The announcement regarding AMD's plans for FSR 4 (INT8) support has stirred up quite a conversation in the gaming community.
At present, FSR 4 is primarily designed for RDNA 4 graphics cards, limiting its availability to a specific range of hardware. When AMD introduced FSR 4 last year, it was a significant advancement for Radeon users, offering image quality that could finally compete with Nvidia’s DLSS technology. However, a notable drawback is that FSR 4 is currently restricted to RDNA 4 GPUs. Interestingly, a leaked version of FSR 4 using INT8 technology indicated that this restriction might not be necessary.
On RDNA 4 graphics cards, FSR 4 employs hardware-accelerated FP8 calculations to enhance its AI-driven upscaling capabilities. Unfortunately, this type of hardware acceleration is lacking in older Radeon GPU architectures. Nevertheless, gamers have begun experimenting with the leaked INT8 variant of FSR 4 on RDNA 3 and RDNA 2 graphics cards, and some have reported success. It's important to note that this INT8 version appears to be in the experimental stages and lacks the polish of the standard RDNA 4/FP8 iteration.
In an inquiry by Hardware Unboxed, AMD was approached for updates on the status of FSR 4 INT8 support. The response from AMD was somewhat vague, stating that they had "no updates to share at this time." This leaves many wondering if AMD will extend FSR 4 compatibility to older GPU models. It seems to be a missed opportunity for AMD to not offer FSR 4 support on RDNA 3 and RDNA 3.5 graphics cards, especially considering the new hardware released in 2023 featuring RDNA 3.5 solutions. If AMD chooses to ignore this, they risk facing criticism from users and industry analysts alike.
Interestingly, when Nvidia rolled out DLSS 4 and DLSS 4.5, which included their more advanced first and second-generation Transformer models, they provided a unique option for users of older RTX graphics cards through their DLSS Override feature. Even though these newer versions may perform slower on older hardware, Nvidia allowed gamers access to these advancements. For instance, users of the RTX 20 series can still utilize DLSS 4.5, giving them the choice between older, faster models and newer, higher-quality options.
While INT8 FSR 4 may indeed operate at a slower speed than FSR 3.1 on RDNA 3 or RDNA 3.5 GPUs, the improvements in image quality could be very beneficial. By making FSR 4 available on older RDNA GPUs, AMD would not only gain considerable goodwill among consumers but also enhance the visual performance of RDNA 3.5 laptops and gaming handhelds. Thus, it's a wise move from AMD. So why hasn’t AMD taken this step yet?
You can join the ongoing conversation about AMD's apparent hesitance to commit to FSR 4 support for older Radeon GPUs at the link provided.
