next.
Benefits for Both Companies
This collaboration represents a strategic advantage for both companies. Sony can leverage AMD's latest AI upscaling expertise for its console systems, potentially enhancing the PlayStation 5 Pro's Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) technology. Meanwhile, AMD benefits from Sony's extensive experience in optimizing graphics specifically for gaming applications.
The partnership extends a long-standing relationship between the two companies, as AMD has been providing chips for PlayStation consoles since the PS4 era. Both the current PS5 and PS5 Pro feature customized AMD Zen 2 CPU and RDNA 2 GPU silicon, making this AI-focused collaboration a natural extension of their existing technological relationship.
FSR 4 Availability and Hardware Support
Currently, FSR 4 is officially supported on AMD's new midrange RX 9070 XT and 9070 GPUs. The RX 9070 XT features 64 compute units with boost clocks up to 3GHz and retails for USD $599, while the standard RX 9070 comes with 56 compute units clocked at up to 2.5GHz for USD $549. Both models include 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM, providing solid 1440p gaming performance with FSR 4 enabled.
AMD RX 9070 Series GPU Specifications:
- RX 9070 XT: 64 compute units, up to 3GHz boost clock, USD $599
- RX 9070: 56 compute units, up to 2.5GHz boost clock, USD $549
- Both models: 16GB GDDR6 VRAM
Community Modding Expands FSR 4 Compatibility
Despite AMD's official hardware limitations for FSR 4, the modding community has developed a solution to bring this technology to a wider range of games. A new open-source tool called OptiScaler now allows gamers to utilize FSR 4 on virtually any title that supports NVIDIA's DLSS 2+ or Intel's XeSS upscalers.
OptiScaler functions as middleware between different upscaling technologies and games, effectively rerouting upscaling requests to another supported technology. The tool mimics the functionalities of DLSS, XeSS, and FSR, tricking games into believing they're still using their original upscaling method while actually implementing FSR 4.
OptiScaler Compatibility Requirements:
- Works with games that support DLSS 2+ or Intel XeSS
- Successfully tested with Cyberpunk 2077
- Enables FSR 4 on games without official support
Real-World Performance Through Modding
Early testing of OptiScaler with Cyberpunk 2077 has shown promising results. A user reported achieving over 60 FPS at 1440p settings with FSR 4 enabled on a Radeon RX 9070 XT, despite the game not officially supporting FSR 4 or even FSR 3.1. This demonstrates the potential of OptiScaler to effectively bring AMD's latest upscaling technology to games that would otherwise not support it.
Looking Forward
AMD has indicated that this collaboration with Sony is just the beginning, suggesting that more developments are on the horizon. Meanwhile, the modding community continues to push boundaries by making cutting-edge upscaling technologies more accessible across platforms. As FSR 4 becomes available to more gamers through both official and community channels, it represents an exciting advancement in gaming graphics technology that bridges the gap between console and PC gaming experiences.