AMD activates FSR Redstone and FSR 4 Upscaling: this changes the game on PC

The arrival of AMD FSR Redstone and the new iteration of FSR 4 Upscaling It marks a turning point for PC gaming.especially for those using Radeon RX 9000 series graphics cards based on RDNA 4 architecture. The company It combines upscaling, frame generation, and machine learning-powered ray tracing improvements in a single package., with an eye toward competing head-to-head with NVIDIA's DLSS.

This new ecosystem isn't just about putting more FPS on the table: AMD's strategy involves a neural rendering capable of reconstructing images, light, and reflections from lower resolutions, without the scene breaking down into artifacts or excessive noise. However, all this technical prowess comes with an important catch: only RDNA 4 GPUs They can take advantage of the full version of FSR Redstone.

From FSR 1 to FSR 4: from simple upscaling to AI rendering

To understand the leap that Redstone represents, it's worth remembering that the first version, FSR1.0, it was limited to a classic spatial rescalingwithout memory of previous frames or use of motion vectors. It was easy to integrate and compatible with much hardware, but it generated loss of detail, irregular edges and the sharpness could be improved.

Evolution came with FSR2.0which shifted to an approach temporary It began using depth buffers, frame history, and game motion vectors. This change allowed for a much more robust reconstruction and brought the quality closer to what more advanced solutions offered, although it remained a purely algorithmic system without dedicated AI cores.

Subsequently, FSR3 incorporated frame generationThis opened the door to generating additional intermediate frames to increase smoothness. The reconstruction was still based on FSR 2.2, but an extra layer was added that, in many cases, doubled the FPS rate at the cost of greater integration complexity and some artifacts in fast-paced scenes.

With FSR3.1 AMD clearly separated upscaling from frame generation, paving the way for the transition to the current model. This modularity has been key to making the leap to FSR4 and the Redstone family, where the spotlight finally falls on trained neural networks in the company's own Instinct accelerators.

FSR 4 Upscaling and Redstone: AMD's new ecosystem

The new generation comes with a name change: the system is no longer presented as FidelityFX Super Resolution but is now called AMD FSR Upscaling When we talk about re-escalation, and it falls under the umbrella FSR Redstonewhich encompasses four main AI-based blocks:

• FSR ML Upscaling (FSR 4): high-quality neural rescaling.
• FSR Frame Generation (ML): generation of frames with neural network.
• FSR Ray Regeneration: intelligent denoiser for ray tracing and path tracing.
• FSR Radiance Caching: neural radiance cache for global illumination.

FSR 4 works very differently from previous versions: the AI ​​model receives a lower resolution image accompanied by data such as scene depth and motion vectors, it then reconstructs a final frame in high resolution, even at 4K, with greater temporal stability and less ghosting and artifacts moving.

According to AMD, this approach allows Multiply FPS by up to five times in certain games compared to native rendering, maintaining quality very close to the full-resolution image. The company speaks of an average close to 3,3 times more performance combining upscaling and frame generation in demanding titles.

Redstone: the four pillars of AI applied to gaming

FSR Redstone is not a simple filter, but a modular set of technologies which studios can use together or separately. The idea is to act at various points in the modern rendering chain to cut computational costs without worsening the final image.

FSR ML Upscaling: More sharpness with fewer pixels

FSR ML Upscaling, identified in many slides as "formerly FSR 4"This is the heart of the system. It renders the game at a lower resolution and upscales it to the target resolution (e.g., 4K) using a trained neural network with spatial and temporal information, texture, depth, and motion vectors.

Three are offered quality modes designed for different balances between performance and clarity: quality (approx. 67% of the pixels), balanced (59%) and performance (50%). Compared to FSR 3.1, this new model preserves fine details much better, such as cables, grilles or small elements in the distance, and clearly reduces the classic problems of "brightness" or instability when moving the camera.

AMD claims the algorithm is optimized to scale to 4K at a lower costand that its integration is designed so that developers can directly replace previous FSR 3.1 implementations in compatible games. Furthermore, the Adrenalin driver allows, in some cases, force the use of FSR 4 in titles where only the previous analytical rescaling was listed.

FSR Frame Generation: Smoother operation with AI

Redstone frame generation goes a step further than FSR 3. Instead of relying solely on traditional algorithms, it now uses trained AI models to predict the appearance of intermediate frames based on the previous and current frames.

The system uses Optical flow, depth, and motion vectors Low-resolution images are projected and adjusted by the neural network to determine how objects move on screen. Using this information, the AI ​​generates an extra frame that is inserted between two "real" frames, reducing stuttering and improving the perceived smoothness, especially on high-refresh-rate monitors.

AMD has introduced an alternative implementation of the DX12 SwapChainThis is designed to ensure that the frames generated and rendered by the game are distributed evenly over time. The intention is to avoid stutter and jitter by mixing both types of images, a common problem in early frame generation solutions.

FSR Ray Regeneration: Less noise in ray tracing

FSR Ray Regeneration acts as a AI denoiser for scenes with ray tracing or path tracingIt analyzes the noisy image (including depth, radiance, and illumination) and, using a neural network, It reconstructs pixels that have been left incomplete or contaminated by grain.

The result is a Remarkable clarity in highlights and shadowsThis allows for a reduction in the number of rays cast per frame and, therefore, the computational cost of ray tracing. AMD has already debuted this technology in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, where a clear improvement in the stability of reflections on metallic surfaces or in water can be seen.

FSR Radiance Caching: Global illumination relies on AI

Radiance Caching is the longest-term component of the ecosystem. It is a system of neural radiance cache which learns, in real time, how light bounces off a scene. From the second intersection of a ray, the network is able to infer indirect lighting and store it for reuse in later frames.

This approach reduces the need to continuously recalculate global illumination, multiple bounces, and color bleed, drastically lowering the cost of complex ray-traced scenes. AMD has announced that the first games with Radiance Caching They will arrive in 2026, with Warhammer 40.000: Darktide as one of the confirmed debutants.

Hardware requirements: why only Radeon RX 9000 series cards receive the full package

Where AMD has been most restrictive is in compatibility. The AI ​​version of FSR Upscaling, Frame Generation, Ray Regeneration, and Radiance Caching It only runs on Radeon RX 9000 cardsThat is, in RDNA 4 architecture. The key lies in the AI acceleration blocks capable of working natively with FP8 operations.

Previous generations (RDNA 1, 2, 3, and 3.5) can handle FP16 and INT8, but AMD believes that, for this type of workload, FP16 is not efficient enough y INT8 does not offer the necessary quality to compete with DLSS. In fact, a leaked version of FSR 4 in INT8 was an improvement over FSR 3.1, but it lagged behind the FP8 implementation in both image quality and performance impact.

In practice, this means that users of Radeon RX 7000 Earlier cards will continue to have analytical FSR (including FSR 3.1) but will not have official access to the full Redstone ecosystem. The RX 9000 series, on the other hand, will see how its value increases by becoming the only cards capable of run the entire Redstone stack.

Drivers Adrenalin 25.12.1: the update that unlocks FSR Redstone

All these new features are coming to players through the new driver Radeon Software Adrenalin 25.12.1, now available for Windows. This version natively enables support for FSR Upscaling, FSR Frame Generation and FSR Ray Regeneration in compatible games and lays the groundwork for Radiance Caching when it starts to arrive in commercial titles.

After installing the driver, the cards Radeon RX 9000 They can take advantage of Redstone modules as long as the game has them integrated. In some titles where only FSR 3.1 is listed, it's possible Replace the analytical DLLs with those from FSR 4 ML From the Adrenalin panel, enabling an "FSR 4" option within the game's own graphic menu when the driver detects it.

The same driver package adds support for the Radeon AI PRO R9600D and R9700S, geared towards the professional field, and includes a list of stability fixes: from problems with Radeon Anti-Lag 2 in Counter-Strike 2 using certain RX 9000 series cards, to intermittent failures with high-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 monitors or unexpected shutdowns in A.R.C. Raiders.

AMD also details several known issues that are still on the table, such as specific closures in Cyberpunk 2077 with path tracing or incidents in Battlefield 6 y Roblox in certain configurations. The company suggests installing recent Windows patches and recommends keeping drivers up to date to mitigate these issues.

Gaming performance: from internal benchmarks to practical tests

In its official documentation, AMD focuses on a number of recent games to illustrate the impact of FSR Redstone. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, with “Extreme” settings and high ray tracing at 4K, a Radeon RX 9070 XT It goes from 23 native FPS to 109 FPS combining FSR Upscaling, Frame Generation and Ray Regeneration, which represents an increase in 4,7 times on the base performance.

Similar results are replicated in Cyberpunk 2077 with RT Ultra, where internal figures show an increase from 26 to 123 FPS, and in titles like hell is us o F1 25who see the average frame rate triple. AMD itself summarizes this data as an average performance increase of 3,3 times versus native 4K mode without AI.

Beyond the official figures, tests in games like Mafia: The Old Country They show the leap compared to FSR 3.1. With the engine set to maximum quality and analytical FSR in quality mode, the FPS rate could rise from around 40-45 to over 110-120, but at the cost of obvious artifacts and degraded edgesIn more aggressive performance modes, the image deteriorated to the point of becoming unpleasant to watch.

After upgrading to FSR 4 Redstone via drivers and activate quality mode, that same scenario is situated around the 200 FPS maintaining far superior visual clarity and stability, and combined with practices such as undervolt your GPU It can help control temperatures and power consumption during long sessions. The practical increase is roughly double the FPS compared to the previous upscaling, without the same level of flaws, although the initial setup is still somewhat more complicated than many gamers would like.

Game compatibility: over 200 titles with some Redstone functionality

AMD states that, before the end of the year, more than 200 games They will integrate at least one of FSR Redstone's technologies. It's worth noting that most of these titles will, in principle, feature FSR Upscaling as the main component, while Frame Generation will have a base of a little over 30 compatible games in its first wave.

FSR Ray Regeneration begins its solo journey with Call of Duty: Black Ops 7However, the company assures that it will extend to more releases in the coming months. Regarding FSR Radiance CachingIts debut in commercial games won't happen until 2026, with integrations planned in titles such as Warhammer 40.000: Darktide.

Among the games already listed as supported for ML Frame Generation names appear like Cyberpunk 2077, F1 25, Black Myth: Wukong, God of War Ragnarok, Hogwarts Legacy, THE FINALS, Wuthering Waves o GTA V Enhanced, in addition to several productions focused on Europe and studios with a strong presence in this market.

A strategic bet for PC and next-generation consoles

FSR Redstone not only has an impact on the European PC; it is also part of the AMD's collaboration with Xbox Game StudiosDivision officials have highlighted the collaborative work in FSR Ray Regeneration, highlighting that machine learning technologies allow for "higher fidelity images while maintaining performance" in franchises such as Call of Duty.

Everything indicates that this type of solution upscaling and frame generation with AI will be key in future consoles like Xbox Magnus And in PC-type portable devices, a segment where Europe is seeing more and more options, from Ryzen-based models to equipment signed by Asian manufacturers with a strong presence in the Old Continent.

As of today, the launch of FSR Redstone SDK and plugins for engines like Unreal Engine 5 They make it easier for European studios to natively integrate these technologies into their projects, which is especially relevant for mid-sized developers looking to offer advanced graphics without increasing hardware requirements.

With FSR Redstone and FSR 4 Upscaling, AMD configures an AI-based rendering ecosystem that enhances the appeal of Radeon RX 9000 and opens the door to smoother and more detailed experiences on PCThis is true both in Spain and the rest of Europe. There's still work to be done in terms of support and ease of use, but the technical leap compared to previous generations is clear, and the roadmap suggests that the impact will only increase as more games integrate all the pieces of the puzzle.