Summary

  • FSR 3.1 is AMD's upgraded upscaling and frame generation technology, improving image quality and temporal stability.
  • FSR decouples upscaling from frame generation, increasing compatibility with other upscaling solutions.
  • Support for FSR 3.1 coming to Vulkan and Xbox Game Development Kit, making it more accessible for developers later this year.

AMD showcased FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) 3.1, the next iteration of its open-source upscaling and frame generation technology. FSR has struggled to compete against Nvidia's technology, which offers a better upscaling experience with fewer visual artifacts, but this is something AMD has been working on. We'll soon be able to enjoy some welcomed temporal stability improvements. As well as various improvements for end users, AMD's FSR 3.1 makes it more convenient for developers to work with (and include support for) the GPU feature.

What is FSR and what's new in 3.1?

The rendering pipeline for FSR 3.
Source: AMD

FidelityFX Super Resolution is a fancy term for AMD's upscaling technology. It essentially boosts the quality through the use of anti-aliasing and an algorithm to bring everything together. AMD Fluid Motion Frames is also used to allow FSR to generate frames, though early results weren't great, especially with latency. In its most basic form, FSR essentially takes two rendered frames through an image-boosting algorithm and generates a new frame in between, effectively boosting frame rate and quality.

Compared to FSR 2.2, the latest iteration of the technology has improved temporal upscaling image quality, which will help reduce flickering and other visual artifacts from being displayed. One of the first games to include support for FSR 3.1 is Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, which AMD also used as a demonstration of the improvements made through the update. AMD also decoupled FSR upscaling from frame generation to work with other upscaling solutions, following Nvidia splitting Frame Gen from DLSS.

Improved temporal stability in FSR 3.1

AMD FSR 2.2 Ratchet temporal stability demo
AMD FSR 3.1 Ratchet temporal stability demo
Source: AMD

Ghosting reduction in FSR 3.1

AMD FSR 2.2 Ratchet ghosting reduction demo
Source: AMD
AMD FSR 3.1 Ratchet ghosting reduction demo
Source: AMD

The new AMD FidelityFX API is going to be a hit with developers and there's some good news for consoles too. AMD is looking to bring support for FSR 3.1 to Vulkan and Xbox Game Development Kit so developers on GPUOpen will be able to implement the technology into their games in Q2 and we can expect to see games add support later this year. Upscaling is a fantastic feature gamers can make full use of to improve performance without sacrificing quality and it's great to see AMD continue to work on improving its algorithm for a better experience.

There's no word on when we can expect to see FSR 3.1 be released to the public, but we cannot imagine it will be long.