A hands-on review of the upcoming AMD FSR 4 technology shows major improvement over the last version, especially in terms of visual quality, image stability, and overall smooth upscaling results.
NVIDIA’s upcoming DLSS 4 technology has taken the internet by storm, but it looks like AMD has something in store for AI upscaling as well. At CES 2025, AMD set up a demo offering invited guests a chance to test out the latest version of their upscaling technology, FSR 4.
Interestingly, AMD didn’t focus much on the improvements and enhancements the new version offers compared to the previous one during their presentation. Instead, they provided only a brief teaser in the live stream, which might suggest that AMD isn’t quite ready to fully unveil it just yet. However, an early look shows promising results and good image quality, even in performance mode.
Comparing FSR 3.1 with FSR 4
Hardware Unboxed, a popular tech YouTube channel, shared their hands-on review of the all-new AMD FSR 4, highlighting visible improvements in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart – a game known to be quite tricky for FSR 3.1 technology. One interesting point mentioned by the creator was that the test bench was equipped with prototype versions of the RX 9070 XT, with the upscaling quality set to 4K Performance Mode on both systems. Since there weren’t any performance monitors (like an FPS counter) available on the test bench, the only thing they could evaluate were the visual differences. And there were plenty of those.
For starters, FSR 4 offers much more detailed and refined image results compared to the sometimes blurry, undefined visuals of FSR 3.1. This was especially noticeable in a scene where confetti particles inside a launcher appeared jumbled and heavily pixelated with FSR 3.1, while FSR 4 allowed each particle to be clearly defined, moving around the back of the machine. This improvement was evident in several areas, with FSR 3.1 struggling to showcase prominent details compared to the latest version.
While AMD FSR 4 isn’t perfect. There are still some minor image quality issues, one example being Ratchet’s ears, which are much smoother than in FSR 3.1 but lose much of their fur details and appear overly smooth. However, on a larger scale, FSR 4 is looking significantly better than FSR 3.1, offering a much more playable gaming experience. And let’s not forget, this is in Performance Mode, not Quality Mode, where we could see an even bigger improvement.
FSR 4 is shaping up to be a big game-changer
Apart from the few visual differences we’ve pointed out above, there were plenty more where AMD FSR 4 seemed to dominate the previous version. It’s pretty commendable to notice these differences as a viewer, especially considering we’re seeing them through a computer screen via a YouTube video that’s been compressed. Despite this, the changes are still visible, which likely points to how much more prominent these improvements would be in person.
Upscaling technology has become a big hit in recent years, and while AMD’s FSR has been predominantly outperformed by NVIDIA’s DLSS technology, it seems AMD is doing its best to catch up in this race. We have yet to see how these differences play out on other presets like Quality or Balanced, but if AMD FSR 4 is already delivering such prominent results in Performance Mode, we can likely expect better outcomes in those areas as well. For now, we’ll have to wait for AMD FSR 4 to become available so we can test it in more detail, but from what we’ve seen, it looks promising.
