AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) upscaling technology became available two days ago with the release of the fresh Radeon Adrenalin 2020 21.6.1 graphics driver. And today we can take a look at the first big review of this technology and compare it with Nvidia DLSS.

The authors prepared a large video with a detailed analysis of the FSR quality in different modes, compared, as far as possible, AMD technology with Nvidia DLSS and made a number of conclusions.

Let’s start with performance. As you can see, depending on the video card, mode and resolution, FSR activation increases performance by an amount from 20-25% to 100% or even more. The biggest gains are seen in 4K. For example, the far from the most productive GeForce GTX 1660 Super can handle Godfall even in 4K, and the FSR Quality mode is enough for this.

The most important technology issue is image quality. Both DLSS and FSR are not free to improve performance. Both technologies lower the rendering resolution, and then, in one way or another, complete the missing pixels. Nvidia relies on machine learning and tensor cores in GeForce RTX graphics cards for DLSS 2.0, and AMD FSR is a simpler spatial upscaling method that the company calls an advanced edge reconstruction algorithm. Therefore, after the announcement, experts did not expect much from AMD’s new development. However, tests showed that the company did very well.

In the Ultra Quality and Quality modes, the clarity of the image and the detail of textures are not reduced very much, and it is often easy to notice it only with a static picture and a strong zoom. During the game without looking at the monitor, most of the difference may not notice at all. At the same time, productivity grows on average by 40% and 65%, respectively.

At the same time, tests showed that it is better to use FSR in 4K in the above modes, or in 1440p and only in Ultra Quality mode. In other modes, as well as in all modes in Full HD, there is a noticeable decrease in image quality and the appearance of artifacts in the form of flickering.

If we compare FSR with DLSS 2, although this can only be done in different games so far, it turns out that AMD’s less technologically advanced technology has its advantages. The performance gains for technologies are about the same, but at the same time FSR does not suffer from the appearance of halos of fast-moving objects and large artifacts, as was the case in Death Stranding (this was fixed in DLSS 2.2). In addition, in the case of DLSS, sometimes the AI ​​draws small distant objects in a somewhat strange way. Also on the side of FSR is cross-platform and easier integration into games.

DLSS, in turn, copes better with upscaling in Full HD, and in some cases even the most productive mode does not greatly affect the picture quality. In addition, the technology has simply been on the market for much longer and already boasts support for almost 60 games, including very large projects.