Digital Foundry Shares First Impression on AMD’s Unveiled FSR 4 AI Upscaler

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) gave an unexpected glimpse of its forthcoming FSR 4 AI-based upscaling technology during CES 2025. 

Though absent from the official keynote, the company showcased the tech to select journalists. Reportedly, paired with its new RDNA 4 GPUs, the upscaler demonstrated significant advancements over its predecessor, FSR 3.1.

Digital Foundry, a leading technical analysis platform widely recognized for its in-depth breakdowns of gaming tech, had the chance to test FSR 4 on a Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart demo. According to their first impressions, technology revealed a leap forward in image quality visible to the naked eye. Improvements can be called noticeable through a camera’s capture of a screen considering Digital Foundry’s first look video.

Unlike its Nvidia counterpart, DLSS, which embraced machine learning early, AMD’s FSR has historically relied on analytic-based upscaling. With FSR 4, AMD has finally integrated machine learning, promising better fidelity and performance. This transition mirrors Nvidia’s shift from the original DLSS to DLSS 2, which also brought significant quality improvements.

In a private setup, two PCs were used for side-by-side testing: one running FSR 3.1 and the other featuring FSR 4 on a prototype RX 9070 GPU. Digital Foundry’s Alex Battaglia and Oliver Mackenzie, who tested the technology, reported a marked improvement in image quality.

Key areas of improvement over FSR 3.1 included texture clarity, particle effects, and object stability. Talking about enhanced textures, FSR 4 excelled in maintaining the fine details of Ratchet and Clank’s environments. The red carpet in the opening level, which previously showed blurred patterns under FSR 3.1, retained its texture under the new technology. As for particle effects, fast-moving confetti particles that accompany Ratchet and Clank during the first-level parade exhibited none of the ghosting or trailing that plagued earlier versions. Object stability has also shown clear improvements in the example of animations of bystanders in the game’s crowd – they looked smooth and consistent, without the usual “disocclusion fizzle.” 

Digital Foundry noted that the improvements were particularly noticeable in 1080p-to-4K performance mode, traditionally a challenging scenario for upscalers. “This is exactly the leap forward AMD needed to make,” Battaglia remarked.

Speculation over FSR 4’s development has pointed to AMD’s partnership with Sony, known as the Amethyst project, which explores AI-based rendering techniques. However, Digital Foundry clarified that FSR 4 does not share the same quirks seen in Sony’s PlayStation Shader Reconstruction (PSSR) technology, suggesting that FSR 4 is a purely AMD-engineered solution.

Despite the impressive demo, FSR 4 remains a work in progress. The version shown at CES 2025 was running on pre-release drivers and hardware. Direct capture was unavailable, and AMD provided no official performance metrics. Nevertheless, the improvements in visual fidelity left a strong impression on Digital Foundry.

Oliver Mackenzie with Digital Foundry summarized the experience: “FSR 4 represents a significant step forward for AMD, and we’re excited to see how this technology evolves as it approaches its official launch.”