Valve’s Steam Deck could soon get a major visual upgrade thanks to AMD’s latest announcement surrounding FSR 4 upscaling. While the feature was originally limited to newer Radeon hardware, AMD has now confirmed that older GPU architectures will also gain support, opening the door for possible compatibility with the Steam Deck in the future.

For those unfamiliar, upscaling technology has become one of the biggest tools for handheld gaming PCs. In more demanding games, devices rely heavily on features such as FSR, XeSS, and DLSS alternatives to boost frame rates without pushing hardware too hard. Instead of rendering games at full resolution, the system renders at a lower resolution and then intelligently scales the image up. The result is better performance while still maintaining decent image quality; FSR 4.1 is AMD’s latest version.

Right now, the Steam Deck already supports FSR 1 through SteamOS, and many newer games include FSR 3 support directly in-game. However, FSR 4 is a much more advanced version of the technology, offering noticeably cleaner visuals, better stability, and improved image reconstruction. At the moment, it is limited to RX 9000 series graphics cards such as the RX 9070 XT.

AMD’s Senior VP and GM of Computer & Graphics, Jack Huynh, recently revealed that FSR 4.1 will officially expand beyond RDNA 4 GPUs. According to the announcement, RDNA 3 graphics cards will receive support this July, while RDNA 2 hardware is set to gain support sometime in early 2027.

That is the important part for Steam Deck owners because Valve’s handheld uses an RDNA 2-based GPU. While AMD mainly mentioned Radeon RX 6000 and RX 7000 desktop graphics cards, many fans quickly noticed that handheld gaming PCs appeared in AMD’s promotional material as well. That has sparked speculation that devices like the Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and Lenovo Legion Go could eventually benefit too.

Likewise, Valve’s upcoming Steam Machine – a cubed mini PC – will run on RDNA 3 architecture, which suggests that it may also enjoy support. However, nothing is confirmed. While we’re speculating, perhaps it’s fair to say that the upcoming release of the Steam Machine is something that could have helped sway AMD’s decision to bring official support to these older architectures.

Some users have already managed to run unofficial versions of FSR 4 on older AMD hardware using community tools like Optiscaler. The downside is that performance can sometimes take a hit because the newer AI-based upscaling method is heavier on hardware resources. Official support could improve optimization and make the feature much easier to use.

About the Author

Abdul Haddi

Abdul is a tech writer and Editor for PC Guide, specializing in all things tech, gaming, and hardware.